2012 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election

The North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election of 2012 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]

2012 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election

November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06)
 
Nominee Dan Forest Linda Coleman
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 2,187,728 2,180,870
Percentage 50.1% 49.9%

County 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

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

Declared

Declined

Polling

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

Results

Primary results by county:
Democratic primary results[8]
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

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 May 5–6, 2012 496 ± 4.4% 22% 17% 18% 9% 2% 32%
Survey USA April 26–30, 2012 451 ± 4.7% 13% 17% 12% 11% 5% 41%
Public Policy Polling April 27–29, 2012 486 ± 4.4% 20% 15% 11% 10% 3% 40%
Public Policy Polling April 20–22, 2012 521 ± 4.3% 15% 12% 12% 8% 2% 51%

Results

Primary results by county:
Republican primary results[14]
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).[15] According to unofficial May 8 primary election results, Gurley came in second, and he announced that he would request such a runoff.[16]

Republican 2nd primary results[17]
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 November 3–4, 2012 926 ± 3.2% 44% 45% 11%
Public Policy Polling October 29–31, 2012 730 ± 3.6% 41% 43% 16%
Public Policy Polling October 12–14, 2012 1,084 ± 3% 37% 38% 26%
Civitas/National Research, Inc. September 18–19, 2012 600 ± 4% 43% 39% 18%
Public Policy Polling August 31 – September 1, 2012 1,012 ± 3.1% 41% 39% 20%
Public Policy Polling August 2–5, 2012 813 ± 3.4% 37% 38% 26%
Public Policy Polling May 10–13, 2012 666 ± 3.8% 41% 40% 20%

Results

General election results[18]
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

Footnotes

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