Democrat Stein claims victory in NC governor's race. Robinson says he'll reassess political future

Josh Stein will be North Carolina’s next governor, another ascension in his two-decade rise through the ranks of state politics, answering the question of whether a decidedly liberal candidate could win in a state like this, where Republicans tend to dominate national races even as Democrats still do well down the ballot.

2024 election results: Presidential election, Congressional balance of power

Stein is an Ivy League-educated lawyer who grew up in Chapel Hill, the son of a prominent civil rights attorney. His background and style contrasts with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who could connect with the state’s more conservative rural Democrats through his background growing up on a Nash County tobacco farm. But while Democrats’ political base used to be in rural Eastern North Carolina, that’s no longer the case. The state’s population boom has been driven by the heavily liberal urban areas, where much of Stein’s support was found in this election.

"If I didn't earn your vote in this election, I hope to earn your trust by working hard for you as your governor," Stein told a crowd of Democratic supporters in downtown Raleigh. "I pledge to listen and work across party lines to Do what's right for North Carolina, because no person or party has a monopoly on good ideas."

Cooper, a staunch ally of Stein, introduced the future governor just minutes after Stein's Republican challenger, Mark Robinson, spoke about life after office at a separate event.

"It doesn't seem like it's going our way tonight," Robinson told a crowd of about 60 supporters Tuesday night, adding that "maybe in the future" he'd run for office again but he first needed to take some time to be with his family and reassess his political future.

The 2024 election results won’t be made official until next week. But with all precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, Stein was winning by 15 points — the same margin identified in a WRAL News Poll last week — with 55% of the vote to 40% for Robinson. Candidates for the Libertarian, Green and Constitution parties combined to receive about 5% of the vote.

Robinson's loss followed a scandal-filled campaign that saw Democrats focus on Robinson's past comments about women's rights, a state investigation into his wife's nonprofit and a CNN report that alleged he made lewd and racist comments on a pornographic website more than a decade ago. Robinson has denied the allegations.

On Tuesday, Robinson said he leaves the race "head held high" and proud of what he accomplished in a political career that saw him nominated for governor just four years into his political career. He had never run for office until 2020 when he rode the fame of a viral video to victory in that year's race for lieutenant governor.

"I have stood on the highest mountain," he said. "Going from being a factory worker to being the first Black lieutenant governor of North Carolina has been the honor of my lifetime." On stage his lip quivered as he vowed not to cry; later he circled the room embracing the supporters who came out to show they still backed him.

As attorney general, Stein focused heavily on going after big businesses in the tech and pharmaceutical worlds for consumer protection issues. He also co-chaired a state task force on racial equity after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests that recommended dozens of reforms to policing and the broader criminal justice system.

In the race for governor, he campaigned heavily on promises to advocate for public schools — which have seen their funding threatened as the Republican-led state legislature grows state spending on private school vouchers — and on protecting women’s rights to abortion, birth control and other reproductive health care. As attorney general last year he not only refused to defend the state’s new 12-week abortion ban in court but also joined in with those suing over parts of it. On the campaign trail he promised that as governor he’d veto any efforts to further restrict abortion rights.

"We have big challenges ahead, but we have even bigger dreams to realize," Stein said late Tuesday. "We can cut taxes for workers so you keep more of your own money. We can pay teachers what they deserve and open up doors of opportunities for our children. We can expand career and technical education, because you shouldn't have to go to college to provide for your own family.

"To build this brighter future, we must put aside our differences and work together," he continued. "We must reject the politics of division, fear and hate that keep us from finding common ground. We will go further when we go together, not as Democrats, not as Republicans, not as independents, but as North Carolinians."

Stein's veto power over bills related to education, women’s rights or any other topic could be limited, however. Republicans have been able to override all of Cooper’s vetoes since regaining a supermajority in the legislature in 2023. How much power Stein is able to wield will depend on whether Democrats flip enough legislative seats in this year’s elections to break that GOP supermajority.

And Democrats appeared to do just that, with Dante Pittman flipping the seat held by Rep. Ken Fontenot, R-Wilson. Republicans only had a supermajority by a single seat in each chamber of the legislature, so that was enough to break the supermajority and give Stein and other Democrats increased leverage over budget negotiations and other legislation once new officials are sworn into office in January.

Stein will make history as North Carolina’s first Jewish governor — notable in a state that was once a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity, and where the only governor to ever be impeached was removed from office by the state legislature for his aggressive anti-KKK actions in the 1870s.

Stein at times downplayed his religion on the campaign trail, posting photos of himself eating barbecue while meeting voters. But he also won by overcoming an opponent in Robinson who had advanced antisemitic conspiracy theories, theorizing about shadowy groups of Jewish bankers and questioning the veracity of the Holocaust in statements made on social media or during podcast appearances.

