2020 North Carolina Council of State elections

The North Carolina Council of State elections of 2020 were held on November 3, 2020, to select the ten officers of the North Carolina Council of State. These elections coincided with the presidential election, elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the Senate and elections to the North Carolina General Assembly and top state courts. Primary elections were held on March 3, 2020, for offices for which more than one candidate filed per party.

The ten members of the North Carolina Council of State are statewide-elected officers serving four-year terms.

The result of the 2020 elections was a Council of State consisting of four Democrats and six Republicans, just as it had been before the elections. Three seats (Lieutenant Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Commissioner of Labor) were open, but in each case, a Republican succeeded a fellow Republican.

Governor
Incumbent governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ran for a second term. The Republican Party nominated Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest. The Libertarian Party nominated Steven J. DiFore, and the Constitution Party nominated Al Pisano. Cooper won re-election to a second term with 51.5% of the vote. Cooper received the most votes of any Democrat on the ballot in North Carolina in 2020.

Lieutenant governor
Incumbent lieutenant governor Dan Forest, a Republican, was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits set by the North Carolina Constitution. Forest ran for the governorship.

The Republican Party nominated Mark Robinson, a businessman and first-time political candidate. The Democratic party nominated State Representative Yvonne Lewis Holley. Robinson defeated Holley, winning 51.6% of the vote to Holley's 48.4%. Robinson thus became North Carolina's first African-American lieutenant governor.

Attorney general
Incumbent attorney general Josh Stein, a Democrat, ran for a second term. He faced Republican nominee Jim O'Neill in the general election. Stein defeated O'Neill by just over 13,000 votes out of over 5.4 million cast.

Secretary of state
Elaine Marshall, a Democrat, was first elected to the position of secretary of state in 1996 and had held the position since then. She was currently the longest-tenured member of the Council of State. She was unopposed in the primary. The Republican Party nominated businessman E.C. Sykes. Marshall won with 51.2% of the vote, a slightly smaller percentage of the vote than what she received in 2016. She was elected to her seventh term as secretary of state. No Republican had won election to this office since 1872, the longest streak for any state office in the country.

Declared

 * Elaine Marshall, incumbent secretary of state

Declared

 * Chad Brown, Gaston County commissioner
 * Michael LaPaglia, business consultant and nominee for North Carolina Secretary of State in 2016
 * E.C. Sykes, businessman

Results
[[File:2020 North Carolina Secretary of State Republican primary election results map by county.svg|thumb|300px|Results by county {{legend|#E27F7F|Sykes}}

{{legend|#FFC8CD|30–40%}}

{{legend|#FFB2B2|40–50%}}

{{legend|#E27F7F|50–60%}}

{{legend|#D75D5D|60–70%}} {{legend|#FF9A50|Brown}}

{{legend|#FFCCA9|30–40%}}

{{legend|#FFB580|40–50%}}

{{legend|#FF9A50|50–60%}}

{{legend|#EE8E50|60–70%}} {{legend|#FACA33|LaPaglia}}

{{legend|#FFEEAA|30–40%}}

{{legend|#FFDD55|40–50%}} ]]

State auditor
Incumbent Auditor Beth Wood, a Democrat, ran for a fourth term. She was narrowly re-elected in 2016, winning by just over six thousand votes. Wood was challenged in the Democratic primary by Luis Toledo, a former Assistant State Auditor. Toledo argued that change was needed in the Auditor's office. Beth Wood won the primary by a large margin. Anthony Street, a small business owner and member of the Brunswick County Soil and Water Board, won the Republican primary. Wood won the general election with 50.9% of the vote.

Declared

 * Luis Toledo, U.S. Air Force veteran
 * Beth Wood, incumbent state auditor

Results
[[File:2020 North Carolina State Auditor Democratic primary election results map by county.svg|thumb|Results by county {{legend|#7996E2|Wood}}

{{legend|#584CDE|70–80%}}

{{legend|#3933E5|80–90%}}

{{legend|#0D0596|>90%}} ]]

Declared

 * Tim Hoegemeyer, general counsel for the Office of State Auditor and U.S. Marine Corps veteran
 * Tony Wayne Street, Brunswick County Soil and Water Board member

State treasurer
Incumbent Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican, ran for a second term.

Duke University professor Ronnie Chatterji won the nomination of the Democratic Party by receiving 36% of the vote in the primary. He defeated Charlotte City Council member Dimple Ajmera and Matt Leatherman, who served as policy director for former state treasurer Janet Cowell.

Folwell defeated Chatterji in the general election. Folwell won 52.6% of the vote to Chatterji's 47.4%.

