North Carolina House Delegation Shakes Out as Democrats Take Five Seats

North Carolina voters returned a dramatic shift in their congressional representation on Tuesday, with the Associated Press calling nine of the state's 14 U.S. House seats for Democratic candidates as of Thursday. No Republican had been declared the winner in any of the state's districts at that time. The result marks a sharp reversal from the previous delegation, which held ten seats for Republicans and four for Democrats going into the election.

Four districts that elected Republican members in the 2024 cycle flipped to Democratic control. In the 6th Congressional District, High Point Mayor Cyril Jefferson defeated first-term incumbent Addison McDowell. The 9th District saw former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda defeat Richard Hudson, who served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. In the 13th District, Paul Barringer won against first-term incumbent Brad Knott, a district that surrounds the exurbs of Raleigh. LaKesha Womack took the 14th District from Tim Moore, a first-term incumbent who previously served as speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

The 2023 redistricting map had been drawn to favor Republican candidates, and those four specific districts performed in line with that intent during the 2024 election. Moore won the 14th District by approximately 16 percent that year, while McDowell secured the 6th District by a margin exceeding 38 percent. This year, those margins reversed. In the 1st Congressional District in northeastern North Carolina, incumbent Democrat Don Davis won again. The AP reported Davis leading Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout by more than 10,000 votes, a larger margin than his 2024 victory.

Former Georgia Representative Brian Jack, who is vying to replace Hudson as NRCC chair, suggested that statewide dynamics influenced these outcomes. Jack noted that former Governor Roy Cooper won the open U.S. Senate seat by nearly 20 percent. In a letter to fellow House Republicans, Jack wrote that Senate Republicans withdrew support from North Carolina weeks before the election, creating a cascade that likely swept away many of their colleagues from the state.

Three other districts remained uncalled as of Thursday. In the 3rd District, incumbent Republican Greg Murphy leads Democrat Raymond Smith by 233 votes in a race that may head to a recount. The 5th District shows Democrat Chuck Hubbard leading 11-term incumbent Virginia Foxx by 99 votes, another potential recount candidate. The 3rd District previously did not have a Democratic candidate in 2024, but Smith ran this year in a map that legislative Republicans redrew last year by pulling Republican-leaning counties from that district.

If the current results in the uncalled races hold, the state's congressional delegation would consist of ten Democrats and four Republicans. This would complete a full reversal of the partisan balance established in the 2024 election.