Democrats are projecting confidence in races for two House seats in North Carolina, despite the Republicans’ gerrymandering effort to make its congressional districts more conservative.
House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, added North Carolina’s third and 11th districts to its “Districts in Play” list Tuesday.
The DCCC also expanded its battleground races to include California Rep. Darrell Issa’s district, Florida Rep. Laurel Lee’s, and two open seats, Maine’s second district and Texas’s 35th district.
The growing list indicates that Democrats are confident that they can be competitive across the country in their bid to regain the House majority — a confidence bolstered by big wins in November. Democrats won every competitive district in New Jersey and Virginia last month. And in a special election in Tennessee just last week, Democrats overperformed in deep Trump country.
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“The DCCC is confident we can win anywhere, and we are full speed ahead while Republicans are running scared,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement. “House Democrats have the better message, stronger candidates, and as the data shows, the American people are on our side.”
Several of these races are in states that will use new congressional maps for the midterms. North Carolina’s third district, led by Republican Rep. Greg Murphy, was recently redrawn by the state legislature to move west, giving the blue first district more conservative coastal counties. Murphy will reportedly be challenged by Democrats George Papastrat and Christopher Schulte, according to the Durham Herald-Sun. Neither has filed as a candidate yet, according to the State Board of Elections.
Murphy won his district by a landslide in 2024, but his district was significantly downsized in the redistricting push — with much of the coastal counties now in incumbent Democrat Rep. Don Davis’ district.
Republican incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards will run again in the 11th district and will likely face Jamie Ager, a moderate Democrat. Edwards won in 2024 by about 14 percentage points. His district lines remain unchanged.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that Texas could use its new maps — ones that sparked a redistricting war across the country. Republicans have challenged California’s redrawn maps. Florida, too, is pursuing mid-year redistricting.
“Democrats can daydream about ‘expanding’ the House map all they want, but reality keeps smacking them in the face. The Democrat Party is in a fight for its soul, dominated by far-left chaos and radical policies that don’t reflect the issues important to working families,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella told NOTUS in a statement.
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The Assembly.
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