{
 "topic": "senate",
 "site": "electiondata.dev",
 "place": {
  "id": "us-nc",
  "name": "North Carolina",
  "level": "us-state",
  "parent": "usa",
  "path": "us/nc",
  "slug": "nc",
  "state": "nc",
  "state_name": "North Carolina",
  "state_id": "us-nc"
 },
 "question": "How did North Carolina vote for the Senate?",
 "answer": {
  "verdict": "Ted Budd (Republican) won by 3.2 points",
  "value": 3.2,
  "unit": " pts",
  "digits": 1,
  "label": "Senate, 2022: winner's margin",
  "lines": [
   "Ted Budd (Republican) 50.5%, Cheri Beasley (Democrat) 47.3%, Shannon W. Bray (Libertarian) 1.4%",
   "3,773,924 votes for Senate candidates"
  ]
 },
 "as_of": "2022",
 "as_of_label": "2022",
 "charts": [
  {
   "id": "senate-margin",
   "title": "Every regular Senate election in North Carolina since 1978",
   "description": "15 regular elections; Democrats were ahead in 2 and Republicans in 13.",
   "indicator": "Democratic candidate's share of Senate votes minus the Republican's, points (regular elections; special elections are in the table)",
   "subtitle": "Democratic share minus Republican share, in points. Above the line: the Democrat got more votes.",
   "x": {
    "kind": "year"
   },
   "y": {
    "digits": 1,
    "unit": " pts",
    "format": "party-margin"
   },
   "layers": [
    {
     "type": "bars",
     "name": "Margin",
     "base": 0,
     "points": [
      [
       1978,
       -9.024,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1980,
       -0.579,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1984,
       -3.853,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1990,
       -5.111,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1992,
       -4.029,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1996,
       -6.726,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1998,
       4.139,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2002,
       -8.609,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2004,
       -4.577,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2008,
       8.469,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2010,
       -11.765,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2014,
       -1.565,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2016,
       -5.696,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2020,
       -1.747,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2022,
       -3.226,
       "rep"
      ]
     ],
     "legend": [
      {
       "label": "Democrat ahead",
       "cls": "dem"
      },
      {
       "label": "Republican ahead",
       "cls": "rep"
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "limits": [
  "Statewide totals say nothing about who voted or why.",
  "Candidates with a party's support under another name (Minnesota's DFL, New York's fusion lines) are counted with that party, as the MIT data's simplified party does; independents stay independents."
 ],
 "method": "Each candidate's votes are summed over every ballot line; blank, over- and under-votes are left out. The margin is the winner's share of the votes minus the runner-up's. A runoff, where held, is the result.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "name": "electiondata.dev senate-results, version 2026-10-25.247421eda6",
   "url": "https://electiondata.dev/",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  },
  {
   "name": "MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. Senate statewide 1976-2024",
   "url": "https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PEJ5QU",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  }
 ],
 "check": {
  "races": [
   {
    "year": 1978,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1135814,
    "votes": {
     "Jesse Helms": 619151,
     "John Randolph Ingram": 516663
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1980,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1797665,
    "votes": {
     "John P. East": 898064,
     "Robert Morgan": 887653,
     "F. W. (rick) Pasotto": 7602,
     "Rebecca Finch": 4346
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1984,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2239051,
    "votes": {
     "Jesse Helms": 1156768,
     "James B. (jim) Hunt Jr.": 1070488,
     "Bobby Yates Emory": 9302,
     "Kate Daher": 2493
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1986,
    "special": true,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 1534848,
    "votes": {
     "Terry Sanford": 780967,
     "James T. (jim) Broyhill": 753881
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1990,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2069585,
    "votes": {
     "Jesse Helms": 1087331,
     "Harvey B. Gantt": 981573
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1992,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2577891,
    "votes": {
