Preliminary results from the mid-term elections

The ‘red wave’ did not happen. My suspicion for that is two-fold: one, the democrats were convinced by their national leadership that the world would come to an end if Republicans won -  and many unaffiliated voters also believed that, and, the turn-out by Republican voters was too low to make a difference in local elections. Voter turnout means everything in Chatham County.

The best news of the night was that conservatives won all state-wide judicial elections, ensuring a conservative majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court. That will help ensure fair elections going forward. Republican Senator-Elect Ted Budd will represent us well as will Congressman Richard Hudson who was re-elected.

Here are the unofficial results from state-wide and local elections. I’ll have some more analysis after studying the results.

Partisan Offices

Chatham Board of Education

North Carolina Judicial Offices

Republicans won all of the state-wide judicial races, and gave conservatives a 5-2 majority on the NC Supreme Court. In my opinion this is the biggest win of the night for North Carolina, and should impact Voter ID, electoral maps and more going forward.

Thanks to everyone

The Chatham County Republican Party owes a huge thanks to the hundreds of volunteers, to the executive committee, to the readers of our newsletter, but especially to the candidates and their families for all the effort everyone put in to this election season. You are our Republic in action - expressing the will of the People to our elected representatives!

What is next?

For this election: Voting may be over but the results are not official until 'canvass'. That is the process to determine whether votes have been counted correctly. Any hand-to-eye audits need to be completed along with any recounts. The result is official certification of the election. The canvass meeting is 10 days after election day, and is open to the public.

For the party: The Republican Party across North Carolina will hold elections in the spring of 2023 for County Officers (Chair, Vice Chair(s), Secretary and Treasurer), as will each District. The State Convention will elect the State Chair and Vice Chair. If you are interested in any position, please let me know. I'll have more information on the conventions after the New Year.

Before the next election: We just finished an election but we need to start thinking about the next one in 2024. That's a big one - from President, US Senate, US House of Representatives, North Carolina Governor, Council of State offices, North Carolina House and Senate, plus local Judge, Commissioner and School Board races. If you are interested in being a candidate, please let me know. Before that even starts we will do a review of our Party's election processes, systems, successes, and challenges to see what can be improved before the next election.

Please stay tuned and stay involved!

Quote

While democracy must have its organizations and controls, its vital breath is individual liberty.

~ Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court 1930-1941