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Statewide results will seal the fate of the NC General Assembly

East Asheville polling place during early voting.
Matt Peiken/BPR News
East Asheville polling place during early voting.

As election day draws to a close, Democrats are hoping to fend off Republican hopes for a supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly. That balance depends on three seats in the North Carolina House of Representatives and two seats in the North Carolina Senate.

Republicans held a supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly from 2010 to 2018. That power was ramped up a notch when former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory won a place in the governor’s mansion in November 2012. During that time Republicans introduced infamous bills such as one “outlawing” climate change, another establishing Christianity as the state religion and HB2, known as the "Bathroom Bill," which prohibited transgender people from using restrooms aligning with their gender.

After McRory lost to Governor Roy Cooper in 2018, the legislature was at an impasse. A state budget wasn’t passed for three years, in part, because of Republicans refusal to expand Medicaid.

Here’s how the Western North Carolina seats will impact that balance according to the unofficial results for the NC Board of Elections.

Senate Races

Senate 46 – Buncombe, McDowell and Burke

Republican incumbent Warren Daniel leads with 60 percent of the vote compared to Democrat Billy Martin

Senate District 47 – East Haywood, Madison and Northeast

Mitchell County Republican Senator Ralph Hise is running unopposed in the newly drawn district which separated Canton and Clyde from the rest of Haywood County. Watauga County Senator Deanna Ballad lost the primary to Hise.

Senate District 48 – Henderson, Polk and Rutherford Counties

Republican Tim Moffitt is winning the race with 65 percent of the vote against Democrat Jay Carey.

Senate District 49 (Western Buncombe County)

Democrat Julie Mayfield is winning the race with 66 percent of the vote against Republican John Anderson.

Senate District 50 Cherokee-Haywood

Republican incumbent Kevin Corbin has won 66 percent of the vote compared to Democrat Karen McCracken.

NC House of Representatives

District 114 (Buncombe County)

Democrat J. Eric Ager is winning with 68 percent of the vote against Republican Everett D. Pittillo.

District 115 (Southwest Buncombe County)

Democrat Lindsey Prather is winning with 57 percent of the vote against Republican Pratik Bhakta.

District 116 (Northwest Buncombe County)

Democrat Caleb Rudow is winning with 62 percent of the vote against Republican Mollie Rose.

District 117 (Henderson County)

Republican Jennifer Capps Balkcom is winning with 59 percent of the vote against Democrat Michael Greer O’Shea.

District 118 (Haywood, Madison County)

Republican incumbent Mark Pless is holding onto his seat by 20 percent against Democrat Josh Remillard.

District 119 (Swain, Jackson and Transylvania County)

Republican incumbent Mike Clampitt is holding onto his seat by 8 points after the precincts close Democrat Al Platt.

District 120 (Cherokee, Clay, Macon and Graham)

Republican incumbent Karl Gillespie’s seat was uncontested.

Lilly Knoepp is Senior Regional Reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio. She has served as BPR’s first fulltime reporter covering Western North Carolina since 2018. She is from Franklin, NC. She returns to WNC after serving as the assistant editor of Women@Forbes and digital producer of the Forbes podcast network. She holds a master’s degree in international journalism from the City University of New York and earned a double major from UNC-Chapel Hill in religious studies and political science.