2024 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election

See also: 2024 United States lieutenant gubernatorial elections and 2024 North Carolina Council of State elections

The 2024 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2024, to elect the lieutenant governor of North Carolina. Democratic state senator Rachel Hunt won her first term in office, defeating Republican state official Hal Weatherman. She succeeded Republican incumbent Mark Robinson, who did not seek re-election in order to unsuccessfully run for governor.^[1]

2024 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election

← 2020 November 5, 2024 2028 →
Turnout	73.73% 1.62 pp
Nominee Rachel Hunt Hal Weatherman Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,768,539 2,663,183 Percentage 49.53% 47.64%
County results Congressional district results Precinct results Hunt:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Weatherman:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      40–50%      No votes
Lieutenant Governor before election Mark Robinson Republican Elected Lieutenant Governor Rachel Hunt Democratic

In her party's primary, Hunt won the Democratic nomination with 70% of the vote over former state Senator Ben Clark and businessman Mark H. Robinson (no relation to the incumbent). Weatherman won the Republican nomination with 74% of the vote over Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neil in a runoff after no candidate received over 30% of the vote in his party's primary. Hunt won the general election with 49.5% the vote to Weatherman's 47.6%, making her the first Democrat elected lieutenant governor of North Carolina since Walter H. Dalton in 2008.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Hal Weatherman, businessman and former chief of staff to Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest^[2]

Eliminated in runoff

• Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County District Attorney and nominee for attorney general in 2020^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Deanna Ballard, former state senator from the 45th district^[4]
• Peter Boykin, political commentator and founder of Gays for Trump^[5]
• Rivera Douthit, evangelist^[6]
• Jeffrey Elmore, state representative from the 94th district^[7]
• Allen Mashburn, pastor^[2]
• Marlenis Hernandez Novoa, paramedic and firefighter^[6]
• Sam Page, Rockingham County sheriff^[8]
• Ernest T. Reeves, businessman and perennial candidate^[9]
• Seth Woodall, attorney^[10]

Withdrawn

• Jim Kee, former Greensboro city councilor^[11] (ran for state auditor)^[12]

Declined

• Mark Robinson, former lieutenant governor (endorsed Weatherman, ran for governor)^[13][1]

Endorsements

Jeffrey Elmore

Newspapers

• The Charlotte Observer^[14]

Allen Mashburn

Organizations

• New York Young Republican Club^[15]

Hal Weatherman

State officials

• Mark Robinson, lieutenant governor of North Carolina (2021-2025), nominee for Governor in 2024^[13]

Newspapers

• Rhino Times^[16]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Deanna Ballard	Jeffrey Elmore	Jim O'Neill	Sam Page	Hal Weatherman	Seth Wooddall	Other	Undecided
High Point University[17]	February 16–23, 2024	386 (LV)	± 6.0%	10%	11%	27%	13%	7%	11%	21%[b]	–
Capen Analytics[18]	February 21, 2024	12,580 (LV)	± 5.0%	15%	8%	16%	8%	21%	18%	15%[c]	3%
Cygnal (R)[19][A]	October 8–9, 2023	600 (LV)	± 3.9%	3%	1%	–	4%	4%	2%	2%[d]	84%

Results

Results by county:

  Weatherman

•   40–50%
•   30–40%
•   20–30%
•   10–20%

  O'Neill

•   40–50%
•   30–40%
•   20–30%
•   10–20%

  Ballard

•   50–60%
•   40–50%
•   30–40%
•   20–30%
•   10–20%

  Woodall

•   50–60%
•   40–50%
•   30–40%
•   20–30%

  Mashburn

•   20–30%

  Elmore

•   50–60%
•   30–40%

Republican primary results^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hal Weatherman	181,818	19.59%
	Republican	Jim O'Neill	147,042	15.84%
	Republican	Deanna Ballard	138,822	14.96%
	Republican	Seth Woodall	102,492	11.04%
	Republican	Sam Page	94,810	10.22%
	Republican	Allen Mashburn	83,550	9.00%
	Republican	Jeffrey Elmore	79,883	8.61%
	Republican	Peter Boykin	32,126	3.46%
	Republican	Rivera Douthit	23,398	2.52%
	Republican	Ernest T. Reeves	22,760	2.45%
	Republican	Marlenis Hernandez Novoa	21,404	2.31%
Total votes			928,105	100.0%

Runoff results

Results by county:

  Weatherman

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   >90%

  O'Neill

•   50–60%

Republican primary runoff results^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hal Weatherman	96,600	74.44%
	Republican	Jim O'Neill	33,448	25.72%
Total votes			130,048	100.0%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Rachel Hunt, state senator from the 42nd district and daughter of former governor Jim Hunt^[22]

