In one of the closer races of the night, Democrat Harper Peterson defeated Republican Senator Michael Lee in North Carolina Senate District 9. With all precincts reporting, the margin between the two was 38 votes. There was a dominant issue in this campaign.
Former Wilmington Mayor Harper Peterson says GenX and other perfluorinated compounds in the region’s drinking water was the issue in this election.
“Clean air and clean water. That’s a basic human right. They're not asking for it. They're demanding it. And this has been 18 months now. We've got a really weak bill – the water quality act that my opponent introduced and allowed lobbyists and the industries to edit and write, literally write the legislation and, people saw that. We know who's running the show up there and that's not representation of the people here.”
Peterson says he will be a strong voice for the community.