Incumbent Don Davis defeated Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, winning a second term and giving Democrats a key victory in their bid to retake the U.S. House of Representatives.
Buckhout conceded Wednesday afternoon.
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Democrats have held the seat since the 1890s and a Black Democrat has represented the district since 1992. Davis was first elected in 2022 replacing long-time U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield.
With all 281 precincts reporting, Davis led by about 1.5% or about 5,800 votes, according to unofficial results from the State Board of Elections. Libertarian Tom Bailey received more than 9,800 votes.
"We did it," Davis told supporters at a party in Snow Hill early Monday morning.
He added: "Eastern North Carolina, we're in this fight for you. So many often feel left out and left behind. Please know that I see you and I'm glad to remain in this fight representing you."
Republican state lawmakers redrew the district in 2023 turning it into a true toss-up. President Joe Biden won the district with 50.1% of the vote in 2020.
Buckhout was aiming to become the first Republican woman to hold the seat.
"While Don and I have different visions, it is obvious to everyone he cares about this district," Buckhout said in a statement.
"We have to get our economy back on track and we have to secure our border. Congressman Davis said the same during this campaign and I hope he will work with the Trump Administration to help make this happen. The people of Eastern North Carolina deserve no less."
North Carolina’s 1st Congressional district covers 22 counties stretching from the Outer Banks, through much of Eastern North Carolina, and into the outskirts of the Triangle. It goes as far west as Henderson and as far south as Kinston, picking up towns such as Elizabeth City, Edenton, Rocky Mount, Wilson and Goldsboro along the way.
"I'm a proud son of Eastern North Carolina," Davis said, saying sometimes residents who life east of Interstate 95 "feel left out and sometimes we just want others to leave us alone."
He talked about passing a farm bill in Congress, protecting the military installations in the eastern part of the state and serving and caring for veterans during his victory speech.
Davis, a Presbyterian minister who grew up picking tobacco in Snow Hill outside Greenville, pitched himself during the campaign as a political moderate — willing to vote against his party if he sees it as going too far left.
He was one of just six Democrats to support a GOP resolution this summer slamming Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, over border security concerns.
Davis also received an “F” grade from the group ProgressivePunch, which tracks politicians’ voting records from a progressive point of view.
“I don't look at it as lining up with Democrats or voting with Republicans,” Davis told WRAL when asked in an interview about his voting record. “I look at it as listening to constituents and ultimately voting what I believe is in the best interest of Eastern North Carolina.”
Buckhout, a defense contracting consultant and recent transplant to North Carolina, tried to tie Davis to unpopular policies on immigration and the border. Both candidates are military veterans.
Davis tried to paint Buckhout an outsider to the district and an extremist for her positions on abortion.
Buckhout relentlessly attacked Davis over border security throughout the campaign and in television ads.
In his victory speech, Davis said he was going to push to secure the border, lamenting the drugs that have come across and impacted families.
As the only toss-up seat between Virginia and New Mexico, according to The Cook Political Report, the race attracted national attention and plenty of outside spending.
The candidates themselves raised about $10 million, Buckhout poured more than $1.7 million of her money into the campaign and outside groups spent millions more.
Republicans hold 220 seats and Democrats hold 212 seats in the 435-seat U.S. House with three current vacancies (two Democratic seats and one Republican).
It takes 218 seats to earn a majority, elect a speaker and control the House. Democrats are favored to win control, but that will depend on winning toss-up seats like North Carolina’s 1st.
As of Wednesday, Republicans appear poised to retain and expand their House majority. Former President Donald Trump won his bid to return to the White House on Tuesday, while Republicans claimed the Senate majority.
North Carolina's current delegation has seven Democrats and seven Republicans. But the redrawn districts cost Democrats seats in North Carolina.
The rest of North Carolina’s 13 congressional districts are safe seats with Democrats packed into three districts centered around Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte. Republicans were favored in the other 10.
North Carolina’s 14 U.S. House races
2nd Congressional District
Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday. Ross is currently in her second term in Congress.
She defeated Republican challenger Alan Swain and a Green Party candidate. Ross represents much of the county surrounding the state capital of Raleigh. Redistricting by the state Legislature last year made Ross' 2nd Congressional District an even stronger Democratic district.
Ross is a former American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist and transportation agency attorney who served in the state House for over a decade and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
The Associated Press declared Ross the winner at 9:03 p.m. EST.
3rd Congressional District
Republican Rep. Greg Murphy won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday. Murphy faced only a Libertarian candidate in his bid for another term representing the 3rd Congressional District, which stretches from south-central rural counties to the Outer Banks and includes the Marine Corps installation Camp Lejeune.
Murphy is a urologist and former state House member who first came to Congress by winning a special election in 2019 to succeed the late U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr. Murphy is a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
The Associated Press declared Murphy the winner at 8:50 p.m. EST.
4th Congressional District
Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday. Foushee was elected to a second term, defeating Republican Eric Blankenburg and a Libertarian candidate in the 4th Congressional District, which includes the overwhelmingly Democratic communities of Chapel Hill and Durham.
In 2023, she succeeded veteran Rep. David Price, who had been on the congressional ballot continuously from 1986 through 2020.
Foushee is a former police department administrator who served on a local school board, a county commission and in the General Assembly. She serves on House transportation and science committees.
The Associated Press declared Foushee the winner at 8:23 p.m. EST.
