(The Center Square) – North Carolina Democrats have reversed the narrative.
Chided for absences across more than 25% the General Assembly races in 2022, Friday’s final half-day of election filing for the 2024 cycle brought a resounding end to the fortnight. All 50 Senate districts have a Democratic candidate, and 118 of 120 House of Representatives districts have one.
That’s a far cry from nobody in 15 Senate and 29 House races.
Republicans are in 42 Senate races and 95 House elections, as of a posting at 2:27 p.m. by the state Board of Elections believed to be the final. In 2022, Republicans were absent from only one Senate and nine House elections.
The GOP won majorities in the Senate (30 of 50) and House (71 of 120), adding another lower chamber seat earlier this year when Rep. Tricia Cotham transferred her party affiliation.
Of the U.S. House and state General Assembly races, Democrats are only out of four, Republicans 32. Seats for each of the three chambers are two-year terms.
Later in the afternoon, candidate order on the ballots was determined by a drawing and coin flip for where in the alphabet (bingo ball drawing) and going in which direction (coin flip) from that letter. The starting point is candidates with last name beginning with letter D; the flip was heads (alphabetical order).
North Carolinians will elect 14 members to the U.S. House of Representatives for two-year terms. The U.S. Senate seats are not on the ballot again until 2026 (Sen. Thom Tillis) and 2028 (Sen. Ted Budd).
From the notes on crowds, Republican primaries will have 14 candidates in the 13th Congressional District and 11 for lieutenant governor. From notes on names, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Keith Robinson is running for governor, and Democrat Mark H. Robinson of Harrells in Sampson County is running for lieutenant governor.
Also on the presidential year ballot are the 10 Council of State offices (four-year terms). This includes the governor; lieutenant governor; attorney general; commissioners of agriculture and insurance; the secretaries of state and labor; auditor; treasurer; and superintendent of public instruction.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is in his second four-year term, the limit of consecutive terms allowed. In addition to the governor, the lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, and labor commissioner are either not running for reelection or are running for different offices. The term of the auditor is being finished by Jessica Holmes, and she has filed to run for the seat permanently.
The 2024 election primary is part of Super Tuesday on March 5, along with 12 other states. States that join North Carolina in holding primaries for both parties on Super Tuesday are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. Iowa, which has the Republican caucus on Jan. 15, has the Democratic primary on March 5; Utah, yet to decide a date for the Democratic primary, has its Republican caucus on March 5.
The general election is Nov. 5.
The filing period opened on Dec. 4. All filings are available to the public through the state Board of Elections website. The following, per the mid-afternoon update, are full fields for the top federal and state races, with those filing Friday so noted:
• U.S. House District 1: Incumbent Democrat Don Davis (Friday); Libertarian Tom Bailey; Republicans Sandy Smith, Laurie Buckhout.
• U.S. House District 2: Democrat Deborah Ross, the incumbent, and Michael Camero (Friday); Michael Dublin of the Green Party; Republicans Eugene Douglass, Robert Morales Vergara, Alan Swain.
• U.S. House District 3: Libertarian Gheorghe Cormos; incumbent Republican Dr. Greg Murphy.
• U.S. House District 4: Incumbent Democrat Valerie Foushee; Libertarian Guy Meilleur; Republicans Eric Blankenburg, Max Ganorkar (Friday).
• U.S. House District 5: Democrat Chuck Hubbard; Republicans Virginia Foxx, the incumbent, and Ryan Mayberry.
• U.S. House District 6: Republicans Bo Hines, Mark Walker, Christian Castelli, Mary Ann Contogiannis, Jay Wagner, Addison McDowell.
• U.S. House District 7: Democrat Marlando Pridgen; incumbent Republican David Rouzer.
• U.S. House District 8: Democrat Justin Dues (Friday); Republicans John Bradford, Don Brown, Rev. Mark Harris, Chris Maples, Leigh Brown, Allan Baucom.
• U.S. House District 9: Democrat Nigel William Bristow (Friday); Republicans Richard Hudson, the incumbent, and Troy Tarazon.
• U.S. House District 10: Democrat Ralph Scott Jr.; Libertarian Steven Feldman (Friday); Republicans Diana Jimison, Pat Harrigan, Greg Mills, Charles Eller, Brooke McGowan (Friday).
• U.S. House District 11: Democrat Caleb Rudow; Republicans Christian Reagan, Chuck Edwards, the incumbent.
• U.S. House District 12: Incumbent Democrat Alma Adams; Republican Addul Ali.
• U.S. House District 13: Democrat Frank Pierce (Friday); Republicans Josh McConkey, Chris Baker, Eric Stevenson, Kenny Xu, Brad Knott, Fred Von Canon, Siddhanth Sharma, James Phillips, Matt Shoemaker, Marcus Dellinger, DeVan Barbour, David Dixon, Kelly Daughtry, Von Loor (Friday).
• U.S. House District 14: Democrats Pam Genant, Brendan Maginnis; Republicans Tim Moore, Jeff Gregory, Lillian Joseph.
• Governor: Democrats Chrelle Booker, Mike Morgan, Marcus Williams, Josh Stein, Gary Foxx; Wayne Turner of the Green Party; Libertarians Shannon Bray, Mike Ross (Friday); Republicans Dale Folwell, Bill Graham, Mark Robinson.
• Lieutenant governor: Democrats Ben Clark, Rachel Hunt, Mark H. Robinson (Friday); Libertarian Dee Watson; Republicans Rivera Douthit, Deanna Ballard, Jeffrey Elmore, Hal Weatherman, Marlenis Hernandez Novoa, Allen Mashburn, Peter Boykin, Seth Woodall, Sam Page, Jim O’Neill, Ernest Reeves (Friday).
• Attorney general: Democrats Tim Dunn, Satana Deberry, Jeff Jackson; Republican Dan Bishop.
• Agriculture commissioner: Democrat Sarah Taber; Libertarian Sean Haugh; Republicans Steve Troxler, the incumbent, and Colby Hammonds.
• Insurance commissioner: Democrats David Wheeler, Natasha Marcus; Republicans Mike Causey, the incumbent, Robert Brawley, Andrew Marcus (Friday).
• Secretary of state: Incumbent Democrat Elaine Marshall; Republicans Jesse Thomas, Chad Brown, Christine Villaverde.
• Secretary of labor: Democrat Braxton Winston; Republicans Luke Farley, Travis Wilson, Jon Hardister, Chuck Stanley.
• Auditor: Democrat Jessica Holmes; Libertarian Bob Drach; Republicans Charles Dingee, Jack Clark, Jim Kee, Jeff Tarte, Tony Street, Dave Boliek (Friday).
• Treasurer: Democrats Wesley Harris, Gabe Esparza; Republicans A.J. Daoud, Rachel Johnson, Brad Briner (Friday).
• Superintendent of public instruction: Democrats Katie Eddings, Kenon Crumble, Mo Green (Friday); Republicans Michele Morrow, Catherine Truitt, the incumbent.
