(RALEIGH) – The close race for Lieutenant Governor has been resolved – as Democrat Linda Coleman conceded Monday to Republican Dan Forest. Final tallies should the vote count below the roughly 10,000 vote margin that could have allowed her to ask for a recount.

“How we lead, today, determines the tomorrow we leave for them.  Delivering a better tomorrow for all North Carolinians is why I entered this race.  This campaign, our campaign, has always been forward-thinking and I’m proud of the work we accomplished together.,” she said in a statement at the Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh.

“I’m proud of the many voices who have championed the cause of this campaign—from Congresswoman Eva Clayton, to Governor (Jim) Hunt, to Dr. Maya Angelou—it is a testament to the lives we have touched over the past several months.,” Coleman continued.

Forest, who has been asking for a concession from Coleman since election night, spoke with Coleman and Monday and spoke briefly afterward. Forest, the son of Charlotte area congresswoman Sue Myrick, becomes only the second Republican Governor in the last 100 years, and the first time there has been a Republican Lieutenant Governor and Governor in the same term in the last century.