By Stephen Leverton
In community news, Republican challenger Ray Pickett defeats incumbent Ray Russell for his seat in the North Carolina State House. The Appalachian reports that Pickett won with 53% of the vote. This was Russell’s first and only term in the North Carolina State House. In Ashe County, Pickett beat Russell by just 6,000 votes, while Russell won by 3,000 votes in Watauga County according to the North Carolina Board of Elections. Pickett will be sworn in as the new North Carolina State House Representative in January 2021.
In state news, The Appalachian reports that Governor Roy Cooper won his reelection race on Tuesday night against Lt. Governor Dan Forest. Forest lost to Cooper by just 247,000 votes. In Watauga County, Cooper beat Forest by 4,000 votes according to the North Carolina Board of Elections.
In national news, The Washington Post reports that Virginia passed a referendum named Amendment 1, which would create a bipartisan commission in charge of rewriting congressional districts. Similar to North Carolina, Virginia has had issues with gerrymandering for some time now. Virginia Democrats, who hold both houses of the state legislature, are split on the issue; some want to be able to rewrite the districts themselves while others want the districts to be fair. Voters on both sides of the asle voted to make the Amendment into law, with 65.9% of voters supporting it.