North Carolina Democrats were hopeful they might claim a U.S. House seat in the 11th District. They thought they could hold onto Don Davis’ seat in the 1st, even within newly gerrymandered boundaries.
But potentially upsetting incumbent Republicans in as many as six more congressional races across the state wasn’t even a fantasy before Tuesday night.
Long-serving Republican House members Virginia Foxx in the 5th District and Richard Hudson in the 9th appear to have lost their seats to their Democratic challengers. First-term Republicans Addison McDowell in the 6th, Brad Knott in the 13th, and Tim Moore in the 14th were also unsuccessful in their reelection bids.
In the 3rd District, four-term incumbent Greg Murphy declared victory, but was ahead of Democratic challenger Raymond Smith by just 233 votes with all precincts reported. Six-term incumbent David Rouzer led by a slightly more comfortable 2,425 votes in the 7th.
Races with less than a 1% margin could go to a recount. But even with the final tally pending, one thing is clear: 2026 has radically reshaped North Carolina’s delegation in Washington.
Little-Known Challengers
In the 9th, which spans a large area in the middle of the state, Democrat Richard Ojeda was optimistic heading into Election Day, due largely to early voter turnout. “I think that we’re on the verge of flipping these seats,” said Ojeda. “I think Democrats are voting for us. I think the majority of unaffiliated are voting for us.”
Hudson’s campaign was dismissive. “Democrats can dream all they want, Richard Hudson wins because he delivers for the people he represents,” said campaign manager Cam Mills in a statement. “Washington Democrats are still selling open borders, empty prisons, and men in women’s sports. North Carolina voters already said no to that agenda once and they’ll say no again.”
Ojeda is an Army veteran who served in West Virginia’s state Senate for two years before resigning and made a brief run for president in 2019. He now lives in Moore County. With all precincts reported Wednesday morning, he led Hudson with 51.1% of the vote.
Foxx, meanwhile, was first elected to represent the northwestern edge of North Carolina in 2004. She chairs the powerful Rules Committee, which controls which bills go to the floor and the terms of the debate.
Her Democratic challenger, Chuck Hubbard, is a former journalist whose family owned the Wilkes Journal-Patriot until 2020. He seized on her chairmanship in a TV ad, noting that Foxx had a key role in delaying the release of the Epstein files. He also repeatedly highlighted that Foxx, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, has been known to tell reporters to “shut up.”
Voter turnout efforts in places like North Carolina A&T State University may have helped Hubbard, who was ahead by just 99 votes with all precincts reporting.
Before Tuesday, Hubbard had won just one race: his March primary.
First Term, Last Term?
Three other trailing Republicans are in their first terms.
Brad Knott, a former prosecutor from Wake County, won the 13th District in his first bid for public office in 2024, beating his Democratic opponent by more than 17 percentage points. In a wildly shaped district the Cook Political Report lists as R +8, he was anticipated to repeat.
But with all precincts reported as of early Wednesday, Democrat Paul Barringer was ahead 50.5% to Knott’s 48.1%. Barringer, a health care consultant and attorney, was buoyed by overwhelming turnout in northeastern and southeastern areas of Wake.
In the 14th, which stretches west from Charlotte along the state’s southern border, Tim Moore won by 16 percentage points in 2024. The former Speaker of the N.C. House was not expected to be at risk this year in an R +8 district. But while voters in Gaston, Cleveland, Burke, Rutherford, and Polk counties voted to send him back to Washington, challenger Lakesha Womack’s strong showing in Mecklenburg put her ahead.
Womack is a first-time candidate, ordained minister, and runs a leadership consulting company. A few weeks before the election, she was served a felony warrant for failing to return a rental car on time in 2019, WBTV reported. A statement from her campaign did not directly address the warrant.
The 6th Congressional District was considered “solid R” per Cook, and freshman Addison McDowell the likely victor. But High Point Mayor Cyril Jefferson was leading by more than 2 percentage points early Wednesday. The Democrat had significant margins in Guilford, Forsyth, and Cabarrus counties, while McDowell claimed the parts of the district that cover Davidson, Rowan, and Davie.
A Decisive Victory and a Smaller One
Democrat Jamie Ager claimed a resounding victory over state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom in the state’s westernmost House district, with 57.1% of the vote to the Republican’s 41.3%.
The 11th District, which covers 16 counties, has been a reliable Republican stronghold since 2010. But Ager, a farmer and businessman from Buncombe County, came into Tuesday with several advantages. Balkcom was thrown into the race in August, after incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards dropped out amid an ethics probe. His grandfather represented the 11th for three terms in the 1980s; his father, John, served in the state House from 2015 to 2023; and his older brother, Eric, currently represents part of Buncombe County in the legislature.
Ager billed himself as a Mountain Democrat. “Instead of trying to move the mountains in Western N.C., we decided to go right into them,” Ager told the crowd at his victory party, which featured a bluegrass band and bales of hay.
Davis’ win in the vast eastern House district was smaller but still clear, leading Buckhout 49.8% to 47%. The House’s most conservative Democrat, he targeted unaffiliated voters and Republicans as he sought a third term. Though Democrats have held the seat for the past 127 years, Republican state lawmakers redrew district lines last year to disadvantage Dems.
“Tonight, we proved that it truly is the People’s House,” Davis said in a statement. “Districts may change, lines may be redrawn, but at the end of the day, the people have the final say.”
With reporting from Carli Brosseau, Paul Woolverton, Bryan Anderson, Jessica Wakeman, and Johanna Still.
Correction: The year of the incident that led to Womack’s warrant has been corrected.