North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory appeared headed for defeat Wednesday morning by his opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper, who declared victory last night despite McCrory's remarks that the fight would go on, WRAL reports:
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Cooper was only 4,500 votes ahead of McCrory, according to unofficial results. Lon Cecil, a Libertarian, had 2 percent of the vote.
“The race is not over in North Carolina,” McCrory told a cheering crowd at a state Republican Party gathering in Raleigh. “We're going to check everything. We are going to make sure every vote counts in North Carolina.”
He said he doesn't expect the final results to be known until counties hold their official canvass of votes in 10 days.
Cooper appeared confident at a victory party:
“We have won this race for governor of North Carolina,” Cooper said at a North Carolina Democratic Party gathering in Raleigh. “It has been a long, long journey to get to this point, and I know that people waited in long lines to vote and to allow their voice to be heard. I am humbled by that. Thank you so much.”
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McCrory's apparent defeat comes after nearly a year of financial pain for the state following passage of the anti-LGBT HB 2 law, which forbid transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice and banned local LGBT rights ordinances statewide.
