(The Center Square) – Republican registrations in North Carolina have crawled within 653 of being even with Democrats in a battleground state where choosing independence is the trend for about 7 in 10.
There’s no indication the Grand Old Party will soar into first anytime soon, nor does there seem much chance Democrats will ever again wield the one-sided power brandished as recently as the Clinton administration some 30 years ago much less the Hunt gubernatorial years of the 1970s. The unaffiliated block has more than 2.9 million of the state’s more than 7.6 registrations, a 38.8% share.
Democrats (2,311,063) and Republicans (2,310,410) have respective shares of 30.254 and 30.245.
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.
