A leading Republican legislator looks like he has lost his seat in the North Carolina Statehouse. Challenger Natasha Marcus trounced incumbent Jeff Tarte, a former Cornelius mayor, in the race for NC Senate District 41. With 17 of 28 precincts reporting, Marcus, a Davidson resident, had 56 percent of the vote to Tarte’s 43 percent.
District 1 County Commissioner Jim Puckett was defeated by Elaine Powell, 55 percent to 44 percent. Pat Cotham, one of three at large commissioners, scored big with 212,000 votes.
In a race that will go down to the wire, Democratic challenger Christy Clark is ahead of NC House District 98 incumbent John Bradford, a Republican. With 10 of 12 precincts reporting, Clark, from Huntersville, had 50.66 percent of the vote to Bradford’s 49.34 percent. It was a difference of only 483 votes, perhaps insurmountable given the leads Clark has in the two remaining precincts.
When the polls closed at 7:30 pm, Board of Elections officials released the results of this year’s record-breaking early vote, which showed both Clark and Marcus ahead, a harbinger of things to come.
Both Tarte and Bradford did well in Precinct 242/Jetton Park, the heart of Cornelius’ Republican base. But in 202/Town Hall, both suffered.
It looks like both Tarte and Bradford suffered from their early association with tolls on I-77 and the thinking—by the Republican establishment—that tolls were the best and quickest way to widen I-77.
Bradford has been one of the standard-bearers of the younger Republican Party. In spite of that, heavy advertising turned the District 98 contest into an actual race. Bradford initially looked likely to trounce Clark, but TV ads focusing on I-77 apparently took a toll.
Republicans were dismayed. “What’s clear about tonight’s results in Mecklenburg County is with enough money and targeting an urban area, the Democrats can change the narrative of what actually has occurred here over the last several years,” said Huntersville Mayor John Aneralla. “Republicans got outspent.” He recently endorsed Tarte in his re-election bid.
