Prior to the Civil War, Whigs and Democrats were the two major political groups in North Carolina. The Republican Party emerged during Reconstruction as a coalition of newly enfranchised blacks, northern immigrants, and disaffected native whites, especially from non-slaveholding areas in the mountains. The opposing Conservative Party, representing a coalition of antebellum Democrats and former Whigs, became the Democratic Party after winning the governorship in 1876; from that time and for most of the 20th century, North Carolina was practically a one-party state.
Beginning in the 1930s, however, as blacks reentered the electorate as supporters of the New Deal and the liberal measures associated with Democratic presidents, the Republican Party attracted new white members who objected to national Democratic policies. Republican presidential candidates picked up strength in the 1950s and 1960s, and Richard Nixon carried North Carolina in 1968 and 1972, when Republicans also succeeded in electing Governor James E. Holshouser, Jr., and US Senator Jesse A. Helms. The Watergate scandal cut short this movement toward a revitalized two-party system, and in 1976, Jimmy Carter became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1964.
Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan narrowly carried North Carolina in 1980, and a second Republican senator, John P. East, was elected that year. In 1984, the Republican Party had its best election year in North Carolina. Reagan won the state by a landslide, Helms won a third term—defeating two-term Governor James B. Hunt in the most expensive race to date in Senate history (more than $26 million was spent)—and Republican James G. Martin, a US representative, was elected governor, succeeding Hunt. In 1990, Helms was reelected to the Senate, defeating black mayor Harvey Gantt in a bitterly contested race. In 1996 Gantt challenged Helms again, and once again Helms was the victor. Helms subsequently announced he would not run for reelection in 2002, and Republican Elizabeth H. Dole won his seat. In 2000, Republican George W. Bush won 56% of the presidential vote, to Democrat Al Gore's 43%.
But by the mid-1990s the states' Democrats were influential again. In 1993 Democrat James B. Hunt returned to the governor's office after a hiatus of eight years. He was elected to his third term (having served the first two between 1977 and 1985) in the 1992 election, and went on to a fourth term following the 1996 elections. Having served the limit, Hunt was leaving the gubernatorial race open for 2000, and Democrat Mike Easley won the governorship in 2000. In 1998 elections the second US Senate seat, which had been won by Republican Lauch Faircloth in 1992, was won by Democrat John Edwards. In 2003 Edwards was running for president and had announced he would not seek reelection in 2004.
In 2002 there were 5,058,021 registered voters. In 1998, 53% of registered voters were Democratic, 34% Republican, and 14% unaffiliated or members of other parties. The state had 14 electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election.
Following the 2002 elections, seven of North Carolina's 13 US Representatives were Republicans, and six were Democrats. In mid-2003 the state assembly was divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans (60–60), and there were 22 Republicans and 28 Democrats in the state senate.
Minor parties have had a marked influence on the state. George Wallace's American Independent Party won 496,188 votes in 1968, placing second with more than 31% of the total vote. In 1992, Independent Ross Perot captured 14% of the vote.