(The Center Square) – Five North Carolina newcomers, all Republicans, took their seats and cast first votes in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday in Washington as the 119th Congress was sworn in.
Addison McDowell (6th Congressional District), Rev. Mark Harris (8th), Pat Harrigan (10th), Brad Knott (13th) and record-setting former state House Speaker Tim Moore (14th) are the newcomers to the Beltway. Their party is also represented by Reps. Dr. Greg Murphy (3rd), Virginia Foxx (5th), David Rouzer (7th), Richard Hudson (9th) and Chuck Edwards (11th).
Incumbent Democratic Reps. Don Davis in the 1st, Deborah Ross in the 2nd, Valerie Foushee in the 4th and Alma Adams in the 12th are also back on Capitol Hill.
North Carolina Republicans all cast votes for Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as speaker of the House. He won on a late-swing of the first ballot. The state’s Democrats voted for New York’s Hakeem Jeffries.
Foxx is the longest tenured, having first won election in 2004 and secured her 11th term in November. Adams is next, having won a special election in November 2014 and her sixth term this past Election Day.
In the midst of six-year terms that come to the ballot again in 2026 and 2028, respectively, are Republican U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd.
The House’s 220-215 majority of Republicans includes a 10-4 split from North Carolina. The Senate’s 53-47 Republican majority is helped by the 2-0 edge from the state, which hasn’t sent a Democrat to the chamber in more than 15 years (2008 election, the late Sen. Kay Hagan.)
