Local elections Tuesday in North Carolina appear to have been driven by local issues, with little evidence of any statewide trend, analysts say.

“I didn’t see a lot of trends in North Carolina to make me feel like there’s a huge wave going on one way or the other,” said David McLennan, who chairs the Political Science Department at William Peace University in Raleigh. “There are a lot of interesting results, but not a pattern, from a state perspective.

More than 1,100 candidates or ballot measures were decided by voters, according to the State Board of Elections. Nearly a half-million North Carolinians voted, a turnout rate of nearly 14.4 percent.

Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC School of Journalism’s Program on Public Life, agreed. “I don’t think that there is a particular statewide pattern out of these local elections,” Guillory said.

Harnett County approved a sales tax measure by a vote of 71 percent to 29 percent after voters had rejected sales tax hikes on four consecutive occasions. Meantime, voters in Yadkin County turned down a proposed sales tax increase by a 16-point margin. Several school and community college bond measures passed, but a proposed school bond in Onslow County failed, 36-64.

Guillory also said he was not surprised that Democrat Patrick Cannon was elected mayor in Charlotte. “The fact that Cannon won re-emphasizes how much our cities — Charlotte in particular — have become the base of the Democratic Party in North Carolina,” Guillory said.

“It will be fascinating to watch the new mayor in Charlotte, how that plays out,” Guillory said, noting that former Mayor Anthony Foxx is now the U.S. secretary of transportation and that Foxx’s predecessor, Pat McCrory, is North Carolina’s governor.

Guillory said he expects to see Foxx continue to be involved in politics in North Carolina once his tenure with the Obama administration is over.

“I certainly expect Anthony Foxx to return to North Carolina and build a political career,” Guillory said.

McLennan noted an “interesting pattern” in Greensboro, where Nancy Vaughan defeated incumbent Mayor Robbie Perkins, marking the third straight election in which a first-term mayor has been defeated in the Gate City.

“You compare that to Raleigh or Charlotte, and once you’re in, you’re in,” McLennan said, noting the relatively long tenures for mayors in the state’s two largest cities.

Chalmers Brumbaugh, who chairs the Political Science Department at Elon University, said the Greensboro voters ousting their mayor could indicate “a modest anti-incumbent” feeling, adding, “I don’t think it’s a big trend.”

Brumbaugh, who worked as a precinct official in Gibsonville on Tuesday, noted the small turnout and said voters weren’t all that excited.

“I didn’t see any fire in the belly at all,” Brumbaugh said. “People come in and they didn’t know why they were there. … They just vote out of habit. It’s voting day and they go.”

In Fayetteville, Republican Nat Robertson narrowly defeated Democrat Val Applewhite in an officially nonpartisan election. Unofficial results show Robertson defeating Applewhite by 270 votes out of 22,906 votes cast.

Morrisville Mayor Jackie Holcombe, a gun control advocate, lost to Morris Stohlman.

In Princeville, the subject of a recent critical audit from state Auditor Beth Wood’s office, incumbent Mayor Priscilla Everette-Oates was ousted by Bobbie D. Jones.

Winston-Salem Democratic Mayor Allen Joines coasted to re-election as did Durham Mayor Bill Bell and Burlington Mayor Ronnie Wall.

Voters in Mecklenburg and Johnston counties approved bond referendums for both public schools and community colleges. Pitt County voters approved community college bonds. Voters in Onslow County defeated a public school bond referendum.

More than two dozen alcohol referendums were on the ballot in various North Carolina localities. Nineteen of them passed.

Six alcohol measures were on the ballot in the western North Carolina town of Rhodhiss, and six failed, all of them approximately by 40 percent to 60 percent votes.

In Tabor City, unofficial tallies show a mixed drink referendum failing on a tie vote, 133-133.

In Broadway, an ABC store referendum failed by five votes out of 191 cast. Even so, voters approved referendums allowing the sale of malt beverages, unfortified wine, and mixed beverages.

Harrisburg also defeated an ABC store referendum.

Barry Smith (@Barry_Smith) is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.