2012 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election

2012 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election

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Nominee Dan Forest Linda Coleman Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,187,728 2,180,870 Percentage 50.1% 49.9%

County results Congressional district results Forest:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Coleman:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

Lieutenant Governor before election Walter Dalton Democratic Elected Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest Republican

The 2012 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the other elections to the Council of State and the gubernatorial election. Primary elections were held May 8. The offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected independently. The incumbent, Lt. Gov. Walter H. Dalton, announced on Jan. 26, 2012 that he would run for Governor. ^[1]

In the general election, Republican Dan Forest won 50.08% of the vote, narrowly defeating Democrat Linda Coleman. ^[2] The election result was in doubt for almost two weeks after Election Day, and was within the margin in which Coleman could ask for a recount, but she chose not to do so on Nov. 19. ^[3]

When he took office in January 2013, Forest became the state's first Republican lieutenant governor since Jim Gardner left office two decades earlier.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Linda Coleman, former state representative, state personnel director ^[4]
• Eric L. Mansfield, state senator ^[5]

Declined

• Cal Cunningham, former state senator ^[6]
• Hampton Dellinger, attorney ^[7]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Linda Coleman	Eric Mansfield	Undecided
Public Policy Polling [8]	May 5–6, 2012	500	± 3.1%	41%	23%	36%
Survey USA [9]	April 26–30, 2012	560	± 4.2%	41%	23%	36%
Public Policy Polling [10]	April 27–29, 2012	500	± 4.4%	39%	18%	43%
Public Policy Polling [11]	April 20–22, 2012	500	± 4.4%	28%	16%	56%
Public Policy Polling [12]	March 23–25, 2012	505	± 4.36%	26%	14%	59%
Public Policy Polling [13]	February 29 – March 1, 2012	499	± 4.4%	25%	15%	61%

Results

Primary results by county:

Coleman

•   Coleman—71-80%
•   Coleman—61-70%
•   Coleman—51-60%

Mansfield

•   Mansfield—71-80%
•   Mansfield—61-70%
•   Mansfield—51-60%

Democratic primary results ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Linda Coleman	483,905	56.1
	Democratic	Eric Mansfield	378,635	43.9
Total votes			862,540	100.0

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Dale Folwell, state representative, former Winston-Salem School Board member, accountant and investment advisor ^[15]
• Dan Forest, architect, son of Congresswoman Sue Myrick ^[16]
• Tony Gurley, Wake County Commissioner, pharmacist, ex-race car driver ^[17]
• Grey Mills, state representative ^[18]
• Arthur Rich, businessman ^[19]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Dale Folwell	Dan Forest	Tony Gurley	Grey Mills	Arthur Rich	Undecided
Public Policy Polling [20]	May 5–6, 2012	496	± 4.4%	22%	17%	18%	9%	2%	32%
Survey USA [21]	April 26–30, 2012	451	± 4.7%	13%	17%	12%	11%	5%	41%
Public Policy Polling [22]	April 27–29, 2012	486	± 4.4%	20%	15%	11%	10%	3%	40%
Public Policy Polling [23]	April 20–22, 2012	521	± 4.3%	15%	12%	12%	8%	2%	51%

Results

Primary results by county:

Forest

•   Forest—51-60%
•   Forest—41-50%
•   Forest—31-40%
•   Forest—21-30%

Gurley

•   Gurley—51-60%
•   Gurley—41-50%
•   Gurley—31-40%

Folwell

•   Folwell—51-60%
•   Folwell—41-50%
•   Folwell—31-40%
•   Folwell—21-30%

Mills

•   Mills—41-50%
•   Mills—31-40%
•   Mills—21-30%

Republican primary results ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Forest	251,885	32.9
	Republican	Tony Gurley	189,954	24.9
	Republican	Dale Folwell	185,535	24.3
	Republican	Grey Mills	112,063	14.7
	Republican	Arthur Jason Rich	25,015	3.3
Total votes			764,452	100.0

Under state law, if no candidate receives 40 percent of the vote in the primary, the second-place candidate can request a second primary (runoff). ^[25] According to unofficial May 8 primary election results, Gurley came in second, and he announced that he would request such a runoff. ^[26]

Republican 2nd primary results ^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Forest	101,428	67.9
	Republican	Tony Gurley	47,978	32.1
Total votes			149,406	100.0

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Linda Coleman (D)	Dan Forest (R)	Undecided
Public Policy Polling [28]	November 3–4, 2012	926	± 3.2%	44%	45%	11%
Public Policy Polling [29]	October 29–31, 2012	730	± 3.6%	41%	43%	16%
Public Policy Polling [30]	October 12–14, 2012	1,084	± 3%	37%	38%	26%
Civitas/National Research, Inc. [31]	September 18–19, 2012	600	± 4%	43%	39%	18%
Public Policy Polling [32]	August 31 – September 1, 2012	1,012	± 3.1%	41%	39%	20%
Public Policy Polling [33]	August 2–5, 2012	813	± 3.4%	37%	38%	26%
Public Policy Polling [34]	May 10–13, 2012	666	± 3.8%	41%	40%	20%

Results

General election results ^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Forest	2,187,728	50.08%
	Democratic	Linda Coleman	2,180,870	49.92%
Total votes			4,368,598	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

By congressional district

Forest won ten of the state's 13 congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat. ^[36]

District	Forest	Coleman	Representative
1st	26%	74%	G. K. Butterfield
2nd	57%	43%	Renee Ellmers
3rd	56%	44%	Walter B. Jones Jr.
4th	28%	72%	David Price
5th	59%	41%	Virginia Foxx
6th	57%	43%	Howard Coble
7th	57%	43%	Mike McIntyre
8th	56%	44%	Larry Kissell
			Richard Hudson
9th	58%	42%	Sue Myrick
			Robert Pittenger
10th	58%	42%	Patrick McHenry
11th	60%	40%	Heath Shuler
			Mark Meadows
12th	21%	79%	Mel Watt
13th	56%	44%	Brad Miller
			George Holding

Footnotes

1. WXII
2. North Carolina State Board of Elections Unofficial Results retrieved Nov 12, 2012
3. WRAL.com: Republican Forest claims lieutenant governor win
4. News & Observer: Linda Coleman to run for lieutenant governor
5. "Fayetteville Observer: Sen. Eric Mansfield of Fayetteville to run for N.C. lieutenant governor". Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
6. News & Observer: Cal Cunningham decides against bid for state's No. 2 post
7. News & Observer: Hampton Dellinger won't run
8. Public Policy Polling
9. Survey USA
10. Public Policy Polling
11. Public Policy Polling
12. Public Policy Polling
13. Public Policy Polling
14. NC State Board of Elections
15. News & Observer: Hopefuls angle for Republican hopefuls angle for lieutenant governor Archived 2012-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
16. "Forest Kicks Off Campaign For Lt. Governor". WXII-TV . January 9, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
17. "News & Observer: Gurley files papers for Lt. Governor bid". Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
18. News & Observer: State Rep. Grey Mills files for lieutenant governor
19. WRAL.com
20. Public Policy Polling
21. Survey USA
22. Public Policy Polling
23. Public Policy Polling
24. Results. North Carolina
25. Poll suggests GOP headed toward runoff in Lt. Gov. and Auditor races Archived 2012-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
26. Tony Gurley statement ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
27. Election results. North Carolina
28. Public Policy Polling
29. Public Policy Polling
30. Public Policy Polling
31. Civitas/National Research, Inc.
32. Public Policy Polling
33. Public Policy Polling
34. Public Policy Polling
35. NC State Board of Elections
36. "North carolina 2012 lt-gov-by-cd".