North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District is considered a toss-up and the state’s only true swing district. While Democrats have controlled the district for decades, the GOP has targeted NC 1 this year as a possible pick-up and opportunity to expand its map.
The district is now in toss-up territory after the Republican-controlled Legislature approved new congressional maps, which make the district more competitive. Prior to the new lines, it had not elected a Republican in more than 100 years, though lines have changed considerable over the decades, according to The Hill.
First-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis faces Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army Colonel, to represent the region.
Democrats carry a big voter registration advantage in the district, with nearly 44% of the electorate to less than 26% for Republicans. But nonpartisan voters make up a huge chunk of the electorate, at 30%, meaning a moderate candidate on either side of the political spectrum stands a good chance of winning the district in the northeast corner of the state.
Buckout is the founder of a consulting firm and touts her deep family ties to the military. She ran with support from the Congressional Leadership Fund, which included her in its “trailblazers” program that provides direct financial support to conservative candidates the group believes can grow the current GOP House majority.
NC 1 is on North Carolina’s inland border with Virginia and could help determine party leadership in the House of Representatives. About 60% of the district’s residents live in Pitt, Wayne, Halifax and Wilson counties. The sprawling district also includes Bertie, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Hertford, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Vance, Warren and Washington counties.
Republicans have run ads attacking Davis over missed votes in Congress and tying him to Democrats loathed in the Republican Party, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Responding to the attacks on his attendance record, Davis previously fired back that GOP operatives were lobbing criticism at him for missing votes while he broke to attend his grandmother’s funeral. Davis was raised by his grandmother.
Davis was born in the 16,000-person town of Snow Hill, North Carolina.
On her website, Burkhout touts her Army Air Corps Flight Nurse mother, her grandfather, her uncles and multiple other relatives. Laurie’s husband Paul, a West Point graduate and Army Infantry Airborne Ranger who served with Delta Force, is also a retired officer from a family of combat veterans stretching back to the French and Indian War, she says.
