Deborah Ross, Kathy Manning win Democratic primaries for new NC congressional seats
Deborah Ross won Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the new Raleigh-centric 2nd Congressional District, taking 70% of the vote in a crowd of Democrats.
At an election night victory party Tuesday, Ross said she’s already focusing on the general election in November, both for her own race and others on the ballot.
“The most important thing is that we stick together because we know that this is going to be the most important election in our lifetimes,” Ross said. “It is time to put the people of North Carolina first. It is time to put this country first. It is time to come together and take our country back.”
Ross faces Republican Alan Swain in November. Since the new district leans solidly Democratic, Ross will be the favorite to win.
The winner will be one of at least three new North Carolina members of Congress.
All 13 of the state’s congressional districts have been carefully drawn by state lawmakers to be more or less guaranteed for a specific political party. After a gerrymandering lawsuit led to new maps being drawn for this year’s elections, three Republican incumbents decided not to run for re-election.
Two of them, George Holding of Raleigh and Mark Walker of Greensboro, saw their districts go from being solidly Republican to solidly Democratic.
The third, Mark Meadows, represents western North Carolina. Analysts think the district could remain Republican in November, although it will be more competitive for Democrats than in the past.
In the Triangle
In the new Raleigh-area seat, the 2nd district, four Democrats competed in hopes of replacing Holding. The district covers all of Wake County except the far northern parts. Those neighborhoods are in the 4th district, along with the rest of the Triangle.
Ross is the former leader of the ACLU’s North Carolina chapter. She previously represented Raleigh in the state legislature, and lost a 2016 bid for U.S. Senate to Republican Sen. Richard Burr.
“I’ve been a part of the Wake County community for decades,” Ross said, adding: “Those roots run deep.”
In complete but unofficial results, Monika Johnson-Hostler came in second to Ross with just under 23%. Johnson-Hostler is a member of the Wake County Board of Education and is also the executive director of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Andrew Terrell and Ollie Nelson also ran.
In the 4th district, longtime incumbent Democratic Rep. David Price easily defeated challenger Daniel Ulysses Lockwood. Price will now face the winner of the GOP primary, Robert Thomas.
In another House district that represents some outskirts of the Triangle, the 1st district, Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield didn’t have a primary challenger. His district is heavily Democratic, stretching from Vance and Nash counties farther into Eastern North Carolina.
Butterfield will face Republican Sandy Smith, who won nearly 80% of the vote in a four-way GOP primary on Tuesday.
Charlotte
There are two Charlotte-area seats, the 9th and 12th districts. The 9th is a solidly Republican district, represented by Rep. Dan Bishop. The 12th is a solidly Democratic district, represented by Rep. Alma Adams.
Bishop didn’t have a primary and Adams won hers with nearly 90% of the vote. She’ll face Republican Bill Brewster in November.
In the 9th district, Cynthia Wallace won the Democratic primary to take on Bishop.
In the Triad
In the new Greensboro-area seat that Walker decided not to run for again, the 6th district, five Democrats sought for the nomination. The new district covers all of Guilford County as well as the Winston-Salem parts of Forsyth County.
Kathy Manning won with 48% of the vote. She’s now the favorite to win the heavily Democratic district in November.
Manning is a wealthy and prolific donor to Democratic causes. She has been heavily involved in the revitalization of downtown Greensboro, as well as with local charities. She also ran for Congress in 2018, narrowly losing to Republican Rep. Ted Budd.
Rhonda Foxx came in second with 20% of the vote followed by Bruce Davis (15%) and Derwin Montgomery (12%).
Foxx is the former chief of staff to Rep. Alma Adams, who used to represent Greensboro in Congress and now represents Charlotte. Montgomery is a state legislator from Winston-Salem and Davis is a Guilford County commissioner. Rounding out the race was former state lawmaker Ed Hanes of Winston-Salem, with 4%.
Lee Haywood won the GOP primary and will take on Manning in November.
Western North Carolina
With Meadows stepping down in district 11, a dozen Republicans competed in the primary to replace him. The crowded field meant that the race is now likely to go into a runoff, requiring a second primary election later this spring.
The second-place candidate, Madison Cawthorn, would have to call for the runoff; it won’t happen automatically. Cawthorn got 20% and the leader, Lynda Bennett, got 23% of the vote. Candidates can only avoid a runoff by getting more than 30%.
Both Bennett and Cawthorn are political newcomers. Cawthorn narrowly edged out Jim Davis, who has represented parts of western North Carolina in the state senate for the last 10 years.
If there is a runoff, whoever wins will take on Moe Davis, who won the Democratic primary. An Air Force veteran, Davis is the former Guantanamo Bay chief prosecutor.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misspelled Alan Swain’s name.
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This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Deborah Ross, Kathy Manning win Democratic primaries for new NC congressional seats."