Declared

 * Dimple Ajmera, Charlotte city councilwoman
 * Ronnie Chatterji, professor at Duke University
 * Matt Leatherman, policy director for former North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell

Results
[[File:2020 North Carolina state treasurer Democratic primary county map.svg|thumb|150px|Primary results by county: Chatterji

{{legend|#0030c0|Chatterji—61-70%}}

{{legend|#154bef|Chatterji—51-60%}}

{{legend|#4872f1|Chatterji—41-50%}}

{{legend|#00ffff|Chatterji—31-40%}} Ajmera

{{legend|#003900|Ajmera—61-70%}}

{{legend|#006400|Ajmera—51-60%}}

{{legend|#59d622|Ajmera—41-50%}}

{{legend|#90ee90|Ajmera—31-40%}} Leatherman

{{legend|#ffff00|Leatherman—51-60%}}

{{legend|#f2f26c|Leatherman—41-50%}}

{{legend|#f2f2a0|Leatherman—31-40%}} ]]

Declared

 * Dale Folwell, incumbent state treasurer

Superintendent of Public Instruction
Mark Johnson was elected to the position of State Superintendent in 2016, defeating incumbent June Atkinson by a narrow margin. Johnson opted not to run for a second term as Superintendent, instead declaring his candidacy for lieutenant governor. Johnson's candidacy was unsuccessful, placing third in the Republican primary.

Jen Mangrum, an associate professor at UNC Greensboro, received the most votes out of the five candidates in the Democratic primary. Catherine Truitt, chancellor of Western Governors University North Carolina and a former education advisor to Governor Pat McCrory, ran for the Republican nomination. She defeated State Representative D. Craig Horn in the primary. This was the only Council of State election in which both candidates were women.

On Election Day, Truitt defeated Magnum by 2.76 percentage points. She won a slightly higher percentage of the vote than Mark Johnson did in 2016.

Declared

 * James Barrett, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school board member
 * Constance Lav Johnson, educator and activist
 * Michael Maher, assistant dean of professional education at North Carolina State University
 * Jen Mangrum, associate professor at UNC Greensboro and candidate for North Carolina Senate in 2018
 * Keith Sutton, Wake County School board member

Withdrawn

 * Amy Jablonski, educational consultant and former teacher

Declared

 * D. Craig Horn, state representative
 * Catherine Truitt, chancellor of Western Governors University in North Carolina and former senior education advisor to Pat McCrory

Declined

 * Mark Johnson, incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction

Commissioner of Agriculture
Incumbent Commissioner Steve Troxler, a Republican, was first elected in 2004. He was unopposed in the primary.

Three Democrats ran to challenge Troxler: Walter Smith, who ran for the office in 2012 and 2016 (losing to Troxler both times), Jenna Wadsworth, a Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, and Donovan Alexander Watson, a businessman from Durham. Wadsworth came in first place in the primary.

On election day, Troxler won a fifth term as Agriculture Commissioner. He won 53.9% of the statewide vote, a slightly smaller percentage than he received in 2016, when he won 55.6%. Despite this, Troxler still won the largest percentage of the vote of statewide candidate in North Carolina in 2020.

Declared

 * Walter Smith, 2012 and 2016 Democratic nominee
 * Jenna Wadsworth, Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor
 * Donovan Alexander Watson, businessman

Results
[[File:2020 North Carolina agriculture commissioner Democratic primary county map.svg|thumb|150px|Primary results by county: Wadsworth

{{legend|#011966|Wadsworth—71-80%}}

{{legend|#0030c0|Wadsworth—61-70%}}

{{legend|#154bef|Wadsworth—51-60%}}

{{legend|#4872f1|Wadsworth—41-50%}} Smith

{{legend|#002400|Smith—71-80%}}

{{legend|#003900|Smith—61-70%}}

{{legend|#006400|Smith—51-60%}}

{{legend|#59d622|Smith—41-50%}}

{{legend|#90ee90|Smith—31-40%}} ]]

Declared

 * Steve Troxler, incumbent Agriculture Commissioner (unopposed in the primary)

Commissioner of Labor
Cherie Berry was first elected to the position of Commissioner of Labor in 2000 and took office as only the second Republican Labor Commissioner in the history of North Carolina. On April 2, 2019, Berry announced that she would not seek re-election, and would retire from politics. Josh Dobson, a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives since 2013, won the Republican primary over Chuck Stanley, a construction safety manager, and former State Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd. Wake County commissioner Jessica Holmes was the only Democrat to run. Dobson won the general election with 50.8% of the vote.

Declared

 * Jessica Holmes, Wake County commissioner (unopposed in the primary)

Declared

 * Pearl Burris-Floyd, former state representative
 * Josh Dobson, state representative
 * Chuck Stanley, construction safety manager

Declined

 * Cherie Berry, incumbent State Labor Commissioner

Commissioner of Insurance
Incumbent Commissioner Mike Causey, a Republican, ran for a second term.

Declared

 * Wayne Goodwin, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party and former State Insurance Commissioner (2009–2017)

Declared

 * Mike Causey, incumbent State Insurance Commissioner
 * Ronald Pierce, candidate for North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance in 2016

Aftermath
The Council of State was sworn in on January 9, 2021.