(The Center Square) – Candidate filing opened in North Carolina on Monday, a two-week run that started with a number of the bigger names getting paperwork out of the way.
Early poll favorites to file included Republican U.S. Reps. Virginia Foxx for District 5 and Richard Hudson for District 9, and Democratic incumbent Elaine Marshall for secretary of state. Marshall, who defeated Richard Petty in 1996 to win her first term and is trying to land her eighth, could potentially serve alongside a sixth different governor.
Jessica Holmes, the Democrat appointed state auditor to succeed Beth Wood upon the latter’s resignation effective date next Friday, filed to win the next four-year term.
North Carolinians will elect 14 members to the U.S. House of Representatives for two-year terms. The U.S. Senate seats are not on the ballot again until 2026 (Sen. Thom Tillis) and 2028 (Sen. Ted Budd).
All 170 seats in the General Assembly (two-year terms) will be on the ballot, as are the 10 Council of State offices (four-year terms). This includes the governor; lieutenant governor; attorney general; commissioners of agriculture and insurance; the secretaries of state and labor; auditor; treasurer; and superintendent of public instruction. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is in his second four-year term, the limit of consecutive terms allowed.
There will be at least six people in new positions within the Cabinet. In addition to the governor, the lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, and labor commissioner are either not running for reelection or are running for different offices.
The 2024 election primary is part of Super Tuesday on March 5, along with 12 other states. The general election is Nov. 5. The filing period closes at noon Dec. 15.
All filings are available to the public through the state Board of Elections website. The following are notable filings for the day:
• U.S. House District 1: Republican Sandy Smith.
• U.S. House District 5: Democrat Chuck Hubbard.
• U.S. House District 6: Republican Bo Hines. He lost to Democratic U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel in a different area of the state in 2022. This was after the former tight end for N.C. State and Yale football teams had said, in January 2021, he would run against Foxx. He has lived in Winston-Salem, Fuquay-Varina, and filed this time with a Salisbury address.
• U.S. House District 11: Republicans Christian Reagan, incumbent Chuck Edwards.
• U.S. House District 13: Republicans Josh McConkey and Chris Baker.
• U.S. House District 14: Democrat Pam Genant.
• Governor: Democrat Chrelle Booker.
• Lieutenant governor: Republican Rivera Douthit.
• Attorney general: Democrat Tim Dunn.
• Insurance commissioner: Republican incumbant Mike Causey.
• Secretary of state: Republican Jesse Thomas in addition to Marshall.
• Labor commissioner: Republicans Luke Farley, Travis Wilson, Jon Hardister. Hardister is in his sixth term in the state House of Representatives.
• Treasurer: Democrat Wesley Harris.
• North Carolina House: Democrats Shelly Willingham, in District 23, and Michael Wray, in District 27, were among a number of incumbents filing. The two, along with now-Republican Tricia Cotham, were part of a trio from the minority party to be appointed co-chairmanships in committees by the Republican leadership of the House.
States that join North Carolina in holding primaries for both parties on Super Tuesday are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. Iowa, which has the Republican caucus on Jan. 15, has the Democratic primary on March 5.
