Election Day turnout by Republicans — and record voting turnout overall — kept North Carolina’s purple-state tradition alive in the 2o20 federal election races.

President Trump ran up a big margin in Election Day voting to hold a slim and likely sustainable lead in North Carolina’s presidential election vote. At 12:50 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, Trump led Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden by 78,000 votes with more than 117,000 absentee ballots and other provisional ballots to be accounted for.

Meanwhile, incumbent U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis again closed strong and overtook Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham. Tillis consistently trailed in polling throughout the campaign, But he had closed to within the margin of error in the final weeks as revelations went public of an extramarital affair involving Cunningham. At press time, Tillis led by 97,000 votes.

Republicans went into the race with a 10-3 lead in congressional seats. The party lost two open seats, in the 2nd and 6th Congressional Districts. The districts were redrawn by court order, and the new, Democrat-friendly boundaries led GOP incumbents in both to retire. Former Wake County lawmaker Deborah Ross won the 2nd District and Greensboro community leader Kathy Manning won the 6th.

Results of all races, (winners, if declared, in bold):

President

  • Donald Trump, Republican (I), 50%
  • Joe Biden, Democrat, 48.6%
  • Jo Jorgensen, Libertarian, 0.9%
  • Howie Hawkins, Green, 0.2%
  • Don Blankenship, Constitution, 0.1%

U.S. Senate

  • Thom Tillis, Rep (I), 48.7%
  • Cal Cunningham, Dem, 46.9%
  • Shannon Bray, Libt, 3%
  • Kevin Hayes, Con, 1.2%

U.S. House, 1st District

  • G.K. Butterfield, Democrat (I), 54%
  • Sandy Smith, Republican, 46%

2nd District

  • Deborah Ross, Dem, 63%
  • Alan Swain, Rep, 35%
  • Jeff Matemu, Libertarian, 2%

3rd District

  • Greg Murphy, Rep (I), 63%
  • Daryl Farrow, Dem, 37%

4th District

  • David Price, Dem (I), 67%
  • Robert Thomas, Rep, 33%

5th District

  • Virginia Foxx, Rep (I), 67%
  • David Wilson Brown, Dem, 31%
  • Jeff Gregory, Constitution, 2%

6th District

  • Kathy Manning, Dem, 62%
  • Joseph Lee Haywood, Rep, 48%

7th District

  • David Rouzer, Rep (I), 60%
  • Christopher Ward, Dem, 40%
  • Theresa Everett, Write-In. 0.2%

8th District

  • Richard Hudson, Rep (I), 53%
  • Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Dem, 47%

9th District

  • Dan Bishop, Rep (I), 55%
  • Cynthia Wallace, Dem, 45%

10th District

  • Patrick McHenry, Rep (I), 69%
  • David Parker, Dem, 31%

11th District

  • Moe Davis, Dem, 42%
  • Madison Cawthorn, Rep, 54%
  • Tamara Zwinak, Green, 1%
  • Tracey DeBruhl, Lib, 2%

12th District

  • Alma Adams, Dem (I), unopposed

13th District

  • Ted Budd, Rep (I), 68%
  • Scott Huffman, Dem, 32%