As the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., a cheer erupted at the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in downtown Raleigh as the Republican Party’s supermajority in the General Assembly was broken. Due to a supermajority no longer existing, Republicans do not alone have enough votes to override a veto from the governor.

In a midterm election that saw a record number of women running for office and a nationwide push for young people to vote, North Carolina’s Democrats attribute their victories to voters from historically underrepresented communities.

Anita Earls unseated incumbent Barbara Jackson to win a seat on the NC Supreme Court, shifting the court to a 5-2 Democratic majority. Earls said her campaign’s main focus was equal access to justice and recognizing bias in the judicial system.

“The two things I stressed is the importance of equal access to justice for everyone in need of legal advice,” Earls said. “The second thing is making sure we handle the role of implicit racial bias in the judicial. Those are the two things that are important to me.”

Wayne Goodwin, chair for the North Carolina Democratic Party, spoke on the wide range of diversity among Democratic candidates in this election.

“We have recruited an incredible array, a diverse slate of candidates,” Goodwin said. “We have more persons of color running, more women, more LGBTQ [candidates]. Our slate of candidates actually represents North Carolina.”

Goodwin credited the Democratic Party’s gains to an unprecedented level of organization within the party and a new wave of energized young voters.

“The energy from young people, the energy from new voters, the energy of votes wanting to change since 2016 has been incredible,” Goodwin said. “We are much better organized for a midterm than we have been in a lifetime. We have a Democrat running in every legislative seat which has never happened before in any political party in the state.”

Brenda Pollard, North Carolina’s Democratic Woman of the Year, stressed that this midterm was an important step for electing more women. Being the Woman of the Year for the Democratic party recognizes a commitment to supporting the Democratic Party and a continued effort to encourage women to seek public office and participate the party. Pollard commented on the progress that has been made since she was a candidate for secretary of state in 1996.   

“This generation has opportunities we never had and the sky’s the limit for women,” Pollard said. “I was delegate for Hillary and Obama. Hillary for the nominee in a major political party so she made history. For women it is now a matter for helping the generation behind them.

With an early voting location in Talley Student Union, voting was made easily accessible for students, faculty and staff on campus.

Sam Chan, a third-year studying political science and communication, explains that convenience is a key factor in having students come out to vote.   

“Accessibility is key,” Chan saud. “There are over 34,000 students on campus, that is not even including all of the staff and faculty that can come here to vote. Having the polling place makes voting a lot more accessible to students.”

Besides accessibility being a factor for students, the polling place being on campus draws student attention to voting. Shikar Nunna, a fifth-year studying chemical engineering, mentions how students are caught up in studies and other commitments and do not place as much focus on voting as other demographics.

“Students often don’t pay as much attention to elections,” Nunna said. “They are also super busy so it is good to have a polling place that they can walk to. I think this makes voting easier.”

For North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, Rep. David Price took the lead early and maintained it throughout the night. Price won reelection to his 12th consecutive term with seventy-two point three percent of the vote. Price’s district includes NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill along with much of Raleigh and Durham, and he spoke on the importance in the turnout of young voters and the issues that directly affect them.

“I have been at NC State for early voting, also at [UNC-CH] and other schools, and student participation has been very strong,” Price said. “Part of that is because of issues that directly affect students like what is going to happen with Pell grants and the terms to under which you can get student loans. You need a reasonable way of getting loans together so you can get the education you need.”

Other than the issues directly focused on education and student loans, Price has advocated for net neutrality as an issue that directly affects students.

“[Net neutrality] is an issue students and people in their twenties care about, that the internet remain free and open,” Price said. “That the big carriers shouldn’t be able to control content or slow down the performance of the internet for certain users. I am co-sponsoring legislation that would reinstate the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules and one way or another there is such a head of steam on this I think we can turn it around.”

Predicting historic voter turnout, Goodwin emphasized the importance of the midterm elections and the impact that young voters can have.

“A lot of folks don’t focus on midterms as much as they should, but I believe when that data comes in we will see more young people are voting this midterm than before which is good for all of us,” Goodwin said.