"We chose hope over hate," Stein said. "Competence over chaos. Decency over division. That's who we are as North Carolinians."

In his speech to supporters Tuesday night, Robinson criticized Stein for "demonizing" him in ads, noting the millions of dollars that went into their contest. Stein's campaign raised nearly four times as much money as Robinson's.

"It's not about the lies, it's not about the half truths," Robinson said. "It's about the people who believe in you. It's about the state that you love, a state that I fully intend to continue to serve for the next two months, and who knows, maybe in the future, once again, somewhere in office."

Robinson struggled with moderates

In an interview Tuesday morning as he was greeting voters at the polls in north Raleigh, Robinson said he was disappointed people focused so much on his past social media comments during the campaign, rather than debating policy. “Folks want to talk about Facebook posts from 15 years ago or 10 years ago,” he said.

Robinson had the chance to make history himself, as the state’s first Black governor. But while polling showed he failed to win substantial support from the Black community — perhaps due to a long history of comments heavily criticizing the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr. — he was highly popular among evangelical Christian voters. Robinson frequently spoke during church services around the state as he ramped up his campaign, seeking to make support for private schooling and concerns over LGBTQ issues a key part of his political message.

He also had a long history of statements advocating for stricter abortion rules than even the Republican-led legislature recently approved. And while that garnered support from the GOP base, they appear to have turned off more moderate voters and even some Republicans. Stein’s campaign hammered Robinson early and often in ads highlighting derogatory statements Robinson made about women who seek abortions, and polling has shown Stein in the lead for months.

Stein was able to keep up that steady barrage of anti-Robinson ads after raising a stunning $77 million for his campaign — nearly double the $40 million Cooper raised in 2020, which itself blew away previous records for political fundraising.

Robinson raised just $20 million for his campaign. Republicans frequently trail Democrats in head-to-head fundraising in North Carolina, but they’re usually able to close the gap with the help of GOP-affiliated outside groups, many funded by local and national corporate interests, that spend millions on Republican candidates’ behalf. The biggest group, the Republican Governors Association, pulled its financial support of Robinson following the CNN report.

Even though Robinson denied those allegations and sued CNN for defamation, some Republicans questioned the strength of his denials, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stopped appearing on stage alongside Robinson, despite having previously endorsed him.

Some inside the GOP were raising the alarm about Robinson’s chances well before that CNN article, however — with some critics inside the party questioning his ability to win the race for governor years ago, due to his bombastic social media presence and far-right stances on a number of issues. Even before the CNN story was published, Trump’s former chief of staff said Robinson’s unpopularity was hurting Trump’s chances of winning North Carolina, a prediction that ultimately proved untrue when Trump won the state by about 3% of the vote over Democrat Kamala Harris.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., backed a challenger against Robinson in the Republican primary, Salisbury lawyer and businessman Bill Graham. State Treasurer Dale Folwell also ran in the GOP primary for governor with a slogan that politicians should “attack problems, not people” — an effort to distinguish himself from Robinson. But the Republican Party base was enamored with Robinson, and he won the GOP primary in a landslide with roughly twice as many votes as Folwell and Graham combined.

Since Reconstruction ended in the 1890s, North Carolina has only elected three Republican governors: James Holshouser in 1972, Jim Martin in 1984 and 1988 and Pat McCrory in 2012. Many of the races have not been close.

But in an increasingly divided electorate and with the backing of Trump, Robinson — who easily defeated two Republican challengers in the primary — seemed to have a chance to make history as the state’s first Black chief executive.

Candidate backgrounds

Stein, 58, grew up in Chapel Hill, won a high school state title as a soccer player and earned degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard. He managed John Edwards’ successful U.S. Senate campaign in 1998, then went to work in the attorney general’s office under Cooper. He was elected to the state Senate in 2008, representing parts of Cary and Raleigh. He replaced former state Sen. Janet Cowell, who’s currently running for Raleigh mayor. Stein was elected twice as attorney general, in 2016 and 2020.

He is married and the father of three.

Robinson, 56, rose to prominence in 2018 when he made a speech before the Greensboro City Council defending gun rights. The video went viral.

Robinson, an impressive public speaker, previously worked in factories and operated a daycare with his wife. He has a long history of personal financial problems and a lengthy history of making divisive statements on social media and in speeches, many at churches.

Those issues didn’t derail his first run for statewide office: Robinson was elected lieutenant governor in 2020, the first Black person to hold that office in North Carolina.

Also running for governor this year were Libertarian Mike Ross, Constitution Party nominee Vinny Smith and Green Party nominee Wayne Turner.

• 2024 Election results.

WRAL News Reporter Eric Miller contributed to this report.