By Mark Wineka
mark.wineka@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — As if there were any doubts, Rowan County proved once again during a presidential election that it is a Republican stronghold in North Carolina.

Except for the most urban precincts, taking in Salisbury, Spencer and East Spencer precincts, Rowan County voters heavily favored the GOP candidates in the presidential, U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races.

And in doing so, Rowan County proved a key contributor to Republican victories in at least two of those three contests, favoring GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Gov. Pat McCrory with 63.7 percent of the vote or better.

When Tuesday’s votes were counted, Rowan favored Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton by a 42,388-19,208 margin, or 66.54 percent.

In the U.S. Senate race, Rowan voted for Burr over Democrat Deborah K. Ross, 40,814 to 19,027, or 64.75 percent.

For governor, McCrory, a graduate of Catawba College, was Rowan County’s choice over Democrat Roy Cooper by a  vote of 40,422 to 21,397, or 63.74 percent.

Trump had huge margins over Clinton in virtually every corner of Rowan County outside of the Salisbury-Spencer-East Spencer area. Precincts with huge margins for Trump included the likes of Rockwell, Landis, China Grove, Granite Quarry, Barnhardt Mill (West Park Baptist Church), West Enochville, Bradshaw (Atwell Fire Department), Hatters Shop (Union Fire Department) and South Locke (the Locke Fire Station on N.C. 150).

Voters favored Clinton over Trump in only 10 out of Rowan County’s 41 voting precincts. She had her biggest margins in the East Spencer, West Ward I (Rowan Public Library) and West Ward III (Miller Recreation Center) precincts.

Rowan’s precinct-by-precinct voting in the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races closely mirrored what happened in the presidential matchup.

Almost 43 percent of Rowan County’s registered voters took advantage of early voting sites, and those who did sent Trump, Burr and McCrory on the path to their big margins here.

In the presidential race, other candidates receiving votes in Rowan were Libertarian Gary Johnson, 1,482, and write-ins, 622.

In the U.S. Senate contest, Libertarian Sean Haugh received 3,190 votes in Rowan County. Lon Cecil, the Libertarian candidate for governor had 1,598 Rowan votes.

In other races, Rowan voters again mirrored at press time what appeared to be Republican victories in all Council of State races except Secretary of State, in which incumbent Democrat Elaine Marshall was winning.

Here are the Rowan results in those Council of State contests, with the Republican listed first and the Democrat second:

• Lieutenant governor — Dan Forest, 41,689; Linda Coleman, 18,734.

• Attorney general — Buck Newton, 39,132; Josh Stein, 22,622.

• Auditor — Chuck Stuber, 38,927; Beth Wood, 21,729.

• Agriculture commissioner —  Steve Troxler, 43,115; Walter Smith, 18,180.

• Insurance commissioner: Mike Causey, 40,238; Wayne Goodwin, 20,708.

• Labor commissioner — Cherie Berry, 43,008; Charles Meeker, 18,266.

• Secretary of state — Michael LaPaglia, 37,739; Elaine Marshall, 23,247.

• Superintendent of public instruction — Mark Johnson, 40,286; June Atkinson, 20,582.

• Treasurer — Dale Folwell, 40,405; Dan Blue III, 20,388.

Who collected the most votes in Rowan County in Tuesday’s election? That honor goes to Bruce Miller, who ran unopposed for re-election as a Soil and Water supervisor for Rowan County.

Miller had 49,347 votes. District Court Judge Marshall Bickett, who ran unopposed, was the second most popular choice in Rowan County Tuesday with 45,108 votes.

State Sen. Andrew Brock and State Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford— all Republicans — ran unopposed in the general election and, of course, were re-elected.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.