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The after-action report 50 fast facts from the Haywood election results BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER he results are in — well, sort of — and Republicans in Western North Carolina don’t have much to complain about right now other than the reelection of Gov. Roy Cooper and the ultimate fate of President Donald Trump; they retained all western state legislative seats as well as their congressional seat and reclaimed a state House seat that’s flipped back and forth several times in the past eight years. The real story, though, is the massive voter turnout. Likely due to enhanced absentee voting availability necessitated by the Coronavirus Pandemic, North Carolina posted record numbers. Although ballots are still being counted, the totals won’t likely change much once they’re finally certified on Nov. 24. If anything, they’ll go up — more than 999,000 North Carolinians voted by mail this year, on top of 3.6 million one-stop votes. Including Election Day, 5.5 million North Carolinians voted, good for turnout of 74.6 percent. That’s your first fast fact, but that one’s on the house. Here’s 50 more.
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Smoky Mountain News
November 11-17, 2020
As of press time, North Carolina hadn’t yet been called for one candidate or the other, but it’s a safe bet Trump prevails — in part, due to the huge surplus of votes he racked up in Western North Carolina. Trump won every North Carolina county west of Charlotte, except for Watauga (Boone) and Buncombe (Asheville). 1. Republican Presidential votes in Haywood County have increased 52.2 percent over the past four presidential elections from 2008 to 2020, and have increased in every election. 2. Democratic Presidential votes in Haywood County have increased 2.9 percent over the same period, reversing a downward trend that saw an 18 percent decline from 2008 through 2016. 3. Haywood County’s population has grown about 7.6 percent over that same timeframe as the number of registered voters has grown 15.3 percent. 4. Trump won all 29 voting precincts in Haywood County this year. In 2016, he won 28 of 29 voting precincts in Haywood County, with Center Waynesville the only holdout. 5. Trump’s top three precincts in terms of votes received were Ivy Hill, Jonathan Creek and Pigeon, the same as in 2016. 6. Between the three, Trump amassed a 2,839-vote lead over Biden — accounting for almost 30 percent of his margin of victory in the county. 7. The Ivy Hill precinct saw the most votes cast. Trump beat Biden 1,772 to 808 there. 8. The Big Creek precinct saw the least 4
Turnout statistics provided by the NCSBE as of 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10. votes cast. Trump beat Biden 12 to 10 there. In 2016, Trump beat Clinton 12 to 4. 9. Biden’s top three precincts in terms of votes received were Ivy Hill, Jonathan Creek and South Waynesville 1, just like Hillary Clinton in 2016. 10. Clinton lost all three. 11. So did Biden. 12. Libertarian presidential votes in Haywood County had seen a massive increase — 282 percent — from 2008 to 2016, growing from 235 (Bob Barr/Wayne Allen Root) to 898 (Gary Johnson/Bill Weld). This year Haywood County Libertarians took a step back, giving Jo Jorgensen/Spike Cohen just 329 votes, good for less than one percent of the county’s totals. 13. Since 2008, Haywood County voter turnout has continued to be anything but predictable — Obama/McCain saw 71.9 percent of registered voters cast a ballot, Obama/Romney dipped to 65.8 percent, Trump/Clinton rose to 69.6 percent, and Trump/Biden showed an impressive 78.6 percent turnout.
N.C. GOVERNOR It’s no surprise that incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper didn’t fare very well in WNC, or in Haywood County, but his increasing margins of victory across the North Carolina suggest that the westernmost counties are moving farther away from the rest of the state, ideologically speaking. 14. Then-Attorney General Roy Cooper lost Haywood County in 2016 by a margin of 54.6 to 42.3 percent, but won the statewide race against incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory by less than a quarter of a percent. 15. In 2020, Cooper lost Haywood by an even bigger margin, 58.1 percent to 40.5 percent, but won the state by an even larger margin — 51.5 percent to 47.1 percent. 16. Cooper won three of 29 Haywood County precincts in 2016 — Lake Junaluska, South Waynesville 1 and South Waynesville 2.
In 2020 he won just one, the county’s smallest — Big Creek, where he prevailed 12 to 10. 17. For the second straight presidential election, the Libertarian candidate for governor, Steven J. DiFiore, earned more votes in Haywood County than the Libertarian candidate for president, Jo Jorgensen (371 to 329).
