Durham County gave Roy Cooper 87.1% in the Senate race, his best county in the state. It was also the county most opposed to all three constitutional amendments.
Durham County gave Democrat Roy Cooper 87.1% of its vote in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate race. No other county in North Carolina backed him as strongly. Cooper won the seat statewide with 58.7%.
Durham also voted against all three amendments to the state constitution, by wider margins than any of the state’s 100 counties. All three passed statewide.
The figures are unofficial results from the N.C. State Board of Elections. Bull City Now added up the board’s precinct results file, published Wednesday, for all 71 Durham County precincts.
The amendments: Durham said no
About three in four Durham County voters opposed the photo ID amendment. Statewide, about three in five voters backed it.
| Amendment | Durham for | Durham against | Statewide for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Require photo ID to vote | 25.8% | 74.2% | 59.6% |
| Cap the state income tax rate at 3.5% | 28.8% | 71.2% | 61.9% |
| Limit property tax increases by local governments | 29.1% | 70.9% | 60.4% |
Orange County, Durham’s neighbor to the west, was the next most opposed on all three. On the photo ID amendment, six counties voted no: Durham, Orange, Buncombe, Chatham, Wake and Mecklenburg.
The income tax amendment lowers the cap in the constitution from 7% to 3.5%, under Session Law 2026-4. The property tax amendment directs the General Assembly to pass laws limiting increases in local property tax levies. The details for the City of Durham and Durham County will come from those future state laws, not from the amendment itself.
U.S. Senate and Congress
| Senate candidate | Durham votes | Durham share | Statewide share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roy Cooper (D) | 131,025 | 87.1% | 58.7% |
| Michael Whatley (R) | 17,168 | 11.4% | 39.1% |
| Shannon W. Bray (L) | 1,180 | 0.8% | 1.3% |
| Michael Dublin (G) | 1,109 | 0.7% | 0.9% |
U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, a Democrat, won a new term in the 4th Congressional District. She had 85.9% in Durham County and 79.1% across the district, which also takes in voters in Orange, Chatham and Wake counties. Republican Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar had 12.3% in Durham and Libertarian Guy Meilleur 1.8%.
State courts
Justice Anita Earls, a Democrat, kept her seat on the N.C. Supreme Court with 58.9% statewide. She won 87.2% in Durham County against Republican Sarah Stevens.
Democrats also carried Durham by about 86% in all three N.C. Court of Appeals races:
- Seat 1: John S. Arrowood, 85.8%, against Michael C. Byrne
- Seat 2: Tobias (Toby) Hampson, 86.0%, against George Cooper Bell
- Seat 3: Christine Marie Walczyk, 86.4%, against Craig Collins
General Assembly
- State Senate District 22: Democrat Sophia Chitlik won with 85.3%, or 72,857 votes, to Republican LaKeshia M. Alston’s 12,600. The district is entirely in Durham County.
- State Senate District 20: Democrat Natalie S. Murdock was unopposed.
- N.C. House District 30: Democrat Marcia Morey won with 93.0% against Libertarian Ray Ubinger.
- N.C. House Districts 29, 31 and 2: Democrats Vernetta Alston, Zack Hawkins and Ray Jeffers were unopposed. District 2 also takes in Person County.
County offices and local judges
These candidates had no opponents on the Durham County ballot:
- Sheriff: Clarence F. Birkhead
- District attorney, District 16: Satana Deberry
- Clerk of Superior Court: Aminah Thompson
- Superior Court, District 16B: Myra Griffin (Seat 2) and Josephine Kerr Davis (Seat 3)
- District Court, District 16: Dave Hall, Doretta L. Walker, Kevin E. Jones, Dorothy Hairston Mitchell, Christy A. Hamilton Malott and Amanda L. Maris (Seats 1 to 6)
Two candidates ran for two seats as Durham Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor. David Harris had 108,970 votes and Mark W. Waller 103,358.
The part of Raleigh in Durham County
A small corner of Raleigh lies in Durham County, and its voters had city races on the ballot. They voted 443 to 412 against Raleigh’s housing bonds, which passed citywide with 64.8% once Wake County votes are added. Janet Cowell won the Raleigh mayor’s race with 81.6% citywide.
How Durham voted
In the Senate race, 150,482 votes were counted in Durham County, about 60% of the 252,224 voters registered as of Oct. 18. Three in four came from early voting:
- Early in-person: 112,684
- Election Day: 33,340
- Mail: 4,458
No provisional ballots had been added yet. Our early voting turnout story has the day-by-day figures from before Election Day.
What it means for you
- These results are unofficial. Under state law, county elections boards meet to certify them 10 days after the election, which is Friday, Nov. 13. Eligible provisional ballots are added before then, so totals will change slightly.
- Property taxes are not capped yet. The amendment needs a state law first. Our property tax guide has the current city and county rates.
- There is no Durham City Council race until 2027. City elections are held in odd-numbered years. Our voting page has how to register and check your districts.
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