GOP Makes History by Securing Control of N.C. House, Senate

All local tax initiatives fail; Etheridge may be only U.S. House member to fall

RALEIGH (By David N. Bass, Carolina Journal Online) — Republicans made historic gains in the North Carolina legislature during Tuesday’s midterm election, gaining control of both chambers of the General Assembly by comfortable margins for the first time since the 19th century.

By 11 p.m., Republicans had won at least a 30-20 majority in the state Senate, a flip of the current ratio. A number of races in the House were too close to call, but the GOP had picked up at least a dozen seats, more than enough to secure a governing majority.

In federal races, North Carolina truly was an outlier, with every incumbent but one winning re-election. As of 11 p.m., GOP Sen. Richard Burr was 12 points ahead of Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.

The three Democratic House members who were perceived to be vulnerable survived, while one who was expected to be safe may have lost. In House District 2, Rep. Bob Etheridge trailed nurse Renee Ellmers by about 2,000 votes of 185,000 votes cast with mail ballots still to be counted. If the margin give Ellmers a margin of less than 1 percent, a recount will follow. Etheridge gained notoriety from his “who are you?” incident this summer, but he had won his past two elections with at least 65 percent of the vote.