On Tuesday, some North Carolinians and Alabamans will cast ballots for candidates for the United States House of Representatives, in races that have been significantly altered by redistricting in the past few months.
This year, Republicans are expected to gain 10 out of 14 House seats in North Carolina, increasing their lead from the current 7-7 political split. This is due to the fact that the state’s congressional map was drawn by members of the Republican-controlled General Assembly last year, which greatly favours their party. The Republicans’ tenuous advantage in the chamber may be preserved after November’s elections if they were to gain control of multiple seats currently held by Democrats.
Rather than seek reelection in freshly redrawn, Republican-friendly districts, three Democratic incumbents in North Carolina—Reps. Jeff Jackson, Wiley Nickel, and Kathy Manning—opted to either leave the party or seek another elective office. Also, two Republicans who have opted to step down from their positions this year—Reps. Dan Bishop and Patrick McHenry—will be leaving districts that lean heavily towards their party.
Meanwhile, new boundaries in Alabama have set up an incumbent-versus-incumbent primary for one House district on Tuesday and might set up a historic conclusion this fall if the people of Alabama decide to send two Black lawmakers to the US House for the first time.
Emergence of new Alabama lines prompted by legal disputes
Approximately 27% of Alabama’s population identifies as African American; a federal court authorised a new congressional map last year that grants this group the chance to pick a candidate of their choosing in a second House district, sparking a legal dispute that garnered national attention to the Sun Belt.
Only one of Alabama’s seven voting districts has a majority Black voter population. The sole Black member of the state’s congressional delegation, Terri Sewell, represents it as a Democrat.
Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans are vying for the nomination in the newly redesigned 2nd Congressional District of Alabama, which spans a large portion of the state’s southern region and is home to a sizeable Black population. A total of eighteen people are vying for the position. Based on the state’s voting traditions, political pundits predict that a Democrat will win in the autumn, with a Black contender perhaps taking home the hardware. Not only are a number of Republican candidates of African American descent, but the majority of Democratic candidates as well.
Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, Alabama Senator Merika Coleman, and Alabama Representatives Napoleon Bracy, Jr., Juandalynn Givan, and Jeremy Grey are among the state lawmakers vying for the Democratic nomination.
James Averhart, the executive director of the NAACP’s Alabama branch and a previous US House candidate, and Shomari Figures, an aide to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and an Obama administration White House veteran, are among the other Democratic candidates. He comes from a long line of notable Mobile politicians; his mom is a senator.
Federal Election Commission filings show that as of the close of the pre-primary reporting period on February 14, Daniels and Figures were the Democratic field’s top fundraisers.
If no one receives 50% of the vote on Tuesday, the top two finishers will go to a runoff on April 16.
As a result of the court-mandated redistricting, two sitting Republican congressmen, Barry Moore and Jerry Carl, will face off in the first member-versus-member primary of the 2024 election.
The 2nd District is now represented by Moore. Both men have been trying to establish themselves as the genuine conservative in the race since their 2020 first-term congressional elections.
Scramble for North Carolina’s open seats sparks heavy competition
A large number of Republican candidates have expressed interest in running for one of North Carolina’s five available seats.
In the Republican primary, for example, fourteen people are vying for Nickel’s redesigned thirteenth district seat, which encompasses not only the counties bordering Virginia but also the suburbs surrounding Raleigh.
Among the Republican contenders are the race’s leading financiers: Fred Von Canon of Wake Forest, former federal prosecutor Brad Knott of Raleigh, and Kelly Daughtry of Smithfield. Both Daughtry and Von Canon have used immigration as a central theme in their advertising; both have funded their campaigns in part through personal savings.
Doctor Josh McConkey, another Republican candidate, has made news for threatening to use his recent lottery windfall to fund his campaign.
Manning and Jackson, who is also seeking the office of state attorney general, have left their seats vacant, and numerous other people are trying to fill them. Tim Moore, the current speaker of the state house, is one of several candidates vying for Jackson’s redrawn 14th district seat; Trump has endorsed Moore.
Trump has also given his support to Addison McDowell, a Republican running against Manning in the reconstituted 6th District. McDowell is a longtime Capitol Hill staffer and health insurance industry lobbyist. Mark Walker, a three-term US representative representing the Greensboro area, is also a candidate in the primary. Meanwhile, Wiley has the support of conservative anti-tax organisation Club for Growth, which is endorsing Bo Hines, the former GOP candidate for the 13th District.
North Carolina’s primary election rules state that candidates seeking to avoid a runoff on May 17 must obtain 30% of the vote or more.