November match set: McCrory vs. Cooper

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The Latest on Tuesday’s primary elections in North Carolina (all times local):

8:45 p.m.

Attorney General Roy Cooper has won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, setting up a general election battle with Republican incumbent Pat McCrory.

Cooper led Durham lawyer Ken Spaulding on Tuesday. Cooper had about 70 percent of the vote in partial, unofficial results.

Cooper has been attorney general since 2001. His state political career began when he was elected in 1986 to the state House from Nash County. He’s been critical of McCrory and Republicans leading the legislature, saying they have rolled the state backward on education and voting rights and should have expanded Medicaid.

Spaulding announced his bid for governor in 2013 and said Cooper was wrong to defend laws passed by the General Assembly that mandated photo identification to vote and pulled back on early voting.

8:30 p.m.

Gov. Pat McCrory has won the Republican primary for governor.

Partial, unofficial results Tuesday showed McCrory with more than 80 percent of the vote. Former state Rep. Robert Brawley of Mooresville and Charles Kenneth Moss of Randleman received the rest.

McCrory’s victory was expected, although Brawley had hoped to capitalize on unhappiness with construction of toll lanes on Interstate 77 by the governor’s administration.

McCrory is a former Charlotte mayor who defeated Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton in the 2012 general election. His campaign anticipated a general election clash with Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper.

The governor highlights the state’s improved economic picture, tax reductions and government efficiencies during his three years in office in seeking re-election.