OUTER BANKS, N.C. — Tuesday's primaries gave Dare County residents their first chance to vote in the newly redistricted 1st Congressional District, with Laurie Buckhout winning the Republican nomination and setting up a rematch of the 2024 election with incumbent Democratic Congressman Don Davis.
"This one district in northeastern North Carolina, could, in , be the district that determines who's going to hold the balance of power in the house," said Asher Hildebrand, professor of the practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
The November general election matchup in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District is now set — a rematch between incumbent Democratic Congressman Don Davis and Republican Laurie Buckhout. The Republican-led state legislature redrew the district to favor Republicans, and some analysts say this race could decide the balance of Congress.
"This is now a district that voted for Donald Trump in 2024, this is a district that, by most accounts, leans Republican by five or six points on average. All of that leads most analysts to consider Don Davis to now be the most endangered incumbent member in the entire country, not just in the state of North Carolina," said Hildebrand.
President Donald Trump's agenda came up repeatedly with voters News 3 spoke with this week — some overwhelmingly supportive of candidates aligned with it and others entirely against it.
Dare and Hyde counties voted for state Sen. Bobby Hanig in Tuesday's primary, a trend reflected across the six redistricted counties. Beaufort, Carteret, Craven and Pamlico chose Asa Buck. Buckhout did not win in any of the new counties, but said this Tuesday after her victory about the newly redrawn district.
"I got to travel throughout this entire district again to include all the new counties. People are fired up, they're ready for change," said Buckhout.
In previous coverage, News 3 shared Davis's statement about the redistricting: "I remain committed to ensuring every voice in eastern North Carolina is heard, no matter how the lines are drawn."
Come November, all eyes will be on North Carolina's 1st Congressional District.
