North Mecklenburg voters delivered 15,538 more votes for McCrory’s democratic opponent in 2016 v 2012. If Cooper’s razor-thin margin of ~4,000 withstands a recount, McCrory’s underperformance in North Meck- on a night when Republicans outperformed expectations nationwide- decided the governor’s race.

North Mecklenburg tips for Cooper

The North Mecklenburg precincts have been reliably Republican. In 2012 McCrory carried these 13 precincts by a whopping 68- 32% margin over Dalton. But in 2016 McCrory actually lost 49.7- 50.3%:

In 2012 McCrory carried every precinct:

2016 was a different story:

Total turnout was higher by about 12%.

In a tight election where McCrory could ill afford to alienate a core constituency, yet that is exactly what he did.