The 2020 North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, governor, Council of State, and other state and local elections. Primary elections were held on March 3, 2020, with runoff elections being rescheduled to June 23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Incumbent Republican superintendent Mark Johnson was eligible to run for re-election to a second term in office, but ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor instead. Republican nominee and former senior advisor on education to Pat McCrory, Catherine Truitt, defeated Democratic professor and former state senate candidate Jen Mangrum in the general election.
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Catherine Truitt, teacher and former senior advisor on education to governor Pat McCrory Eliminated in primary D. Craig Horn, state representative from the 68th district (2011-present) Declined Mark Johnson, incumbent state superintendent (2017-present) (ran for lieutenant governor) Results
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Jen Mangrum, professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro and nominee for state senate in 2018 Eliminated in primary James Barrett, Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board member Constance Lav Johnson, magazine owner and former education official Michael Maher, professor at North Carolina State University Keith Sutton, Wake County school board member Withdrawn Amy Jablonski, education official and former teacher Endorsements
Results
General election Post-primary endorsements
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror CatherineTruitt (R) JenMangrum (D) UndecidedHarper Polling/Civitas (R) October 22–25, 2020 504 (LV) ± 4.4% 42%45% 13%Harper Polling/Civitas (R)Harper Polling/Civitas (R) September 17–20, 2020 612 (LV)± 3.96%38%38%22%Harper Polling/Civitas (R) August 6–10, 2020 600 (LV) ± 4.0% 35% 35% 31%
Results
References