RALEIGH — While much of the attention was on the North Carolina gubernatorial primaries, results like 10-term incumbent General Assembly Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow) being upset by newcomer Wyatt Gable, a college student finishing his degree at East Carolina University, were notable on the election undercard.
The unofficial results put the 21-year-old Gable 95 votes, or 1.96% of the vote, ahead of Cleveland, who is 84.
Primary night also saw three moderate Democrats targeted by progressives in the party.
Three Democrats — Sen. Mike Woodard (Durham), Rep. Cecil Brockman (Guilford) and Rep. Michael Wray (Northampton) — were accused by progressives in their party for voting with Republicans to override several of Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes.
Two of the three lost their primary race.
Woodard lost to challenger Sophia Chitlik, who said on her website that she had worked for the Department of Labor under former President Barack Obama.
In her bid, Chitlik received the backing of the N.C. Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus. She also received endorsements from far-left political organizations such as the Durham People’s Alliance.
Wray lost to Rodney Pierce, but just barely — by only 42 votes — and there may be a recount called. If not, Pierce wins the seat since no Republican is running to oppose the Democrat in the race.
Pierce describes himself as an “award-winning educator” and “a historian” who touts affiliations with the N.C. Association of Educators, American Federation of Teachers, State Employees Association of N.C., and as having served on the Governor’s Teacher Advisory Committee. His LinkedIn profile says he is currently a middle school social studies teacher in Northampton County.
Pierce was also endorsed by the NCDP’s Progressive Caucus as well as Carolina Forward and education historian Diane Ravitch’s education nonprofit Network for Public Education.
As for Brockman, the Guilford lawmaker beat challenger Jay Adams by just 83 votes, according to unofficial results. Brockman next faces Republican Joseph Perotta in November.
Another noteworthy highlight was Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham, a Democrat who is typically the top vote-getter, coming in fourth out of five candidates on the ballot. She is the mother of state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who controversially switched parties from Democrat to Republican last year to give the GOP a supermajority in the N.C. House.
Leigh Altman and Arthur Griffin finished first and second, respectively, and newcomer Yvette Townsend-Ingram had just over 13,000 more votes than Cotham — who was first elected to the council in 2012 — for third. Altman, Griffin and Townsend-Ingram will become at-large council members.
Turnout across the state was lower this presidential election year cycle than it was in 2020 despite the state having more registered voters this year.
Unofficial results show a ballot cast rate of 24.02%. That translates to 1,790,838 out of 7,456,236 possible votes. In 2020, the rate was 31.19%, or 2,164,731 votes cast out of 6,940,995 possible votes.
