RALEIGH — State legislator Sen. Rachel Hunt, daughter of former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, defeated Republican Hal Weatherman in the race for lieutenant governor.
Though results are not official, Hunt defeated Weatherman by more than 100,000 votes.
Hunt, 59, was in her first term as a General Assembly senator for Mecklenburg County when she announced her bid for lieutenant governor. She had served two terms in the North Carolina House prior to moving to the Senate.
Her platform for lieutenant governor included “investing in our public schools, expanding access to health care, and helping our local businesses thrive.”
The post pinned to the top of the Hunt campaign X account is a video ad with the message, “I’m running for lieutenant governor because the Republican plan isn’t this year’s 12-week abortion ban; it’s next year’s total abortion ban.”
Hunt had pulled out of the only debate between her and Weatherman around a week before the Sept. 17 event was to occur. The debate had been set up after the primaries and was set to be held at UNC Charlotte. It was to be co-sponsored by Spectrum News 1 and NC Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL).
Weatherman, 54, was the chief of staff to former two-term Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. He also served as chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick. He secured his nomination in a runoff following the March primary by defeating Forsyth District Attorney Jim O’Neill with around 74% of the vote.
Weatherman was the campaign manager for Forest in 2020, when Forest lost to Gov. Roy Cooper. Since then, Weatherman founded and became president of the Electoral Education Foundation, an election integrity watchdog group formed in October 2021.
A key issue driving Weatherman’s campaign was education and students being able to earn a degree that translates into good paying jobs.
“My primary goal in seeking the office of Lt. Governor is to use the authority of the office to fundamentally remove the stigma our society has placed on working in the trades,” Weatherman says on his campaign website.
He also wanted to focus on economic development in rural counties and the state’s critical agriculture industry, as well as revamping the state’s emergency management system to deal with natural disasters and create a state “strategic stockpile.”
Weatherman was the first in the state to announce he would run for lieutenant governor and spent the past year visiting all 100 counties.
“I will force her to compete in the world of ideas, her ideas, her worldview, her values, her ideals versus mine in all 100 counties,” Weatherman said in a post-primary interview with North State Journal. “I will not allow the race to be dictated by just a handful of big counties. I will not do that. I will force her to defend her record and her positions in all 100 counties or yield the ground.”