N.C. 11 The 11th Congressional District was redrawn last year, leaving many to speculate that the inclusion of Asheville and the appearance of a solid Democratic candidate, Col. Moe Davis, could be enough to flip the seat blue. Instead, the contest was a blowout win by Hendersonville Republican Madison Cawthorn, who put up Mark Meadows-esque numbers en route to keeping the seat red. 18. Cawthorn won every county except for Buncombe in the 17-county district (actually, 16 counties and half of Rutherford County) while on his way to a 54.5 to 42.4 percent victory — a margin of more than 50,000 votes. 19. Cawthorn only lost 12 precincts outside of Buncombe County, including Haywood’s Big Creek, where he lost 12 to 10. The district includes 304 precincts. 20. Meadows’ best election was in 2016, when he earned 230,405 votes. This year, Cawthorn tallied 243,917 votes. 21. Cawthorn’s percentage, 54.5, remains far below Meadows’ best total of 64.1 percent in 2016 — but Meadows put up those numbers in a district that was ultimately thrown out by courts as a partisan gerrymander. 22. The entirety of Buncombe County, recently drawn into the 11th District, provided Davis with a 32,000-vote majority over Cawthorn. 23. Although Davis earned far more votes (189,529) than the post-2010 Democratic high set by Hayden Rogers (141,107) in 2012, Davis couldn’t quite surpass Rogers’ 42.6 percent share of the vote, falling short by twotenths of a percent.
N.C. SENATE DISTRICT 50 When Rep. Kevin Corbin announced he’d run for the N.C. Senate seat held by Sen. Jim Davis, most people saw it as a slam-dunk for Republicans in a deeply red district. They were right. 24. Haywood County’s first opportunity to vote for Corbin turned out pretty alright for him — he outperformed even President Trump, despite Haywood being his opponent’s county of residence. 25. Corbin also topped Sen. Davis’ bestever percentage total in Haywood County — 59.5 percent, in 2016 during his second campaign against Waynesville Democrat, the late Jane Hipps. Corbin earned 63.1 percent this year. 25. Only four of 91 precincts in the sevencounty district didn’t go for Corbin — one in Jackson County, one in Swain County, another in Jackson County that reported a tie, and yes, Haywood County’s Big Creek, where Corbin lost by a vote of 12 to 9. 26. Corbin’s 66.65 percent vote total eclipses the best numbers put up by the seat’s current occupant, Davis, over all four of his terms dating back to 2012. Davis’ best was 62.5 percent in 2016, against Hipps.
N.C. HOUSE DISTRICT 118 Democrats supposed this was a competitive seat during Michele Presnell’s tenure, but they didn’t do much to try to claim it once she announced her retirement. In an uncharacteristically quiet campaign for the 118th, first-term Haywood County Republican Commissioner Mark Pless soundly put Dem suppositions to rest. 29. Only 18 of Haywood’s 29 precincts (and half of Ivy Hill) are in District 118, but 49.2 percent of the race’s votes came from those Haywood precincts. In 2016, 47.7 percent of the race’s votes came from those precincts. 30. Like Rep. Kevin Corbin, Pless also outperformed President Trump in Haywood County. 31. Pless lost only two of 42 precincts in his three-county district — one in Madison, and one in Haywood (Big Creek, 12 to 9). 32. Outgoing Rep. Michele Presnell won each of her four terms with increasing margins in almost every election (51.3 percent in both 2012 and 2014, 55.4 percent in 2016, and 57.2 in 2018.) Pless continued the trend and topped Presnell’s best, with 63.6 percent this year.
N.C. HOUSE DISTRICT 119 This race is always close, except when it’s not. It’s also always won by Waynesville Democrat Joe Sam Queen, except when it’s not. There are, however, several consistencies in the electoral history of Queen and former Rep. Mike Clampitt that show how, exactly, Clampitt prevailed by the largest margin ever recorded between them. 33. In the fifth matchup between these two men over five elections dating back to 2012, the parity in their career totals is remarkable. Queen has won three elections, and Clampitt two. Add
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