     "Lauch Faircloth": 1297892,
     "Terry Sanford": 1194015,
     "Bobby Yates Emory": 85948,
     "Bruce Kimball": 23,
     "Mary Ann Zakutney": 13
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1996,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2556456,
    "votes": {
     "Jesse Helms": 1345833,
     "Harvey B. Gantt": 1173875,
     "Ray Ubinger": 25396,
     "J. Victor Pardo": 11209
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1998,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2012143,
    "votes": {
     "John Edwards": 1029237,
     "Lauch Faircloth": 945943,
     "Barbara Howe": 36963
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2002,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2331181,
    "votes": {
     "Elizabeth H. Dole": 1248664,
     "Erskine B. Bowles": 1047983,
     "Sean Haugh": 33807
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2004,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 3472082,
    "votes": {
     "Richard Burr": 1791450,
     "Erskine Bowles": 1632527,
     "Tom Bailey": 47743
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2008,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 4271970,
    "votes": {
     "Kay Hagan": 2249311,
     "Elizabeth Dole": 1887510,
     "Christopher Cole": 133430
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2010,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2660079,
    "votes": {
     "Richard Burr": 1458046,
     "Elaine Marshall": 1145074,
     "Michael Beitler": 55687
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 2915281,
    "votes": {
     "Thom Tillis": 1423259,
     "Kay R. Hagan": 1377651,
     "Sean Haugh": 109100
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2016,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 4691133,
    "votes": {
     "Richard Burr": 2395376,
     "Deborah K. Ross": 2128165,
     "Sean Haugh": 167592
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2020,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 5474952,
    "votes": {
     "Thom Tillis": 2665598,
     "Cal Cunningham": 2569965,
     "Shannon W. Bray": 171571,
     "Kevin E. Hayes": 67818
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2022,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 3773924,
    "votes": {
     "Ted Budd": 1905786,
     "Cheri Beasley": 1784049,
     "Shannon W. Bray": 51640,
     "Matthew Hoh": 29934,
     "Michelle Estelle Lewis": 137
    }
   }
  ],
  "dataset": "senate-results",
  "version": "2026-10-25.247421eda6"
 },
 "table": {
  "title": "Every Senate race since 1976",
  "columns": [
   "Race",
   "Winner",
   "Runner-up",
   "Margin",
   "Votes"
  ],
  "num": [
   3,
   4
  ],
  "rows": [
   [
    "2022",
    "Ted Budd (R) 50.5%",
    "Cheri Beasley (D) 47.3%",
    "3.2 pts",
    "3,773,924"
   ],
   [
    "2020",
    "Thom Tillis (R) 48.7%",
    "Cal Cunningham (D) 46.9%",
    "1.7 pts",
    "5,474,952"
   ],
   [
    "2016",
    "Richard Burr (R) 51.1%",
    "Deborah K. Ross (D) 45.4%",
    "5.7 pts",
    "4,691,133"
   ],
   [
    "2014",
    "Thom Tillis (R) 48.8%",
    "Kay R. Hagan (D) 47.3%",
    "1.6 pts",
    "2,915,281"
   ],
   [
    "2010",
    "Richard Burr (R) 54.8%",
    "Elaine Marshall (D) 43.0%",
    "11.8 pts",
    "2,660,079"
   ],
   [
    "2008",
    "Kay Hagan (D) 52.7%",
    "Elizabeth Dole (R) 44.2%",
    "8.5 pts",
    "4,271,970"
   ],
   [
    "2004",
    "Richard Burr (R) 51.6%",
    "Erskine Bowles (D) 47.0%",
    "4.6 pts",
    "3,472,082"
   ],
   [
    "2002",
    "Elizabeth H. Dole (R) 53.6%",
    "Erskine B. Bowles (D) 45.0%",
    "8.6 pts",
    "2,331,181"
   ],
   [
    "1998",
    "John Edwards (D) 51.2%",
    "Lauch Faircloth (R) 47.0%",
    "4.1 pts",
    "2,012,143"
   ],
   [
    "1996",
    "Jesse Helms (R) 52.6%",
    "Harvey B. Gantt (D) 45.9%",
    "6.7 pts",
    "2,556,456"
   ],
   [
    "1992",
    "Lauch Faircloth (R) 50.3%",
    "Terry Sanford (D) 46.3%",
    "4.0 pts",
    "2,577,891"
   ],
   [
    "1990",
    "Jesse Helms (R) 52.5%",
    "Harvey B. Gantt (D) 47.4%",
    "5.1 pts",
    "2,069,585"
   ],
   [
    "1986 special",
    "Terry Sanford (D) 50.9%",
    "James T. (jim) Broyhill (R) 49.1%",
    "1.8 pts",
    "1,534,848"
   ],
   [
    "1984",
    "Jesse Helms (R) 51.7%",
    "James B. (jim) Hunt Jr. (D) 47.8%",
    "3.9 pts",
    "2,239,051"
   ],
   [
    "1980",
    "John P. East (R) 50.0%",
    "Robert Morgan (D) 49.4%",
    "0.6 pts",
    "1,797,665"
   ],
   [
    "1978",
    "Jesse Helms (R) 54.5%",
    "John Randolph Ingram (D) 45.5%",
    "9.0 pts",
    "1,135,814"
   ]
  ]
 },
 "api": {
  "now": "/data/places/us-nc/senate.json",
  "source": "https://api.electiondata.dev/v1/senate-results/download/senate-results.csv",
  "source_label": "Every Senate race, every state, from electiondata.dev (live, no key)"
 },
 "generated_at": "2026-10-26T20:05:12+00:00"
}