| Election Name: | 1980 North Carolina gubernatorial election |
| Country: | North Carolina |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1976 North Carolina gubernatorial election |
| Previous Year: | 1976 |
| Next Election: | 1984 North Carolina gubernatorial election |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
| Election Date: | November 4, 1980 |
| Flag Year: | 1885 |
| Image1: | File:Jim Hunt (NC 1).png |
| Nominee1: | Jim Hunt |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,143,145 |
| Percentage1: | 61.88% |
| Nominee2: | I. Beverly Lake |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 691,449 |
| Percentage2: | 37.43% |
| Map Size: | 325px |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | Jim Hunt |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Jim Hunt |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
The 1980 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1980. Despite North Carolina going to Ronald Reagan in the presidential race and the U.S. Senate race being won by a Republican (John P. East), popular Democratic Governor Jim Hunt won a second term in office in a landslide over Republican I. Beverly Lake. Hunt thus became the first governor of the state elected to a consecutive four-year term, following an amendment to the Constitution of North Carolina allowing such a run.[1]
Hunt's decision to run for a second term led to a challenge from former Democratic governor Robert W. Scott, but Hunt easily defeated the former governor in the Democratic primary.[2]
UNC-Chapel Hill journalism professor Ferrel Guillory wrote of this campaign: "Hunt campaigned as the activist governor that he had been through his first term. His campaign’s key points were: 1) limiting government growth even as he deployed government as a tool for improving citizens’ lives, particularly through education initiatives; 2) maintaining ties with the business community while also pushing to diversify the state’s economy; 3) expanding rights and opportunities for women and black people; and 4) responding to charges that he was a “big spender’’ by noting that he had persuaded the Legislature in 1979 to enact a modest income tax cut."[3]