The 1992 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Governor
James G. Martin was unable to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits, and his Lieutenant Governor,
Jim Gardner, was chosen to replace him as the
Republican nominee. Gardner had also been the nominee in a
previous gubernatorial election over twenty years earlier. Former Governor
Jim Hunt decided to seek his third term as the
Democratic nominee. The race became one of the nastiest and most talked about races in the country, with Hunt winning a third term easily over Gardner and
Libertarian nominee Scott McLaughlin.