Mike Nifong was re-elected as Durham District Attorney Tuesday night, capping off a race that attracted national attention in the wake of the lacrosse scandal.
Nifong, a Democrat, received just less than half of the approximately 53,000 votes cast, garnering 49.1 percent of the vote. Lewis Cheek, an unaffiliated candidate, received 39.3 percent. Write-in candidate Steve Monks, a Republican, received the remaining 11.6 percent.
"I'm relieved to have it over," Nifong said after viewing the results. "It's only fair to say that winning is not an unmitigated blessing because I have the hardest job in Durham for the next four years."
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He said he viewed the results as an affirmation of his work as district attorney.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing the job the right way," he said.
Although Nifong declined to comment directly on the lacrosse scandal, some of his supporters endorsed his handling of the case.
"He made a human response to a terrible thing that came to light," said Douglas Nydick, a Durham resident and former prosecutor in Brooklyn.
Cheek was subdued as the results came in, standing mere feet from Nifong as the vote totals were announced at the Old Durham Courthouse in the heart of downtown.
"This election was never about me, it was about the things I was saying," Cheek said. "A lot of it has to do with a rush to judgment-an inappropriate rush to judgment."
Senior Tony McDevitt, a defenseman on the men's lacrosse team, said the players are keeping their spirits high despite Nifong's victory.
The lacrosse team helped lead the campus to the polls in recent months by passing out voter registration forms and encouraging students to follow through Tuesday.
"This was a way to possibly slow down Nifong or end [the case] earlier, but by no means are we destroyed," McDevitt said in a telephone interview.
One positive outcome was the sheer number of students who went to the polls, he said. More than 400 Duke students have registered to vote in Durham during the past few weeks.
"This is setting a precedent for future elections-it's great to have the young population participating," McDevitt said. "In no way, shape or form are we negative or walking around with our heads down."
Many of Cheek's supporters blamed Monks for the loss, noting that if the write-in candidate had dropped out-as he was reported to have been considering in recent weeks-Cheek likely would have won.
"If we had Monks' votes, we'd be celebrating a victory now," said K. C. Karshner, a Cheek supporter and Durham resident.
Monks said his performance proves that he was a legitimate candidate.
"If this had been a difference of one or two points, then I would have been a spoiler," Monks said.
Karshner said she took some solace in the outcome. "In my opinion, Mike Nifong did not win tonight," she said. "More people in Durham did not want Nifong than did."
After the results
The scene at the courthouse was of a divided room.
When the final vote totals were confirmed, there was an immediate cheer from the yellow-clad Nifong supporters clustered on one side.
Shanieka Rhinehart, an assistant district attorney, started a chant of "Let's go Nifong" and others supporters exchanged hugs and high-fives.
"This goes to show that justice can't be bought by a bunch of rich white boys from New York," said Harris Johnson, a former state Democratic party official and Durham resident for 56 years.
"Duke has a habit of sweeping things under the carpet. I guess this goes to show that no matter how much money you have, Durham is owned by its citizens," he added.
Across the aisle, the members of Recall Nifong-Vote Cheek sat quietly-some crying-and two Duke lacrosse players stood stoically in the back.
"I think it went really well, seeing how Lewis Cheek didn't campaign," said Mary Beth Brewer, a sophomore at Durham Technical Community College.
Johnson said the results have national implications.
"If Nifong had lost, every woman in America would have been at risk," he said, adding that it is Nifong's opponents who have been unethical, not the district attorney himself.
Johnson worked Tuesday at a precinct near North Carolina Central University and said students there turned out in droves, playing a major role in Nifong's victory.
"I know they were in favor of Mr. Nifong," Johnson said. "They feel very strongly that this case has to go to court."
'We have to move together'
Nifong was retrospective Tuesday night about the campaign and about the events of the past few months, although he declined to comment on specifics of the lacrosse case.
"I have never thought that the election should be about a single case," he said.
When asked what his greatest challenge had been this campaign season, Nifong was silent for a few moments.
"You know, it really hasn't been that hard on me," he said. "I am mostly just tired and ready for this to be over."
He said he is more worried about the media spotlight's impact on his family than anything else.
Cy Gurney, Nifong's wife, was by his side for much of the evening. She said she is looking to the future and beyond the lacrosse case.
"Over time, those emotions will be more calmed and maybe become more rational. That's my biggest hope," she said.
Nifong said that in spite of the tensions the lacrosse case has wrought between Duke and Durham, he hopes differences can be put aside, too.
"I can't do it by myself," he said, noting that there are strong opinions on both sides. "We are going to have to move together."
The Duke campus responds
From the Bryan Center to scattered commons rooms, many students said they were not surprised by the outcome.
Every student interviewed by The Chronicle Tuesday said they voted for Cheek.
"The only result I wanted to see was Nifong not getting re-elected," said junior Maura Styczynski, describing the district attorney as "awful."
"He made his name well-known in Durham, and a well-known name gets you far-even it's for the wrong reasons," Styczynski said.
Sophomore Jill Garrison expressed a similar sentiment.
"I can't believe Nifong won such a high percentage of the vote after all the stuff that has come out about him," Garrison said. "People are just rooting against Duke and don't want to admit that they're wrong."
Other students, like junior Adam Chopko, said they couldn't vote in Durham even though they felt strongly about the case.
"I didn't vote, but it's because I didn't want to lose my voting privileges in my home state," Chopko said.
For freshman Katie Rief, though, there was no choice other than a vote against Nifong and in support of the lacrosse team.
"For me, it's on principle," she said. "I needed to know I did my part."
Josh Chapin, Katherine MacIlwaine, Shreya Rao, Victoria Ward and Iza Wojciechowska contributed to this story.
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