Who will represent you in Congress? Results come in as Democrats and Republican seek US House control

Democrats currently hold five of the state’s 13 seats. Seven Democrats won on Tuesday.

After data from the U.S. Census Bureau gave North Carolina an additional seat, the Republican-controlled legislature last year passed a redistricting plan that could have given the GOP up to 11 of the 14 seats.

The proposed map was struck down by the state Supreme Court and lawmakers were ordered to go back to the drawing board and get a new map approved by a lower court. After the redraw was rejected, North Carolina judges appointed independent redistricting experts to draft congressional lines. The map ultimately enacted was to be used only for this year’s election.

Democrats on Tuesday could pick up two additional seats, one in Charlotte and one in Raleigh. While the Charlotte-area seat leans Democratic, a Triangle district covering parts of Wake, Wayne and Harnett counties and all of Johnston Count is a toss-up.

Here are the latest congressional results:

Democratic state Sen. Don Davis defeated Republican businesswoman Sandy Smith for the eastern North Carolina seat of retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield.

Davis is believed to have an edge in the blue-leaning district that is considered the second-most competitive congressional race in the state.

Davis led Smith by 6 percentage points with 94% of precincts reporting on Tuesday.

Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross won her reelection bid against Republican political newcomer Christine Villaverde in the district that covers northern Wake County.

Ross has served in Congress since January 2021. She campaigned aggressively on the issue of abortion rights, vowing to ensure women get federal protections to ensure they have access to the medical procedure.

Villaverde is a member of North Carolina's statewide Emergency Response Team and is a former law enforcement officer. She frequently discussed issues of crime and education while on the campaign trail.

In eastern western North Carolina, Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy won his reelection bid against Democratic political newcomer Barbara Gaskins. The GOP-heavy district stretches across the Outer Banks and covers many rural communities.

Murphy is a urologist who has served in Congress since 2019. Before that, he was a state representative in the North Carolina General Assembly. He campaigned alongside former Trump and stands to benefit from voters’ economic frustrations under President Joe Biden.

Gaskins is a founder of an incarceration reentry nonprofit organization and championing changes to the K-12 educational and criminal justice systems.

Democratic state Sen. Valerie Foushee won North Carolina's 4th Congressional District. She had a sizable lead against Republican political newcomer Courtney Geels in the central North Carolina district that stretches from Durham to Burlington.

Geels is a travel nurse with the economy as a central issue to her campaign.

Foushee will replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price, who has been in the U.S. House for all but two years since 1987.

Foushee had been minimally visible on the campaign trail, but appears to be on a glidepath to victory. If elected in North Carolina’s bluest district, she says on her campaign website that she’d prioritize increased access to abortion, more environmental regulations, decriminalizing marijuana use and possession and ending cash bail.

Republican U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx won reelection in a longtime conservative district in northwestern North Carolina. She has represented the area since 2005 and is expected to defeat Democratic political newcomer Kyle Parrish.

Parrish works in the technology industry and has a vocal presence on social media, where he often discusses his fears about the future of democracy in the country.

Foxx, who spent a decade in North Carolina’s state Senate before being elected to Congress, is the ranking member of the U.S. House education and labor committee and is seeking to help the GOP retake control of the chamber to hold Biden in check.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning won her reelection in the Greensboro-area congressional seat. She ran against Republican combat veteran and political newcomer Christian Castelli and Libertarian political newcomer Thomas Watercott.

Manning is pushing for universal pre-K, increased funding for Title I schools and additional money for school infrastructure. The Democrat has faced scrutiny for stock investments, including purchases this year of two chip manufacturers shortly before the U.S. House passed a bill boosting the industry. Her staff has said her stock holdings are controlled and managed by third-party managers.

Republican U.S. Rep. David Rouzer won reelection in North Carolina’s southernmost district against Democratic state Rep. Charles Graham.

