You are here: Home / News / Election 2018 / 2018 Election results: Democrats successful on local level; easy win for Mark Meadows; Voter ID amendment passes

2018 Election results: Democrats successful on local level; easy win for Mark Meadows; Voter ID amendment passes

November 7, 2018 by

First African-American chief of police, Quentin Miller, won in the 2018 elections with a comfortable majority of the votes. In his acceptance speech he promised to build a stronger and safer community. Photo by Jonathan Birek.

There was a feeling of anxiety and excitement in the air at Highland Brewing Company for the Buncombe County Democratic watch party on Election night. A big screen in the front of the room projected the national coverage and a smaller screen beside it showed the numbers from the Buncombe County races. The room would erupt into applause whenever the big screen showed positive numbers for Democratic candidates or they would sink into their chairs and grown if a Republican was projected to win. Chair of the Buncombe County Democratic Party, Jeff Rose, addressed the crowd that was even bigger than expected.

“We were expecting around 300 people and there are almost 600 here now and this place is full. We intentionally picked a bigger venue than 2016 but even more people came out,” Rose said.
It was a successful night for many of the Democratic candidates in the building including, Amanda Edwards, Brian Turner, and Quentin Miller who all took home wins in their elections. Amanda Edwards replaces Glenda Weinert as County Commissioner in District 2, Brian Turner defeated Marilyn Brown and earned a spot in the NC House of Representatives, and Quentin Miller becomes the first black Sheriff in Buncombe County. Miller addressed the crowd shortly confirmation of his win.
“Thank you to everyone for coming out. Over a year ago we started talking about being a community of We, and this right here, this is a community of We,” Miller said.
He continued later in a Facebook post writing:

Not everyone was celebrating. Two Democratic candidates came up short in their elections. First time candidate Donna Ensley put up a good fight against the incumbent Robert Pressley in the race for County Commission in District 3 but fell short by a little over 600 votes. Phillip Price was also defeated by the incumbent Mark Meadows as the representative from 11th Congressional District by a wide margin – Meadows got 59 percent of the vote while Price only 39 percent. This is his fourth term.
From the other bigger races for representatives of western NC Joe Sam Queen (D) managed to get the seat in the N.C. House district 119 from the incumbent Mike Clampitt (R) and break the Republican supermajority and returning the veto power to the governor Roy Cooper (D).
Carolina Public Press reports that:

“Democratic Party chair Wayne Goodwin said he looked forward to a different day in Raleigh, now that General Assembly leaders no longer have the guarantee of overrides to bills vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper.“North Carolina Democrats have had our eyes set on one goal — breaking the Republican supermajority and electing a legislature that will work with Gov. Cooper to invest more in education, expand access to affordable health care and support working families,” Goodwin said in a statement.”

With the governor more able to sustain a veto, Cooper is expected to push for Medicaid expansion next year in his budget plan. He’ll have his largest support for the idea in the House, where a bill was proposed this year but did not advance.

Unofficial results show the House margin shifting from the current 75-45 alignment to 66-54. The GOP’s majority in the Senate would drop from 35-15 to 29-21.

Four of the six proposed constitutional amendments were approved.  The closest of those races was the amendment requiring photo identification to vote in North Carolina.  It passed by a 56 to 44 percent margin.  Also North Carolina voters approved the amendments that strengthen victims’ rights legislation; the right to hunt and fish and capping the state income tax rate at 7 percent. The two amendments that were defeated were on appointment powers for judges and members of the state board of elections, handing Governor Cooper another victory over Republicans that control the General Assembly.
Democrat Anita Earls also won a seat on the state supreme court, defeating incumbent Republican Barbara Jackson.  Earls win gives Democrats a 5-2 majority on North Carolina’s highest court.  Interestingly, Earls led the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and helped sue over legislative and congressional districts and challenged a voter ID law from 2013.  In her victory remarks on Nov. 6, Earls said,
“By working together over the past year, we have shown that we can stand up for the importance of an independent judiciary, stand up for the principle that no one is above the law, and stand up for the importance of the people’s right to vote.  We can protect our democracy by our hard work, by our commitment to each other, and by letting our voices be heard at the ballot box.  Tonight we celebrate, but in the coming days we must continue to work for equal justice under law.  In the words of Nelson Mandela, “after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
See the full results from the 2018 elections on North Carolina State Elections Board.
Results from the voting in Jackson County can be seen here.
Filed Under: Election 2018, Featured, News Tagged With: , , , ,