Despite what emotions have been expressed and/or suppressed (and will in the near future), the reality of the election will settle in, and there are a lot of people paid a lot of money to find out exactly why certain people won office with certain demographics voting for them.

In a state where the republican candidate for POTUS won by a comfortable margin, the democratic candidate for governor won in a landslide. Other prominent Council of State positions switched from one party to the other at the same time when the nation witnessed the flipping of senatorial seats that gives the incoming President of the United States much power.

For public education advocates in North Carolina, there were some victories.

Josh Stein became governor.

The fact that Stein won the election easily is not surprising when considering the scandals surrounding Mark Robinson. Even Trump distanced himself from Robinson turning the man who was called someone “be”tter than MLK” to a political pariah.

Stein is an advocate for public education. He actively campaigned on strengthening funding for public schools and against voucher expansion. Robinson was no friend of public schools often vilifying teachers.

But people may not remember that for four years, Robinson has been on the State Board of Education pushing his ideas on how to remove science and social studies curriculum from schools. His denial of systemic racism and climate change will not now be on that SOBE and he will not be submitting a budget for the state.

If Robinson had become governor, he would have been an absolute puppet of private interests set to further weaken the state’s public school system.

Josh Stein won’t do Phil Berger’s bidding. Mark Robinson would have.

Rachel Hunt became Lt. Governor.

It’s been a while since North Carolina had a Lt. Governor from the Democratic Party, and it is not the most concrete of political offices. However, there are definitely some positives.

First, that seat on the state board of education is now no longer filled by Mark Robinson, but by someone endorsed by most public school teachers.

Second, the Lt. Gov. presides over the NC Senate. While she will have no vote, if in the off-chance that there is a tie, she would break that tie with a vote.

Third, Hunt would act as governor when Stein is out of the state on official business or is incapacitated in any way. Remember that Gov. Roy Cooper was reluctant to leave the state on business or extended national campaigning because Mark Robinson would have had some of the gubernatorial reins.

Mo Green is the State Superintendent.

Someone who is experienced in public schools and is an advocate for public schools will be leading DPI.

Michele Morrow is a conspiracy theorist and a rather unfit candidate for the office. It should not be forgotten that Green did not win this office handily, but the fact that he did win in a state that went for Trump as POTUS is significant.

Green will also be on the NC State Board of Education.

Jeff Jackson is the state’s attorney general.

Being the state’s AG is rather important. In fact, the scope of the job and how it propels whomever wins the seat into the middle of NC’s political arena probably makes Jackson the second most important person in the stat’s government.

Having Dan Bishop in that role would have been detrimental to the ability for Stein to try and deliver on his platform. Furthermore, in recent history, the office of Attorney General of North Carolina has been the pipeline for candidates to become governor. Jackson’s youth, experience in politics, and expertise with the law hopefully grooms him to become a central figure in the state for years to come.

Democrats broke the NC General Assembly’s supermajority.

While Tricia Cotham still won her seat after defecting political parties to give the NCGA a supermajority in both branches last year, the GOP does not have that as of now. What that means is that the NCGA is no longer veto-proof. If the democrats stay unified, then they wield power especially when it comes to legislation involving vouchers and public school funding.

And there was a huge victory nationally.

Voucher measures in three states failed.

Multiple efforts that supported giving parents public funds to spend on private or alternative schools fared poorly in the 2024 election.

Voters rejected separate proposals in Colorado and Kentucky aiming to add language supporting school choice, an issue that has divided parents and school staffers across the nation for years, to their states’ constitutions.

And voters in Nebraska chose to repeal a $10 million school voucher program passed by its state legislature earlier this year, which aimed to help private school families with state funding.

Two of those states went red in the national races; however, as it has happened in the past, when vouchers are actually put on the ballot, they are defeated.

There is a reason that vouchers have never been placed on the ballot in NC. With a supermajority in the NCGA for much of the past few years and an intentional opaqueness placed on the voucher system to keep people from realizing its overall failures, what was seen on the national stage this past week may open more eyes.

Furthermore, there might not be a more tangible issue that can unite rural and urban voters alike despite political parties in helping strengthen the public school system.