DURHAM | ORANGE | CHATHAM | GRANVILLE | PERSONWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 75 CENTS

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ELECTION 2012

BARACK OBAMA

30351,829,244

electoral votes

popular vote

MITT ROMNEY

20351,532,955

electoral votes

popular vote

*as of 1 a.m. Wednesday

DURHAM COUNTY

STATE SENATE

Orlando Hudson easily retains seat | A4

SUPERIOR COURT

Five Democrats coast to victory | A4

DURHAM COMMISSIONERS

Butterfield, Coble, Price, Holding win | C6

U.S. CONGRESS

Price, Pelissier defeat GOP challengers | A11

ORANGE COMMISSIONERS

ELECTION 2012

DURHAM COMMISSIONERS(select five)Fred Foster, Jr. (DEM) . . . 87,109 Brenda Howerton (DEM) 90,827 Wendy Jacobs (DEM) . . . 90,475 Michael D. Page (DEM) . . 89,713 Ellen Reckhow (DEM) . . . 89,249 OmarBeasley(UNA) . . . . 33,157

ORANGE COUNTY

ORANGE COMMISSIONERSAT-LARGE

Bernadette Pelissier(DEM) .50,381MaryCarter(REP) . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,010

DISTRICT 1(select two)Mark Dorosin (DEM) ........ 50,893Penny Rich (DEM) ............. 46,359

DISTRICT 2Renee Price (DEM) ............ 50,794ChrisWeaver(REP) . . . . . . . . . . 20,646

N.C. SENATE, DISTRICT 23Ellie Kinnaird (DEM) ......... 71,420DaveCarter(REP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,256

N.C. SENATE, DISTRICT 22Mike Woodard (DEM)....... 65,067MiltonHolmes(REP) . . . . . . . . 34,300

N.C. HOUSE, DISTRICT 56Verla C. Insko (DEM) ........ 34,872KarrieMead(REP) . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,171

N.C. HOUSE, DISTRICT 50Valerie Foushee (DEM) .... 24,430RodChaney(REP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,831

U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 1G. K. Butterfield (DEM) .. 249,339PeteDiLauro(REP) . . . . . . . . . . .75,739DarrylHolloman(LIB) . . . . . . .5,978

U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 4David Price (DEM) ......... 264,502TimD’Annunzio(REP) . . . . . .90,925

U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 6TonyForiest(DEM) . . . . . . . . 140,942Howard Coble (REP) ..... 219,915

U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 13CharlesMalone(DEM) . . 169,046George Holding (REP) ... 224,442

STATE HOUSE

U.S. HOUSE

COURTSN.C. SUPREME COURT

SamJ .ErvinIV . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,682,359Paul Martin Newby .... 1,821,108

N.C. COURT OF APPEALSLinda McGee................ 2,090,390DavidS .Robinson . . . . . . 1,329,438

N.C. COURT OF APPEALSWanda Bryant ............. 1,919,359MartyMcGee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,478,731

N.C. COURT OF APPEALSChris Dillon .................. 1,776,687CressieThigpen . . . . . . . . . . 1,590,002

SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE, DISTRICT 14A

JimDornfried . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9,610Orlando F. Hudson Jr .......22,327

*unofficial results

CHAPEL HILL — Orange County voters on Tuesday approved a half-cent sales tax supporters say will great-ly improve transit ser vice throughout the county.

The sales tax is expected to generate about $5 mil-lion a year with the revenue going toward new buses, improved bus ser vice, an Amtrak station in Hillsbor-ough and a proposed light rail connection from UNC to downtown Durham.

“That’s fantastic news,” said Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. “It doesn’t surprise me.”

Near ly 59 per cent o f

the county’s 71,070 voters marked their ballots in favor of the tax while 41 percent voted against it. The final but unof ficial tally showed 41,592 voters in favor of the tax and 29,155 voters against it.

S ixty -e ight percent o f Orange County’s eligible vot-ers cast ballots in Tuesday’s election.

Durham voters approved a half-cent sales tax last year to expand its transit opera-tion and pay for its portion of the light rail proposal.

Wake County would be the third partner, but has not yet put a sales tax referen-dum before its voters.

SEE TAX/PAGE A2

Orange County OKs transit sales tax

BY GREGORY CHILDRESSGCHILDRESS@HERALDSUN.COM;

919-419-6645

RALEIGH — Former Char-lotte Mayor Pat McCrory was elected North Carolina’s first Republican governor in 20 years on Tuesday, meaning the GOP will control both the exec-utive and legislative branches of government for the first time in more than a century.

The popular ex-mayor of Charlotte captured 55 percent of the vote in a state that was closely contested by both politi-cal parties. His victory came four years after he narrowly lost the governor’s race to Democrat Beverly Perdue.

“Not many people are given a second chance, and I got a

second chance,” McCrory told The Associated Press on Tues-day night, adding that voters also “got a second chance to retract a potential mistake that they made in 2008.”

With all precincts report-ing, McCror y had handily

SEE GOVERNOR/PAGE A2

McCrory wins governor’s race

BY GARY D. ROBERTSONASSOCIATED PRESS Local Tallies

DURHAMDalton: 98,802 - 71%

McCrory: 36,418 - 26%ORANGE

Dalton: 42,281 - 64%McCrory: 24,334 - 32%

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama rolled to re-elec-tion Tuesday night, vanquishing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and triumphing despite a weak economy that plagued his first term and put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions.

“This happened because of you. Thank you” Obama tweeted to supporters as he celebrated four more years in the White House. Romney telephoned the president to concede.

After the costliest — and argu-ably the nastiest — campaign in history, divided government seemed alive and well.

Democrats retained control of the Senate with surprising ease. Republicans were on course for

the same in the House, making it likely that Speaker John Boeh-ner of Ohio, Obama’s partner in unsuccessful deficit talks, would reclaim his seat at the bargaining table.

At Obama headquarters in Chicago, a huge crowd gathered waving small American flags and

cheering. Supporters hugged each other, danced and pumped their fists in the air. Excited crowds also gathered in New York’s Times Square, at Faneuil Hall in Boston and near the White House in Washington, drivers joy-fully honking as they passed by.

With votes counted in 75 per-cent of the nation’s precincts, Obama held a narrow advantage in the popular vote, leading by about 25,000 out of more than 99 million cast.

But the president’s laserlike focus on the battleground states allowed him to run up a 303-203 margin in the competition for electoral votes, where the White House is won or lost. It took 270 to win.

SEE OBAMA/PAGE A2

President powers past RomneyBY DAVID ESPO

AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Local TalliesDURHAM

Obama: 106,960 - 76%Romney: 31,786 - 23%

ORANGEObama: 53,404 - 70%

Romney: 21,298 - 28%•••

MORE ELECTION COVERAGEA4, A11, C1, C4-7

Associated PressMartha Nunez, 53, of the Bronx, reacts to positive predictions for President Barack Obama as crowds watch election results Tuesday in Times Square in New York. After a year of campaigning, Americans have re-elected Obama to a second term.

OBAMA RE-ELECTED

A1 HS Main/Local