Elections were held in North Carolina on November 6, 2012, to select the nine officers of the North Carolina Council of State. This election coincided with the U.S. presidential election, U.S. House elections, the gubernatorial election and the statewide judicial elections. Primary elections were held on May 8, 2012; for races in which no candidate received 40 percent of the vote in the primary, runoff elections (officially known as "second" primaries) were held on July 17.
The nine members of the North Carolina Council of State are statewide-elected officers serving four-year terms. In the 2012 elections, all incumbents who ran for new terms were re-elected, while the Governor and Lieutenant Governor's seats were open following incumbent Bev Perdue's decision to retire, and Walter Dalton's decision to run for governor, respectively.
The partisan makeup of the Council of State changed from 8 Democrats and 2 Republicans before the election to 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans afterward, as Republicans flipped both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
Republican Pat McCrory was elected governor.
Republican Dan Forest was elected lieutenant governor.
Roy Cooper, the Democratic incumbent attorney general, ran for re-election unopposed.
As no candidate received 40 percent of the vote, state law allows the runner-up to request a second primary (or "runoff"). Gardner requested a runoff.
As the runner-up, Dority chose not to request a runoff, making Goldman the nominee.
Withdrawn Candidates
As the runner-up, Alexander requested a runoff.
As the runner-up, Foster requested a runoff.
As the runner-up, Causey requested a runoff. Of all the statewide runoffs held on July 17, the Republican primary for Insurance Commissioner was the only one in which the top vote-getter changed from the first to the second primary.