North Carolina Democrats Take 9 House Seats in Upset
Former Gov. Roy Cooper's Senate win helped flip four GOP districts as the state's congressional delegation shifts toward 10 Democrats and 4 Republicans.
By Daniela Ortega ·
The Associated Press has called nine of North Carolina's 14 U.S. House races for Democrats as of Thursday, a result that leaves the state with zero called seats for Republicans. The previous delegation consisted of 10 Republicans and four Democrats, making the current tally a dramatic reversal of the political status quo in the state.
Four of those nine seats are flipping from Republican to Democratic control. High Point Mayor Cyril Jefferson defeated first-term incumbent Rep. Addison McDowell in the 6th Congressional District. In the 9th District, former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda beat National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Hudson. Paul Barringer unseated first-term Rep. Brad Knott in the 13th District, which surrounds the Raleigh exurbs. LaKesha Womack defeated Tim Moore, a former speaker of the N.C. House, in the 14th District.
These districts were drawn in 2023 to favor Republican candidates, and they performed as expected in the 2024 election. The 6th District was the least competitive of the group, with McDowell winning by more than 38 percent. The 14th District was the closest, with Moore carrying the race by about 16 percent. The 2026 results have erased those margins entirely.
Context for the losses includes the race for the open U.S. Senate seat, where former Gov. Roy Cooper defeated the Republican candidate by nearly 20 percent. U.S. Rep. Brian Jack of Georgia, a candidate to replace Hudson as NRCC chair, suggested in a letter to House Republicans that the party's withdrawal of support for the state's Senate race weeks earlier created a cascade that swept away House colleagues.
In the 1st Congressional District in northeastern North Carolina, incumbent Democrat Don Davis is leading Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout by more than 10,000 votes. This is a larger margin than Davis secured in 2024, despite legislative Republicans redrawing the district last year to pull in Republican-leaning counties from the 3rd District.
Two races remain too close to call with high certainty. In the 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Republican Greg Murphy leads Democrat Raymond Smith by 233 votes. Democrats did not run a candidate in that district in 2024. In the 5th District, Democratic challenger Chuck Hubbard leads 11-term incumbent Virginia Foxx by 99 votes. Both contests are likely headed for a recount.
If the current results hold, North Carolina's congressional delegation will shift to 10 Democrats and four Republicans. The state enters the next session of Congress with a majority of new or returning Democratic representatives who defeated Republican incumbents or held redistricted seats against the odds.
