The North Carolina Council of State races followed the same pattern as 2016.

The NC Council of State is made up of the 10 state offices elected statewide, including the governor.

It appears the voters of North Carolina like the idea of having a Democratic governor and a Republican lieutenant governor.

All totals are based on the unofficial figures reported by the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Tuesday, Nov. 3.  Since there are outstanding absentee ballots that will not be counted until Monday, Nov. 12 close races could be affected.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, with 2,803,782 votes for 51.5 percent, defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, with 2,563,258 votes for 47 percent. So Cooper won reelection, which is a good indication that the majority of the voters in the state approve of the way Cooper has run the state by executive order since March and kept North Carolina locked down because of COVID-19 when neighboring states were much more open.

But the voters also elected first-time candidate Republican Mark Robinson lieutenant governor by almost the same margin. Robinson had 2,773,751 votes for 51.7 percent to defeat state Rep. Yvonne Holley who had 2,595,868 votes for 48.3 percent.

Robinson, who is a strong conservative and a vibrant speaker, will be the state’s first black lieutenant governor.

All the incumbents running for Council of State offices won, and in races where the incumbent didn’t run, the candidate from the incumbent’s party won.

Democrat NC Attorney General Josh Stein with 2,684,845 votes for 50.1 percent appears to have defeated Republican Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill with 2,674,085 votes for 49.9 percent. So with over 5.2 million votes cast in the race, Stein was ahead by a little more than 10,000 votes.

Democrat NC Auditor Beth Wood with 50.9 percent of the vote defeated Republican Tony Street with 49.1 percent.

Republican NC Commissioner of Agricultural Steve Troxler from Brown Summit, with 53.9 percent of the vote, defeated Democrat Jenna Wadwsorth, with 46.1 percent.

Republican NC Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey from Guilford County with 51.8 percent of the vote defeated Democrat Wayne Goodwin with 48.2 percent. This was a rematch of the 2016 election where Causey was the challenger and Goodwin was the incumbent.

Republican Josh Dobson won the race for NC commissioner of labor with 50.9 percent of the vote over Democrat Jessica Holmes with 49.1 percent.

Dobson will be replacing long time Republican Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry who, after serving for 20 years, did not run for reelection.

Democrat NC Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who has held that office since 1996, won reelection with 51.1 percent of the vote defeating Republican challenger E.C. Sykes with 48.9 percent.

NC Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson ran for lieutenant governor and lost in the Republican primary, which left the superintendent of public instruction as an open seat.

Republican Catherine Truitt with 51.4 percent of the vote defeated Democrat Jen Mangrum who had 48.6 percent of the vote.

Republican NC Treasurer Dale Folwell won reelection with 52.6 percent of the vote over Ronnie Chatterji with 47.4 percent

So the superintendent of public instruction and secretary of labor remain Republican and the Council of State continues to have a six-to-four Republican majority.

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