Rep. Sue Myrick (NC-09) delivers the weekly Republican address on Sept. 19, 2009. Photo Credit: U.S. House Republican Conference

With all the attention on the GOP wins in the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races this year, the purportedly liberal media is ignoring the fact that voters in a larger, one-time solidly red state went a little bluer on Nov. 3.

The state’s largest city elected a Democratic mayor for the first time in 22 years, and despite the fact that this southern city is two-thirds white, the new mayor happens to be African-American.

Meanwhile, this state’s most famous college town in the world of sports elected a mayor who is a Democrat and openly gay.

What state is it? More clues:

It is the 10th largest state, with a larger population than either Virginia or New Jersey. It is a Southern state that, like Virginia, flipped from red to blue in 2008, swinging from voting decisively for Republicans in every cycle since 1976 (for the kids, that’s Reagan twice, Bush I twice, Dole in 1996 and Bush II twice) to going for Obama last year. It also elected Democratic women as governor and U.S. Senator last November — and both houses of its legislature have been controlled by Democrats for the last several cycles.

Give up? It’s North Carolina, where the voters in Charlotte elected Anthony Foxx, a city councilmember for four years, as mayor.

Up the road in Chapel Hill — a Democratic stronghold best known as the home of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels — Mark Kleinschmidt, an openly gay man, was also elected mayor.

Want to read the rest? Pick up the Nov. 14 issue at any of our hundreds of distribution points for this Print Exclusive, or visit Pensito Review and read it there.

— Jon Ponder, a North Carolina-native currently living in West Hollywood, Calif., blogs at www.pensitoreview.com. This piece reprinted with permission.