(The Center Square) – Battling opponents and an October reshape of his district, North Carolina Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis followed through on his promise to run for reelection.
Davis signed the paperwork on Monday. His home community of Snow Hill is in one of four counties changing to another district.
“I’m running to keep fighting for eastern North Carolina – lowering costs, bringing jobs home, strengthening our communities, and standing up for our families,” Davis said in a statement. “It’s about lifting our voices for our future.”
Through Tuesday ahead of Friday’s noon deadline, Davis is the lone Democrat in the field. His campaign filing with the Federal Elections Commission through Sept. 30 showed more than $1.5 million cash on hand.
Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck, Lenoir County Commissioner Eric Rouse, Atlantic Beach lawyer and small business owner Ashley-Nicole Russell and Currituck County state Sen. Bobby Hanig are in the Republican primary.
Libertarian Tom Bailey of Greensboro also filed on Monday.
Beaufort, Hyde, Dare, Craven, Pamlico and Carteret counties change from the 3rd Congressional District to the 1st; Wilson, Wayne, Greene and Lenoir counties change from the 1st to the 3rd.
There is no law requiring congressmen to live within the district. Davis said he would voluntarily move within the boundary should he win so as to be with constituents.
The northeastern part of the state has not had a Republican win election since 1882. Laurie Buckhout’s challenge to Davis in 2024 – she lost 49.5%-47.8% – was the only one of 14 congressional races in the state closer than 13%.
Congressional maps are redrawn, per state law by the General Assembly, after each decennial census by the federal government. North Carolina’s maps have been heavily litigated since Republicans, for the first time in 140 years, won majorities in both chambers following the 2010 midterms.
Thus, when second-term Republican President Donald Trump leaned into state lawmakers for new maps to help prevent the patten history of midterm cycles causing a loss of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, North Carolina leaders did so by reshaping two of the 14 districts. State Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, was clear to the courts in defense of the maps the purpose was to gain another seat in Congress for the party.
Differentiations because of court orders have been in each map used for four of the last five congressional elections – 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022. The Legislature drew it in 2024. The 2026 midterms will mark six consecutive elections with differing maps in a process designed for a consistent congressional map every five elections with possibility to change in the second year of a decade.
