We’ll get down in the weeds eventually, but you can really get all you need to know by understanding that Elaine Marshall basically flipped her statewide performance in Mecklenburg County, besting Richard Burr 52 to 45. Marshall got 118,000 votes in the process, a huge number in the midst of a red tide night.
It should not be surprising then that the Democrats retained control of the county commission, piling on votes late to make Chair Jennifer Roberts the top at-large vote getter once again while Harold Cogdell pushed ahead of Dan Ramirez. This can only be described as a bitter disappointment for the local GOP which knew Jim Pendergraph’s name ID would probably pull him through, but also thought that a historic Republican year would be enough to help take the reins of county government with two at-large seats. Not so.
As a result, the happiest man in Mecklenburg County right now is County Manager Harry Jones.
Update: Roberts sounds fairly thrilled with Tuesday’s results, while GOPers are already making a tax hike seem inevitable.
