(The Center Square) – Consolation prize as it may be, the change of the Republican Party having more voter registrations than Democrats in North Carolina is historic and now within 1,216.
Context for the matter, however, is that voters choosing to register are consistently – about 7 in 10 – in 2025 opting to be unaffiliated.
With Saturday’s weekly update from the State Board of Elections, the unaffiliated bloc continues to close in on 3 million registrations. The 2,962,428 is greater than Democrats’ 2,310,814 and Republicans’ 2,309,598.
Percentage gains last week of the 6,538 additional registrations was 72.5% unaffiliated, 17.1% Republicans and 0.07% Democrats. Those numbers are consistent with recent weeks.
The difference of the major parties without rounding is a Democrats’ lead of 0.0159294%.
Democrats in March 2022 were surpassed by the number choosing no party; Republicans were surpassed in September 2017.
Total voter registrations eclipsed 7.8 million on Election Day 2024; routine maintenance throughout the year is a key contributing factor to the volume changes. This fall was an off-year election cycle, when 91 of 100 counties had municipal races.
A mere 16 years ago Democrats were in eight of 10 seats for the Council of State and commanded 30-20 and 68-52 majorities in the General Assembly. Then came the historic 2010 midterms, and both chambers being won by Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction 140 years earlier.
Today those figures are 5-5 in the executive offices, and Republicans hold advantages of 30-20 in the Senate and 71-49 in the House of Representatives.
For context on how Democrats once had a lock, from the every two years elections of 1930 to 1982 the party was below 43 of the 50 state Senate seats just twice (won 38 in 1969, won 35 in 1973) and didn’t have fewer than 30 until only getting 26 in the 1994 cycle. From 1930 to 1982 in the House, Democrats had fewer than 102 of the 120 just six times with 85 won in 1974 the worst.
Three decades ago at Election Day 1992, North Carolinians elected Democrats to all 10 Council of State positions and majorities of 39-11 in the state Senate and 78-42 in the House.
