2020 Elections

More than a week has passed since the 2020 Election.  President-Elect Joe Biden is moving forward with his transition plans, key Republican leaders are quiet, and there are questions about whether the American public is as divided as it’s ever been.  In North Carolina, Republicans head into the next legislative session with an as-yet unofficial 70-50 majority in the House and a 29-21 majority in the Senate. 

North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District has re-elected Republican Congressman David Rouzer for a fourth term.   The former state Senator handily defeated his Democratic challenger. 

North Carolina House District 20 is a new district with a new incumbent – as Republican representative Ted Davis, Junior moves from District 19 to 20. 

North Carolina’s House District 18 will keep its Democratic Incumbent.  Representative Deb Butler embarks on a third term with a nearly 20-point margin.  

 North Carolina Senate District 9, which covers most of New Hanover County, saw former Republican incumbent Michael Lee edge out the current Democratic incumbent Harper Peterson. 

  Among the six candidates for New Hanover County School Board Stephanie Walker, Hugh McManus, and Stephanie Kraybill have all won seats. WHQR reports this flips the Board to Democratic control.

  Polls open tomorrow, November 3rd, Election Day, at 6:30 AM and close at 7:30 PM. WHQR takes a look at what you need to know if you haven’t yet voted. 

Ben Schachtman and Rachel Lewis Hilburn unpack the dynamics that are shaping the 2020 Election in North Carolina and the Cape Fear region -- including a look at the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision extending the deadline for absentee ballots, how super PACs are trying to influence some races, who all these unaffiliated voters might be, and why politics is so divergent from policy-making.  

  North Carolina’s Senate District 9 is a re-match of 2018.  Michael Lee is challenging incumbent Harper Peterson – who edged Lee out of the same Senate seat two years ago by only 231 votes.  WHQR’s Rachel Lewis Hilburn spoke with both of them as part of the 2020 CoastLine Candidate Interviews.

New Hanover County’s Board of Commission has three of five seats open this year.  

Jonathan Barfield is the only incumbent  running for re-election, while Commissioners Pat Kusek and Woody White are not.  As part of the 2020 CoastLine Candidate Interviews, WHQR spoke with all six of the candidates.  Here are excerpts from interviews with three of them.

Early voting is underway in North Carolina and runs through October 31st.  More than half of the seats on New Hanover County’s Board of Commissioners, three of the five, are open this year. 

In the last weeks of the campaign, a television ad endorsing two Republican and one Democratic candidate aired in the Wilmington area, raising some eyebrows. It’s not just the cross-party ticket that struck some as odd, it’s also the group behind the ads --- a Raleigh-based super-PAC, the type of political committee that doesn’t often wade into local municipal or county races.

The group also produced television ads and mailers targeting two additional Democratic county commission candidates, an aggressive approach the New Hanover County GOP has largely avoided.

North Carolina’s Congressional District map has faced criticism for years.  In 2018, a federal court declared it unconstitutional and gerrymandered to favor Republican candidates.  

North Carolina’s House District 20 has new boundaries in time for the 2020 elections.  What used to be a district that included northern New Hanover County is now a smaller area and no longer includes Kure Beach or Carolina Beach.  

North Carolina Senate District 8 includes the whole of Brunswick, Bladen, and Pender Counties.  But this year, there’s another piece added to the district – a very small slice of New Hanover County’s northernmost part. 

   October 15th is the first day of one-stop early voting, which continues through October 31st. WHQR spoke with New Hanover County’s Board of Elections Director about what you need to know.   

North Carolina’s House District 18, redrawn for the 2020 elections, no longer includes any part of Brunswick County.  It’s now strictly a northern New Hanover County territory with more unaffiliated voters than those registered as Democrats or Republicans. 

With the 2020 election now less than a month away, Frank Iler and Tom Simmons are the candidates for NC House District 17. But it isn’t the first time the two have faced off in the race. 

  North Carolina House District 16 covers all of Pender County and the eastern portion of Columbus County. WHQR spoke with Debbi Fintak, the Democratic challenger to Republican incumbent Carson Smith, Junior.  

Pat Sykes and Bill Flythe are the District 3 candidates for the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners. The two have very different perspectives, visions, and ideas.