Voters in North Carolina cast their ballots in the 2020 presidential election, and Decision Desk HQ projected that Donald Trump would win the state’s 15 electoral votes on November 10. The Tar Heel state’s race took many days to call after Election Day because Trump and Joe Biden were nearly neck and neck in the state and ballots could be received until November 12.
During a press conference on November 4, State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said “North Carolina stopped counting votes on election night because there were no more votes to count at that time. There are also no more ballots that can be cast for election. All eligible ballots have already left the voters’ hands.”
Heavy has the live results of the 2020 presidential election and the North Carolina results, courtesy of our partners at Decision Desk HQ, available below:
Follow the Live Presidential Election Results From North Carolina Here, Including a Map Showing the Votes Throughout the State
Decision Desk HQ has provided a specific live election results widget for the 2020 presidential race in North Carolina. The results are available below; simply hover over a county for more detailed results:
Early voting has been taking place in North Carolina since October 15 and all voters are able to request an absentee ballot, so a lot of the voting in the state occurred prior to November 3. According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE), about 4.5 million registered voters have already had their say, which is more than 60% of registered voters. According to the latest voter registration statistics, there are 2,617,358 registered Democratic voters and 2,223,516 registered Republicans.
The race for the state’s 15 electoral college votes is an important one for the presidency, but more so for Trump, according to North Carolina State University political science professor Steven Greene. “It is almost impossible to see how he has a path to 270 electoral votes without NC,” Greene told Al Jazeera, saying the state is “essential to Trump.” He said for Biden, winning the state “would be nice” but not necessary for a win.
Both candidates’ campaigns made stops in North Carolina in the days before the election, with Trump telling his supporters at a Sunday night rally: “Two days from now we are going to win this great state just like we did last time. You were the one that put us over that hump.” Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris and his wife Jill Biden both stopped in North Carolina as well, Al Jazeera reported.
There are other key races taking place in the state on Election Day. All eyes will also be on North Carolina’s race for a Senate seat which could have a major impact on the makeup of the upper chamber and is a key state in deciding which party will have a majority there. Republican Senator Thom Tillis, the incumbent, is heading into the final stretch as the underdog, just trailing Democrat Cal Cunningham in the latest polls. The result of that race is available below:
North Carolina will also be running elections to fill its 13 seats to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2020 election, which were won by 10 Republicans and three Democrats in the last election. The 8th, 9th and 11th congressional district races are likely to be the closest ones in the state.
In the 8th Congressional District, Republican Representative Richard Hudson is a very slight favorite to win a fifth term over the Democratic nominee, Patricia Timmons-Goodson. In the 9th Congressional District, the Republican incumbent, Representative Dan Bishop, will look to hold off Democratic nominee Cynthia Wallace.
The 11th Congressional District saw Republican candidate Madison Cawthorn go up against Democrat Moe Davis for the seat vacated by Mark Meadows. Decision Desk HQ has projected that Cawthorn will win that seat.
The results for the House races are available in the widget below by selecting North Carolina from the dropdown menu:
The local race results will also be available on the NCSBE website here.
North Carolina Polls Heading Into Election Day Showed Biden With a Slight Lead Over Trump
A November 2 poll from Ipsos showed Biden leading Trump by a very slight margin of one point, 49% to 48%, FiveThirtyEight reported. The latest A-rated poll came on November 1 from Emerson College and it showed Biden and Trump even at 47%.
Before that, on October 30, a Marist College poll had Biden leading Trump by five points, 51% to 46%. Another A-rated poll from October 29 had Biden ahead by three points, 48% to 45%.
The updated average of all polls provided by FiveThirtyEight has Biden leading by 1.8 points, showing that this is a very close race.
North Carolina Is Typically a Red State & Voted for a Republican Candidate Nearly Every Election Since 1968; Trump Won the State in 2016 by 3.6%
North Carolina is usually considered a red state and voted for the Republican candidate every election since 1968 with only two exceptions, including Barack Obama in 2008. That year, Obama just barely defeated John McCain “by about 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million cast (49.7% to 49.4%)” according to 270toWin.
The following election, the state flipped back to Republican Mitt Romney with a 2% margin.
In 2016, Trump won the state by a 3.6% margin over Hillary Clinton. Trump won 2,362,631 votes while Clinton won 2,189,316, according to the NCSBE website. Libertarian Gary Johnson received 130,126 votes.
See Below for the Live Nationwide Results of the 2020 Presidential Race With a Map & Electoral College Votes
Heavy has partnered with Decision Desk HQ to track live election results from across the country. For the results of the nationwide presidential race, see below:
To keep track of just the race to the 270 electoral college votes needed to secure the presidency, see the live results tracker below:
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