Overview
- Democratic Rep. Don Davis defeated Republican Laurie Buckhout in the November 2026 contest to keep his seat in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District by a margin similar to his 2024 win.
- Republican lawmakers redrew the district in fall 2025, moving Greene, Lenoir, Wayne and Wilson into the 3rd District and adding Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde and Pamlico to the 1st.
- All six of the counties newly placed in the 1st backed Buckhout, but their votes were not enough to overcome Davis’s support across the rest of the district, with local turnout and local races cited by voters as decisive factors.
- Davis used his victory remarks to call for rethinking mid‑decade redistricting, urged bipartisan cooperation, and described a respectful post‑election phone call with Buckhout that he said reflected both candidates’ military service.
- The result highlights ongoing tension over mid‑decade mapmaking in North Carolina and could renew debate or legal challenges over whether state legislatures should redraw districts between regular cycles.