North Carolina gubernatorial election, 1984

North Carolina gubernatorial election, 1984
North Carolina
November 6, 1984

 
Nominee James G. Martin Rufus L. Edmisten
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 1,208,167 1,011,209
Percentage 54.26% 45.41%

County Results

Governor before election

Jim Hunt
Democratic

Elected Governor

James G. Martin
Republican

The North Carolina gubernatorial election of 1984 was held on November 6, 1984. Popular Democratic incumbent Jim Hunt was unable to run for another consecutive term under the North Carolina Constitution. Hunt ran instead for the U.S. Senate against Jesse Helms and lost. Popular 9th District Congressman James G. Martin ran as the Republican nominee against Democratic Attorney General Rufus L. Edmisten, who defeated Hunt's Lt. Governor, James Green, among other candidates, in a hotly-contested primary.

Martin won by a comfortable margin on Election Day thanks to the surprise endorsement of Green, and to President Ronald Reagan's coattails (see also United States presidential election, 1984). Martin became just the second Republican elected to the state's highest office in the 20th century.

An offhand remark by Edmisten during the 1984 campaign became part of the state's political lore. He was quoted as complaining about all the barbecue pork he had to eat on the campaign trail, saying he could not eat anymore of "that damnable stuff", which is widely popular. [1] Edmisten later said he was joking.[2]

Primary election results

Democratic primary

1984 NC Governor Democratic primary election results[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Rufus L. Edmisten 295,051 30.87%
Democratic H. Edward Knox 249,286 26.08%
Democratic Lauch Faircloth 153,210 16.03%
Democratic Thomas O. Gilmore 82,299 8.61%
Democratic James C. Green 80,775 8.45%
Democratic John R. Ingram 75,248 7.87%
Democratic Robert L. Hannon 9,476 0.99%
Democratic Frazier Glenn Miller 5,790 0.61%
Democratic J. Andrew Barker 3,148 0.33%
Democratic J. D. Whaley 1,516 0.16%
1984 NC Governor Democratic primary runoff election results[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Rufus L. Edmisten 352,351 51.91%
Democratic H. Edward Knox 326,278 48.08% -3.83%

Republican primary

1984 NC Governor Republican primary election results[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Jim Martin 128,714 91.71%
Republican Ruby T. Hooper 11,640 8.29%

General election results

1984 NC Governor election results[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican James G. Martin 1,208,167 54.26%
Democratic Rufus L. Edmisten 1,011,209 45.41% -9.49%
Libertarian H. Fritz Prochnaw 4,610 0.21%
Socialist Workers Gregory McCartan 2,740 0.12%
Turnout 2,226,743 100%

Footnotes


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.