5th Congressional District
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday.
Foxx defeated Democrat Chuck Hubbard in the GOP-leaning 5th Congressional District in the state's northwestern mountains and counties along the Virginia border. Foxx was first elected to Congress in 2004 after time as a community college president and state legislator.
She's chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which held hearings last year grilling university presidents over how they handled campus protests about the Israel-Hamas war. Foxx alone will be the North Carolina delegation's longest serving member as Rep. Patrick McHenry retires.
The Associated Press declared Foxx the winner at 9:26 p.m. EST.
6th Congressional District
Republican Addison McDowell won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday, flipping a Democratic-held district.
McDowell will replace Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning, who decided not to run for a third term. Democrats did not have a nominee in this year's race.
North Carolina passed new maps in 2023 that brought more Republican-leaning voters into the district, which now stretches from Greensboro and Winston-Salem south and west to Concord.
McDowell is a health insurance lobbyist from Davidson County. He also worked for now-Sen. Ted Budd when Budd was a congressman.
The Associated Press declared McDowell the winner at 9:42 p.m. EST.
7th Congressional District
Republican Rep. David Rouzer won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday.
Rouzer was elected to his sixth term, defeating Democratic challenger Marlando Pridgen in the GOP-leaning 7th Congressional District covering several southeastern counties and the coastal city of Wilmington.
Rouzer is a former aide to then-Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Jesse Helms and served in the state Senate before his first congressional win in 2014.
Agriculture is one key focus for Rouzer, having worked as a business owner in the industry and holding past positions with the U.S. Agriculture Department and North Carolina State University.
The Associated Press declared Rouzer the winner at 10:22 p.m. EST.
8th Congressional District
Republican Mark Harris won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday.
The Baptist minister won six years after his similar U.S. House bid derailed during an absentee ballot scandal. It appeared Harris was the 2018 election winner, but an investigation found a political operative working for him gathered blank or partially filled ballots and turned them in. Harris cooperated with investigators but declined to run in a new election.
He ran this year in the Republican-leaning 8th Congressional District stretching from Charlotte to Lumberton. The seat became open when GOP Rep. Dan Bishop ran for attorney general.
The Associated Press declared Harris the winner at 9:43 p.m. EST.
9th Congressional District
Republican Richard Hudson won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Wednesday.
Hudson defeated independent candidate Shelane Etchison and Democrat Nigel Bristow on his way to a seventh two-year term representing central North Carolina.
His redrawn 9th Congressional District covers parts of Greensboro south to the Sandhills region and east to the Army’s Fort Liberty.
Hudson has been focused the last two years on extending the Republican majority in the House as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Hudson has served on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and has emphasized veterans' issues.
The Associated Press declared Hudson the winner at 12:38 a.m. EST.
10th Congressional District
Republican Pat Harrigan won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday.
Harrigan is a West Point graduate and former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan and later became a defense-products manufacturer. Harrigan will now succeed 10-term GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, who didn’t seek reelection this fall in the 10th Congressional District.
Harrigan defeated Democratic, Libertarian and Constitution party candidates to represent the strongly GOP district now covering parts of Winston-Salem and points west and south to the Charlotte suburbs. Harrigan was a 2022 congressional candidate who lost to Democrat Jeff Jackson.
The Associated Press declared Harrigan the winner at 9:35 p.m. EST.
11th Congressional District
Republican Chuck Edwards won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday.
Edwards defeated Democratic state Rep. Caleb Rudow to earn a second term in Congress in the 11th District, which now covers all or portions of 16 mountain counties.
Edwards is a longtime operator of McDonald’s franchises in western North Carolina. He joined the state Senate in 2016. He went to Capitol Hill after narrowly defeating then-11th District GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the 2022 Republican primary. Edwards is a member of the House appropriations and budget committees.
The Associated Press declared Edwards the winner at 10:06 p.m. EST.
12th Congressional District
Democrat Alma Adams won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday.
Adams defeated Republican Addul Ali in the strongly Democratic 12th Congressional District, which is anchored by Charlotte. Adams joined Congress in 2014 after a special election to fill a seat when then-Rep. Mel Watt resigned.
Adams is a former college art professor who served on the Greensboro City Council, followed by 20 years in the state House. While in Congress, she’s been an assertive advocate for historically Black colleges and universities and is a founder of the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus.
The Associated Press declared Adams the winner at 10:34 p.m. EST.
13th Congressional District
Republican Brad Knott won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday, flipping a Democratic-held seat. Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel did not run for reelection.
Knott is a former federal prosecutor from Raleigh and defeated Democrat Frank Pierce. Knott won the Republican nomination for the 13th District in a runoff after receiving an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
The district, which spans across eight counties around Raleigh, is one of three in North Carolina that was widely expected to flip after the Republican-dominated General Assembly redrew congressional maps in 2023.
The Associated Press declared Knott the winner at 10:09 p.m. EST.
14th Congressional District
Republican Tim Moore won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday, flipping a Democratic-held district.
Moore, who is speaker of the state House, ran in one of three North Carolina districts that was widely expected to flip after the Republican-dominated General Assembly redrew congressional maps in 2023.
Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson ran for state attorney general rather than seek reelection in the district, which includes the eastern suburbs of Charlotte.
The Associated Press declared Moore the winner at 10:21 p.m. EST.
WRAL will have complete results as votes are counted in 400+ national, state and local races.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.