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 County results Hunt: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Lake: 50-60% 60-70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1980 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1980. Despite North Carolina going toRonald Reagan in the presidential race and the U.S. Senate race being won by a Republican (John P. East), popular Democratic GovernorJim Hunt won a second term in office in a landslide over RepublicanI. Beverly Lake, despite the fact thatRonald Reagan, the Republican nominee for president,narrowly carried the state in the concurrent presidential election. Hunt thus became the first governor of the state elected to a consecutive four-year term, following an amendment to theConstitution of North Carolina allowing such a run.[1]
Hunt's decision to run for a second term led to a challenge from former Democratic governorRobert W. Scott, but Hunt easily defeated the former governor in the Democratic primary.[2]
UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor Ferrel Guillory wrote of this campaign: "Hunt campaigned as the activist governor that he had been through his first term. His campaign’s key points were: 1) limiting government growth even as he deployed government as a tool for improving citizens’ lives, particularly through education initiatives; 2) maintaining ties with the business community while also pushing to diversify the state’s economy; 3) expanding rights and opportunities for women and black people; and 4) responding to charges that he was a “big spender’’ by noting that he had persuaded the Legislature in 1979 to enact a modest income tax cut."[3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Jim Hunt(Incumbent) | 1,143,145 | 61.88% | ||
| Republican | I. Beverly Lake | 691,449 | 37.43% | −16.47% | |
| Libertarian | Robert Y. Emory | 9,552 | 0.54% | ||
| Socialist Workers | Douglas A. Cooper | 2,887 | 0.16% | ||
| Independent | Others | 53 | 0% | ||
| Turnout | 1,847,086 | 100% | |||
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