Friday was canvass day in North Carolina, with elections boards in all 100 counties certifying their vote totals after several days of debating which provisional ballots and late-arriving absentee ballots to include.
While the counts convinced major news organizations to finally declare President Donald Trump the winner in North Carolina, the updated totals were more important in the race for state Supreme Court chief justice.
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Current Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and Associate Justice Paul Newby traded leads in the race throughout the day, depending on which county provided the most recent update. By 8 p.m., Beasley was in the lead by exactly 100 votes out of the nearly 5.4 million votes cast.
Regardless who wins, the race is likely headed for a recount, and Newby's legal team has already outlined various protests they expect will cut into Beasley's total, including challenges to the extended deadline for absentee ballots and to allowing voters to fix problems with their absentee ballots after Election Day.
Even before the canvass, Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded the U.S. Senate race to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. Democrats had hoped winning the seat would help their efforts to gain the Senate majority, and some in the party are now questioning how Cunningham became the candidate the party establishment backed early on for the nomination.
Finally, Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake, announced that he wouldn't return as House minority leader in 2021, accepting blame that Democrats lost seats in the House after spending heavily to flip a handful of seats and gain the majority.