Eliminated in primary

• Ben Clark, former state senator from the 21st district and nominee for North Carolina's 9th congressional district in 2022^[12]
• Mark H. Robinson, businessman (no relation to incumbent lieutenant governor Mark Robinson)^[23]

Withdrawn

• Delmonte Crawford, civil rights activist^[24] (ran for mayor of Raleigh)^[25]
• Chris Rey, former mayor of Spring Lake and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016^[12]
• Raymond Smith Jr., former state representative from the 21st district^[24] (ran for mayor of Goldsboro)^[26]

Endorsements

Rachel Hunt

Organizations

• EMILY's List^[27]

Newspapers

• The Charlotte Observer^[14]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Ben Clark	Rachel Hunt	Mark H. Robinson	Undecided
High Point University[17]	February 16–23, 2024	321 (LV)	± 6.0%	14%	61%	24%	–
Public Policy Polling (D)[28]	December 15–16, 2023	556 (LV)	± 4.2%	5%	23%	6%	66%

Results

Results by county:

  Hunt

•   80–90%
•   70–80%
•   60–70%
•   50–60%
•   40–50%

  Clark

•   60–70%
•   50–60%
•   40–50%
•   30–40%

  Robinson

•   50–60%
•   40–50%

Democratic primary results^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rachel Hunt	477,196	70.35%
	Democratic	Ben Clark	111,836	16.49%
	Democratic	Mark H. Robinson	89,247	13.16%
Total votes			678,279	100.0%

Libertarian Party

Withdrew after nomination

• Dee Watson, oncology researcher^[9]

Replacement nominee

• Shannon Bray, cybersecurity professional and nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020 and 2022^[29]

Constitution Party

Nominee

• Wayne Jones, central regional director for the North Carolina Constitution Party^[30]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[31]	Tossup	November 1, 2024

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Hal Weatherman (R)	Rachel Hunt (D)	Other	Undecided
ActiVote[32]	October 8–26, 2024	400 (LV)	± 4.9%	50%	50%	–	–
Cygnal (R)[33][B]	October 12–14, 2024	600 (LV)	± 4.0%	41%	43%	3%[e]	13%
ActiVote[34]	August 20 – September 22, 2024	400 (LV)	± 4.9%	50%	50%	–	–
Cygnal (R)[35][B]	September 15–16, 2024	600 (LV)	± 4.0%	40%	42%	3%[f]	15%
YouGov (D)[36][C]	August 5–9, 2024	802 (RV)	± 3.9%	38%	40%	–	22%
Cygnal (R)[37][B]	August 4–5, 2024	600 (LV)	± 3.99%	38%	36%	5%[g]	22%
Spry Strategies[38]	June 7–11, 2024	600 (LV)	± 4.0%	38%	38%	–	24%

Results

2024 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election^[39]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Rachel Hunt	2,768,539	49.53%	+1.16%
	Republican	Hal Weatherman	2,663,183	47.64%	–3.99%
	Libertarian	Shannon Bray	104,192	1.86%	N/A
	Constitution	Wayne Jones	53,938	0.96%	N/A
Total votes			5,589,852	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

By congressional district

Despite losing the state, Weatherman won ten of 14 congressional districts.^[40]

District	Weatherman	Hunt	Representative
1st	48%	50%	Don Davis
2nd	30%	67%	Deborah Ross
3rd	56%	41%	Greg Murphy
4th	25%	73%	Valerie Foushee
5th	55%	43%	Virginia Foxx
6th	54%	43%	Addison McDowell
7th	52%	45%	David Rouzer
8th	56%	42%	Mark Harris
9th	54%	43%	Richard Hudson
10th	55%	42%	Pat Harrigan
11th	51%	46%	Chuck Edwards
12th	24%	73%	Alma Adams
13th	54%	43%	Brad Knott
14th	53%	44%	Tim Moore

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. Peter Boykin with 7%; Allen Mashburn, Marlenis Hernandez Navoa, and Ernest Reeves with 4%; Rivera Douthit with 2%
3. Marlenis Hernandez Navoa with 5%; Peter Boykin, Allen Mashburn, and Ernest Reeves with 3%; Rivera Douthit with 1%
4. Peter Boykin and Allen Mashburn with 1%; Rivera Douthit with 0%
5. Bray (L) with 2%; Jones (C) with 1%
6. Bray (L) with 2%; Jones (C) with 1%
7. Bray (L) with 5%

Partisan clients

1. Poll sponsored by the John Locke Foundation
2. Poll sponsored by the Carolina Journal
3. Poll sponsored by Carolina Forward