Democrat wins governor’s race in North Carolina. GOP takes New Hampshire

The governor’s race in North Carolina began as a competitive contest to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Robinson was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, but many Republicans distanced themselves from him after CNN reported in September that he was a regular commenter on a website called Nude Africa, where he was alleged to have praised slavery, railed against a Martin Luther King Jr. tribute, declared “I’m a black NAZI!” and recounted spying on women as they showered.

Robinson denied making the incendiary comments, but media reported extensive links between the Nude Africa user and his public identity. Robinson’s fall cleared a path for Stein, the state’s attorney general.

“We chose hope over hate, competence over chaos, decency over division,” Stein told supporters at a celebration Tuesday evening.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Robinson told supporters that he was “disappointed … for the people of North Carolina … but it was not to be, it appears.”

Elsewhere, gubernatorial contests unfolded as expected, with Republicans projected to win in Indiana, West Virginia, Vermont, Missouri, Montana, Utah and North Dakota, and Democrats declared the winners in Delaware and Washington state.

North Carolina and Pennsylvania, two states critical to the presidential race, hosted hotly contested elections for attorney general, and in North Carolina, voters considered whether to elect a state schools superintendent candidate who once called for a firing squad to assassinate former president Barack Obama.

And control of state legislatures was being decided in 5,807 legislative races spread across 44 states. In a handful of states, just a few victories could change which party controls the chambers in 2025. In Wisconsin, Tuesday’s balloting was the first time the state used a new court-mandated map that replaced a partisan version that favored Republicans. Observers were keen to learn how many seats Democrats would gain in the state legislature.

At the same time, voters in 41 states were deciding ballot initiatives on topics including abortion rights, education, the minimum wage, marijuana and how elections are conducted. Early results showed several measures barring noncitizens from voting were passing as well as most of the state initiatives to expand abortion rights.

“What’s on the ballots is something of an indicator of what’s in the zeitgeist,” said Helen Brewer, a policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The gubernatorial contest in New Hampshire was the closest in the nation this year, with two women vying to succeed incumbent Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, who is stepping down after eight years.

Ayotte was the victor over Democrat Joyce Craig, a former mayor of Manchester, in a contest that echoed the national themes of abortion rights, crime and opinions of former president Donald Trump.

Ayotte blamed Craig for Manchester’s homelessness problems and for raising taxes as mayor and argued she would turn New Hampshire into a version of neighboring Massachusetts, which Ayotte cast as too liberal. In her victory remarks, Ayotte reminded supporters that she had warned voters that the state was one election away from morphing into its neighbor. “Well guess what? Not on my watch,” she said.

Ayotte’s victory means there will be 13 women serving as governor simultaneously, a new record, according to the Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics. That could grow to 14 if Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, is elected vice president, as he would be replaced by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

North Carolina hosted a hot race for state attorney general, one of 10 contests for state attorney general on Tuesday. In a contest pitting two sitting members of Congress against one another, Democrat Jeff Jackson defeated Republican Dan Bishop.

Among the issues: who was better positioned to handle the fentanyl crisis and illegal immigration, as well as Bishop’s vote in Congress to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Unlike other Republicans in North Carolina, Bishop stood with Robinson, so the election may be read as an indication of how much damage the Robinson implosion inflicted on his party.

Pennsylvania’s close contest for attorney general saw Democrat Eugene DePasquale, a former auditor general and state legislator, face Republican Dave Sunday, the district attorney in York County. But this contest was milder, with the Republican nominee hewing closer toward the political center.

Like other Democrats, DePasquale emphasized his support for abortion rights. Sunday has said he would enforce the existing state law, which provides access up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

And North Carolina was home to a third headline-grabbing, tight contest: the race for schools superintendent, where the Republican candidate, Michele Morrow, is a home-schooling mom who has never held public office, has promoted Q-Anon conspiracy theories, and called public schools “indoctrination centers.” She faces Democrat Mo Green, a former school administrator.

In a 2020 tweet, Marrow suggested a “a pay-per-view” of Obama “in front of a firing squad.” She wrote: “I do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death.” (She defended the comments by pointing to deaths in the Middle East that resulted from drone strikes during Obama’s presidency.)

That got the attention of Obama, who took the unusual step of weighing in on a schools chief race.

“The Republican candidate has been spreading conspiracy theories and thinks I should face a firing squad,” Obama said last month during a campaign stop last month in Charlotte. “So I guess I am self-interested.”

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Ballot initiatives

The most-watched ballot issues focused on abortion rights, with 10 states considering measures that would guarantee access to the procedure. The measure in Florida failed Tuesday but efforts to protect or restore abortion access were approved or were leading in nearly all of the other nine states where the question was on the ballot.

Other issues before voters on Tuesday: A fresh wave of states considered whether to allow marijuana use for recreational and/or medical purposes. Six states weighed raising their minimum wage and/or requiring paid sick time for workers. And several ballot initiatives dealt with how future elections would be conducted.

In Ohio, voters rejected a proposal that would’ve removed politicians from the process of drawing of state legislative and congressional districts and given the power to a citizens commission. The Ohio Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the existing system wrongly created gerrymandered lines drawn to favor Republicans, who controlled the process.

A method of running elections called ranked-choice voting was being considered in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and the District of Columbia. (The measure in D.C. was projected to win.) It allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference from a multicandidate list; if a voter’s first-choice candidate does not have enough support to win, his or her vote is automatically transferred to their next choice.

Some of those measures also would change how primaries work, creating a multiparty primary and allowing two or more candidates to advance to the general election, including more than one person from the same party.

Conversely, measures in Arizona and Missouri sought to prohibit systems like this from taking effect, with Missouri’s projected to win, and a measure in Alaska would repeal a version already being used. And Montana had two measures on the ballot: one to allow multiple people from a primary to advance to the general election and one that would prohibit it.

Eight states considered measures to prohibit noncitizens from voting. Noncitizens are already prohibited from voting in federal elections and most other contests, too, and some opponents charged that the measures were politically motivated efforts to sow doubts about election integrity. But supporters pointed to a handful of municipalities that allow noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections. That will be barred in states that adopt these ballot initiatives.

Early results showed measures that bar noncitizen voting passing in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin. The issue was also on Tuesday’s ballot in Idaho.

Education-related measures were on the ballot in several states: Kentucky rejected an effort to allow public money to pay for private schools; voters in Colorado were considering a similar proposal. In Nebraska, voters were asked whether to repeal legislation creating this sort of voucher program.

In Florida, after several years of hotly contested, culture-war-tinged school board contests, voters rejected a proposal to require school board candidates to run for office with a party affiliation - a system now used in four states. It’s optional in another five.

And in Massachusetts, voters asked whether to repeal a requirement that students pass a state standardized test to graduate from high school.

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State legislatures

Heading into Tuesday’s election, 40 states had “trifectas” - defined as one party controlling the governor’s office and both legislative houses. After Tuesday, the number could go up or down.

If Democrats take control of the closely divided legislatures in Arizona or Pennsylvania, they could claim new trifectas, as both states have Democratic governors already. But the party was also at risk of losing their existing hold on power in Michigan and Minnesota.

Government is divided in Wisconsin, with a Democratic governor and an overwhelmingly GOP legislature. But with new court-ordered maps in effect for the state House and Senate, it was widely expected that Democrats would gain seats. The question was how many.

And in New Hampshire, Republicans have a trifecta now. But with the governorship and every seat in the legislature up for election, the new result could be divided government - or even a new all-Democratic control.