2020 North Carolina gubernatorial election
The 2020 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Governor of North Carolina, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to one-third of the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Governor Roy Cooper was eligible to run for re-election to a second term in office, and announced his intention to do so on December 5, 2019.
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| Turnout | 75.35% 6.37pp | ||||||||||||||||
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Cooper: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Forest: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in North Carolina |
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Under a 2018 state law, party primary elections were held on March 3, 2020.
Cooper was re-elected to a second term by a closer margin than polls forecasted, defeating the Republican nominee, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest. Cooper's re-election win makes him the first Governor of North Carolina to win re-election since fellow Democrat Mike Easley in 2004. Once again, Cooper outperformed other Democrats on the ballot. With a margin of 4.51%, this election was the second closest of the 2020 gubernatorial election cycle, the closest being the election in Puerto Rico.