Republicans made history on Election Day as they seized control of North Carolina's legislature for the first time in more than a century.
Democratic leaders in both the state House and Senate conceded to their Republican counterparts late Tuesday.
Sen. Marc Basnight, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said he told Republican leader Sen. Phil Berger of Eden that he will do whatever he can to work with the new regime.
Republicans last held a majority in the Senate in 1898. This year, they rode a wave of voter discontent and forced some veteran Democrats into heated struggles.
"In serving the people, you understand a day like this may come," said Basnight, of Manteo, who led the Senate for the past 18 years. "You are hopeful that the change is beneficial, new ideas, different thoughts. This is only what the people want, so that means it is good."
Unofficial returns indicate that Republicans won at least 28 Senate seats and 62 in the House, according to an Associated Press tally. The current House is a 68-52 Democratic majority and the Democrats control the Senate with 30 of the 50 seats. . "We are going to govern in a different way," Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam of Apex, the current House minority leader, told a cheering crowd at the GOP victory party in Raleigh. "We're going to govern in a frugal way, in a responsible way."
Read more of this story at CharlotteObserver.com