The 1980 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1980. Despite North Carolina going to Ronald Reagan in the presidential race and the U.S. Senate race being won by a Republican ( John P. East), popular Democratic Governor Jim Hunt won a second term in office in a landslide over Republican

I. Beverly Lake Isaac Beverly Lake Jr. (January 30, 1934 – September 12, 2019) was an American jurist and politician, who served as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Early life I. Beverly Lake Jr. was born on January 30, 1934, in Raleigh, No ...

. Hunt thus became the first governor of the state elected to a consecutive four-year term, following an amendment to the

Constitution of North Carolina The Constitution of the State of North Carolina governs the structure and function of the state government of North Carolina, one of the United States; it is the highest legal document for the state and subjugates North Carolina law. All U.S. st ...

allowing such a run. Hunt's decision to run for a second term led to a challenge from former Democratic governor Robert W. Scott, but Hunt easily defeated the former governor in the Democratic primary. UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor Ferrel Guillory wrote of this campaign: "Hunt campaigned as the activist governor that he had been through his first term. His campaign’s key points were: 1) limiting government growth even as he deployed government as a tool for improving citizens’ lives, particularly through education initiatives; 2) maintaining ties with the business community while also pushing to diversify the state’s economy; 3) expanding rights and opportunities for women and black people; and 4) responding to charges that he was a “big spender’’ by noting that he had persuaded the Legislature in 1979 to enact a modest income tax cut."JIM HUNT: Campaigning and Governing
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General election results

Footnotes

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

1980

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

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