Red Counties, Blue State: Clay and Cherokee Go Republican at Home as Democrats Win North Carolina's Big Races

Roy Cooper becomes the first Democrat senator to represent North Carolina since, 2008.

Staff Report

Voters in Clay and Cherokee counties backed Republican candidates up and down the ballot Tuesday, even as Democrats captured North Carolina's biggest prizes — flipping a U.S. Senate seat and the mountains' own congressional district and sweeping the statewide judicial races.

In the U.S. Senate race, former Gov. Roy Cooper defeated former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley by about 59% to 39% statewide, flipping the seat held by retiring Sen. Thom Tillis and becoming the first Democrat to win a North Carolina Senate election since 2008. Both mountain counties went the other way: Whatley carried Clay with 66% and Cherokee with 70%.

The night's biggest local surprise came in the 11th Congressional District, Republican territory since 2010: Democrat Jamie Ager, a Fairview farmer, defeated state Rep. Jennifer Capps Balkcom to flip the seat left open when Rep. Chuck Edwards abandoned his re-election bid amid a House ethics scandal. Ager won the district with about 57% of the vote — but Balkcom carried Clay with 64% and Cherokee with 68%.

Democratic Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls won re-election over Republican Sarah Stevens, 59% to 41% statewide, though Stevens carried Clay with 68% and Cherokee with 72%. Democrats also won all three Court of Appeals seats — John Arrowood, Toby Hampson, and Christine Walczyk. State Sen. Kevin Corbin and state Rep. Karl Gillespie, both Republicans, carried the two counties by wide margins in their re-election bids.

All three constitutional amendments passed statewide: photo ID for all voters, including by mail (59.6% For); a 3.5% cap on the state income tax rate (61.9%); and required limits on local property tax increases (60.4%). Clay and Cherokee backed all three by roughly 78 to 85%.

In Clay County, where 5,784 voters cast ballots for 56.2% turnout, Republicans Dwight S. McClure Sr., Andy James, and Jason A. Rickett won the three county commission seats, and Bill Carter won an unexpired term. Jason Shook, Kevin Crawford, and Brett Woody won the three school board seats. Clerk of Superior Court J. Tim Barrett, Register of Deeds Angie Shook, Sheriff Mark Buchanan, and Soil and Water Supervisor Glen Cheeks were all elected without opposition.

In Cherokee County, turnout was 49.3% with 12,390 ballots cast. Jeana Conley and Steve Coleman won contested county commission races in Districts I and III, while Sue Lynn Ledford and unexpired-term winners Mark Stiles and Jan Griggs were unopposed. Randy Phillips won the school board's at-large seat, and Jason Murphy and Shannon Raper took the two District III seats. Clerk of Superior Court Amanda Anderson Carroll, Register of Deeds Karen Wright, and Sheriff Chris Wood were elected unopposed. The county's closest finish was no cliffhanger in effect: Soil and Water candidates Colby Davis and Jamie Lance were separated by just 12 votes, but both take the two available seats.

All results are unofficial until the county canvass on Nov. 13.