National Election Returns : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : North Carolina
George Bush won an easy victory over Michael S. Dukakis to capture North Carolina’s 13 electoral votes and Gov. Jim Martin became the first GOP chief executive ever reelected in the state.
Martin, 52, a former college chemistry professor and six-term congressman, fended off charges by his challenger, Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Jordan, that his administration had been unethical and incompetent.
Jordan, 56, is a millionaire lumber company executive who presides over the state Senate, where he served four terms before his 1984 election as lieutenant governor.
In the hottest congressional race, Rep. Howard Coble, a Republican from Greensboro, faced a stiff challenge from former state legislator Tom Gilmore, a Democrat. Coble won a second term in 1986 by 79 votes in one of the nation’s most volatile districts.
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