Republican Thom Tillis narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan in the race for North Carolina's Senate seat as the GOP took control of Congress in the midterm elections.
The race—which was prominently featured in the national spotlight due to its back-and-forth battle and the significant amount of funding from outside sources—was too close to call until late Tuesday night. Tillis, the N.C. speaker of the House, won with 48.88 percent of the vote. Hagan received 47.2 percent, and Libertarian Sean Haugh garnered the remaining 3.73 percent. The race was tight until Tillis pulled away with approximately 95 percent of precincts reporting—the Associated Press the first to call the race for Tillis at 11:25 p.m.
"We refused to lose, and that's why I'm standing here before you.... We're going to make this country great again," Tillis said in his acceptance speech in Charlotte.
The race was considered crucial for Republicans who were looking to take control of the Senate. Republicans walked away from Election Night maintaining majority in the House and taking control of the Senate—with Tillis clinching one of the coveted seats for the Republicans.
The outcome of the race surprised some, with several projections maintaining that Hagan would win until the last precincts reported their results.
“I thought that Hagan would’ve hung on to win, but it would be very close,” said David Rohde, the Ernestine Friedl professor of political science.
The race also drew national attention because of outside funding—ultimately becoming the most expensive Senate race to date. Rohde, however, did not attribute spending as a major influence on the outcome of the election.
“I don’t know that spending had any impact at all. Both sides had plenty of opportunity to make their cases,” Rohde said.
Voter turnout hit a record high for a midterm year, with more than 2.71 million of North Carolina's 6.6 million registered voters casting ballots in the Senate race. The figure represents a slight uptick from the 2010 midterm, when 2.70 million ballots were cast, according to the state Board of Elections.
Early voter turnout also increased, despite a new law that cut the early voting period from 17 days to 10. The number of people who voted early increased by more than 20 percent, the Board of Elections noted.
The race was also impacted by third-party candidate Haugh, a Libertarian from Durham. Haugh consistently polled in the mid-single digits leading up to the election, and drew 3.73 percent of the vote on election day—enough votes to impact a race as close as Hagan-Tillis. Rohde said it is “hard to say” whether the addition of Haugh as a third party candidate had more of a negative impact on Hagan or Tillis.
“Some voters who turned out to vote for Haugh may not have turned out otherwise,” Rohde noted.
In his acceptance speech, Tillis credited his victory to dedicated volunteers—praising their efforts amid what he described as a particularly negative campaign.
“Take a look at all of the negative ads against me…. At the end of the day the reason they spent all that money, they looked at North Carolina, they knew what we had here,” Tillis said.
He also looked to capitalize on the momentum of the nationwide GOP victory in his speech.
“We have swept this nation with a compelling Senate majority,” Tillis said to a crowd of supporters who chanted “USA” repeatedly.
Hagan’s concession speech, from her hometown of Greensboro, remained positive. She informed her supporters that she had congratulated Tillis and would work with him to have a smooth transition.
“I will always be grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me," Hagan said. "Y’all, it’s been fabulous.”
Hagan ended with a positive outlook of her term, saying her political work is not yet done.
“This campaign has ended but our work to improve lives of North Carolinians and build an economy that works for everyone isn’t over,” she said.
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