Rouzer has served in the U.S. House since 2015. Before that, he was narrowly defeated in a 2012 congressional race and served four years in the state Senate. Rouzer is running in a slightly less conservative district this year, but the area running from Cumberland to Brunswick counties remains politically favorable to Republicans.

When Graham declared his candidacy last year, he received a warm welcome in a video that has since accumulated more than 5 million views. But revised maps and a competitive primary dwindled his prospects.

Graham is seeking federal recognition of the Lumbee tribe. A member of the tribe himself, he is the lone Native American in North Carolina’s General Assembly. He’s campaigning with increased health care access and reduced costs as a central part of his campaign.

Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop won a conservative rural area east of Charlotte against Democratic Navy veteran Scott Huffman.

Huffman has a sizable social media following and is campaigning with a message focused on restoring federal abortion protections, implementing a Medicare for All health care system and addressing income inequality.

Bishop was the overwhelming favorite to win the race. He is a staunch ally of Trump and signed onto a legal filing in 2020 contesting the results of the presidential election. Bishop went on to oppose the certification process.

Since Biden’s election, Bishop has been known for his aggressive questioning of administration officials during congressional hearings. He’s seeking to restore Republican control of the U.S. House with a message focused on tackling inflation and unlawful border crossings.

Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson won his reelection bid against Democratic state Sen. Ben Clark in the Sandhills region.

Despite it being a GOP-leaning district with many rural counties that swung heavily for Trump, the district does have some blue pockets with all of Chatham County and parts of Cumberland County.

Clark, who has held elected office since 2013, has bucked his party at times and is widely seen as a moderate candidate. He was among a handful of Democrats who crafted the state budget last year alongside Republicans, which phased out corporate income taxes over the next decade. He’s also championed more funding for the military and pushed for K-12 schools to be reopened as rates of Covid-19 fell.

Hudson is seen as a more centrist Republican. He’s been in the U.S. House since 2013, slowly climbing the GOP ranks and being selected by his peers last year as the House GOP Conference Secretary. On the legislative front, he has worked to increase pay and improve health care treatment for veterans.

Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry is running in the state’s most GOP-friendly district and handily defeated Democratic political newcomer and local party activist Pam Genant.

McHenry has represented western North Carolina in Congress since 2005.

North Carolina’s westernmost district will no longer be represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn. That’s because he was ousted in the May primary by state Sen. Chuck Edwards.

Cawthorn’s defeat has made the reliably red district harder to attain for Democrats who had been planning to see him in the general election. On Tuesday, Edwards defeated Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, a Christian minister and Buncombe County commissioner, and Libertarian David Adam Coatney.

Edwards is seeking to present stable, mild-mannered conservative leadership that some consider long absent from the district. He led Beach-Ferrera by 7 percentage points.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Alma Adams won reelection in the 12th Congressional District. The Charlotte-area seat is one of the most Democratic-heavy districts in the state.

Adams ran with abortion access as a central part of her campaign, while her Republican opponent, Tyler Lee, has appealed to the further right end of the GOP. Adams has represented the western North Carolina district since 2014.

The Triangle seat between Republican political newcomer Bo Hines and Democratic state Sen. Wiley Nickel is the most competitive U.S. House race in North Carolina and among a few dozen contests nationwide that is considered a toss-up.

Nickel won and had a lead of 2.6 percentage points by early Wednesday.

The swing district bent slightly Republican based on past voting trends, but could have gone either way this election. It includes parts of Wake, Wayne and Harnett counties and all of Johnston County.

Hines and Nickel have softened their messaging after securing their respective party’s nominations in May. Hines conceded late Tuesday and Nickel thanked his supporters as results came in showing him ahead. Nickel vowed to work with Republicans as the district's next congressman.

The Charlotte-area seat went to Democratic state Sen. Jeff Jackson, who had entered the race after an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate last year.

Jackson defeated Republican Army veteran Pat Harrigan. Harrigan presented himself as the candidate most likely to get the economy back on track.

Jackson has served in the state Senate since 2014, where he’s been known to tangle with Republican lawmakers and give animated speeches about equality and voting rights.