Chapel Hill incumbents take election

A trio of Chapel Hill-area Democratic incumbents — Graig Meyer, Verla Insko and Valerie Foushee — were all re-elected Tuesday night for their respective positions in the N.C. House of Representatives and Senate, according to unofficial results.

Meyer defeated Republican opponent Rod Chaney, earning 57 percent of the vote, and Insko defeated Republican opponent David Carter 81 percent to 19 percent for seats in the state House of Representatives. Foushee beat Mary Lopez-Carter, a Republican, 68 percent to 32 percent in her state Senate race, which includes Orange and Chatham counties.

Foushee and Meyer were joined Tuesday by representatives from the Orange County Democratic Party and UNC Young Democrats for an election watch party at R&R Grill.

Foushee served one term in the state House of Representatives and was appointed to the Senate in 2013 to replace retired Sen. Ellie Kinnaird.

She said she hopes this election will give Democrats a greater voice in the GOP-controlled Senate.

“I learned a long time ago that candidates don’t determine the issues, the people do,” she said.

Meyer, who was appointed to the House to replace Foushee in 2013, said among the key issues he plans to focus on during his term are the environment and education.

“Education is still going to be the top issue on everybody’s mind, and of course, related to that is how our education system is going to be related to keep our economy strong,” he said.

Meyer said Democrats and Republicans in the state House will have to find a balance and work together, and he predicts financial issues like taxation and the state budget will be among the most fiercely debated in the 2015 legislative session, which begins in January.

Wilson Parker, president of UNC’s Young Democrats, said turnout has been a decisive factor in this election, especially from student voters.

“We had a bill passed by the General Assembly which made it much harder for students to vote, for low-income people to vote, for minorities to vote. Many people think there were political reasons,” he said.

Charles Blackwood, who won an unopposed contest for sheriff of Orange County, said the state elections are critical.

“I think that there’s a tremendous amount of divisiveness in the House right now and with divisiveness comes a slowing of process. The trust is low and that slows the speed of trust down,” he said.

“(This election is) when the rubber hits the road. It’s time to figure out who’s going to come out of this race doing what they said they would do.”

Staff writers Caroline Lamb, Hannah Webster and Jungsu Hong  contributed reporting.

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