1980Final results
1980 election for North Carolina Governor
Governor · North Carolina
James B. Hunt Jr (D) won with 62.3% of the vote, defeating Beverly Lake (R) by 24.6 points.
James B. Hunt JrDemocrat · winner
62.3%1,143,145
Beverly LakeRepublican
37.7%691,449
1,834,594 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1980
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET