While key national and statewide races garnered most of the public’s attention, a number of important contests were relevant to UNC Charlotte, including several races for seats in the North Carolina General Assembly.
The following 49ers were re-elected:
Newly elected 49ers include:
Below is a summary of the results of the 2018 General Election.
Republicans lost their veto-proof majority in the House and Senate but kept their majorities in both chambers. Republicans have 65 seats to the Democrats’ 55 seats and the Senate Republicans will have a 29-21 majority. Democrats picked up a net nine seats in the House and a net six seats in the Senate.
Democrats took all the Mecklenburg legislative delegation seats except the seat held by Sen. Dan Bishop.
- Rep. Andy Dulin (R) was defeated by Brandon Lofton (D). Rep. Scott Stone (R) was defeated by Wesley Harris (D). Rep. John Bradford (R) was defeated by Christy Clark (D). Sen. Jeff Tarte (R) was defeated by Natasha Marcus (D), and Rep. Bill Brawley '78 (R) was defeated by Rachel Hunt (D).
- Rep. Mary Belk (D), Rep. Becky Carney (D), Sen. Jeff Jackson (D), Sen. Joyce Waddell (D), Rep. Chaz Beasley (D), Rep. John Autry (D), Rep. Carla Cunningham (D), Rep. Kelly Alexander (D) and Sen. Dan Bishop (R) were all re-elected.
Newly elected House members include Carolyn Logan who replaces Rep. Beverly Earle, who retired, and Nasif Majeed defeated Rep. Rodney Moore in the primary. Mujatab Mohammed ’08 defeated Sen. Joel Ford in the primary.
In both Wake and Mecklenburg counties, Democrats hold all legislative seats except for one seat in each county. This major shift will continue the challenging political dynamics of the urban/rural divide.
Mecklenburg County Commission
The Democrats swept all seats on the Mecklenburg County Commission. In the at-large seats, Pat Cotham was the leading vote-getter, followed by Trevor Fuller and Ella Scarborough.
Longtime Republican commissioners Jim Puckett in District 1 and Bill James in District 6 were defeated by Elaine Powell and Susan Rodriguez McDowell, respectively. Districts 2, 3 and 4 were unopposed and re-elected Vilma Leake, George Dunlap ’91 and Mark Jewell.
In District 5, Susan Harden ’93 defeated incumbent Matthew Ridenhour.
The Commission elected George Dunlap '91, '03 to serve as Chairman of the Board.
U. S. Congress
The Democrats took control of the House and the Republicans maintained control of the Senate.
A closer look at regional North Carolina Congressional races: In District 8, which stretches from Cabarrus to Moore County, Richard Hudson ’96, was re-elected. Hudson is UNC Charlotte’s first and only alumnus to have been elected to Congress.