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Democrats have been dealing with declining voter rolls in a number of states, but one key battleground state in particular appears to be on the verge of flipping from a state that, for decades, has had more registered Democrat voters to one with more registered Republicans.
There were almost three-quarters of a million more registered Democrats in North Carolina than Republicans 10 years ago. As of today, that difference is just over 1,000, according to the latest count by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
“Voters across North Carolina are rejecting the Democrats’ failed agenda and choosing Republican leadership,” Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said. “This shift didn’t happen overnight, it’s the result of years of good common sense Republican governance and our focus on offering serious solutions on the issues that matter to the people.”
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Voters make selections at their voting booths inside an early voting site on October 17, 2024 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
Earlier this year, ahead of the slate of elections that took place in November that saw Democratic Party wins virtually across the board, including multiple candidates who ran under the ‘socialist’ banner, a New York Times analysis found that between 2020 and 2024 Democrats lost about 2.1 million registered voters across 30 different states that keep track of voter registration data. Meanwhile, the analysis found that Republicans gained about 2.4 million. In total, this amounted to a deficit for the Democratic Party of 4.5 million registered voters just over the last four years.
In North Carolina, specifically, between 2005 and 2015, the difference in the number of registered Republicans and Democrats in North Carolina remained mostly steady, with a difference of about 670,000 give, or take, in 2005 and 2015, respectively. But, beginning in 2015, that deficit started to shrink.
Five years later, in 2020, the difference was a little under 380,000 in favor of Democrats, before their lead shrunk to just 1,216, according to the North Carolina Board of Election’s latest voter roll records.
“The reality is that bad Democrat policies coming out of Washington are driving voters away from the party here at home,” former Republican National Committee chairman and North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley said.
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“Insane policies supported by Roy Cooper and pushed by DC Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris are completely out of step with North Carolinians,” he said. “Democrats couldn’t win Senate races here even when they had a cash advantage and a huge voter-registration edge. Now they’ve lost that registration advantage too, and voters are making it clear they’re done with failed Democrat leadership.”
Republican Michael Whatley, left; Democrat Roy Cooper, right. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images; Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In response to North Carolina’s trend of growing Republican voters, versus its decline in Democrat voters, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) pointed to the GOP’s overall share of registered voters, which has statistically declined, while the number of unaffiliated voters has increased. However, the increase in unaffiliated voters has impacted both Republicans and Democrats’ overall vote share, with Democrats witnessing a much sharper drop in overall registered voters across the last decade, compared to Republicans, the data shows.
“Despite their repeated attempts at gerrymandering the state to subvert the will of the voters, Republicans have not managed to increase their share of registered voters in nearly four decades,” Madison Andrus, the DCCC’s regional spokesperson covering North Carolina, told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on North Carolina’s changing voter rolls.
“Now, with this latest scheme top of mind, voters across the state are souring on Republicans’ failing agenda that has led to higher grocery prices, more expensive health care, and greater difficulty making ends meet. Republicans have abandoned North Carolina’s working families and people are taking notice.”
New York City residents who attended the “No Kings” rally in Times Square on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, were asked if they are registered to vote. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
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But according to Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters, North Carolina “is undergoing a historic shift” and Democrats’ advantage has “crumbled.”
“Voters rejected Kamala Harris last year, and they’re continuing that trend as they turn away from the failed policies of Roy Cooper and Josh Stein,” Gruters said.
