Welcome to INDY’s 2026 Primary Live Blog

The Durham district attorney’s race, like NC-04, is a rematch of the 2022 Democratic primary and likely the most consequential contest on Durham’s slate of criminal justice races this cycle. District Attorney Satana Deberry won handily in 2022, with 79% of the vote against challenger Jonathan Wilson. But four years later, the playing field seems to be shifting. Can Wilson, who has secured a number of endorsements, garner enough support to flip the script in round two?

During Deberry’s eight-year tenure, she has made the DA’s office less punitive for low-level offenders, and improved outcomes for justice-involved individuals by collaborating with local partners on diversion programs and other restorative justice initiatives. Criminal justice reform groups like Emancipate NC praised Deberry for her willingness to push progressive policies forward in the wake of Black Lives Matter.

Though her policies have garnered support from many local leaders, a string of break-ins in downtown Durham the last two years, as well as a couple high profile cases, have brought unwanted attention to the district attorney’s office, souring some residents on Deberry as Durham’s lead prosecutor.

Wilson has said that he plans to be more a pragmatic prosecutor, and improve victims’ services, an issue Wilson and Deberry agreed on. He also said he plans to tackle the truancy rate inside Durham Public Schools, which he attributes to the ongoing juvenile crime issue.

Deberry remains the likely favorite in this two-person primary. She earned the consequential People’s Alliance endorsement, a harbinger of electoral success. But Wilson, with endorsements from The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and Friends of Durham, and no record to scrutinize, is mounting a formidable campaign.

A total of 68,048 early voting ballots were cast in the 2026 primary election in Wake County, according to unofficial results, surpassing past primary early voting turnout for at least a decade. 

The number represents a little over 12% of total eligible voters in Wake County who cast a ballot during the early voting period, which ended Saturday. 

Registered Democrats represented the highest number of voters during early voting, followed by unaffiliated voters, then registered Republicans. 

About 85% of unaffiliated voters cast a Democratic ballot. Unaffiliated voters can choose which party’s ballot they’d like to cast during the primary.

Some other interesting takeaways from Wake County’s unofficial results from early voting:

• Raleigh voters were the largest group of early Wake County voters by municipality, with 25,280 early votes cast. Two at-large seats and District C for Raleigh City Council are on the ballot for Raleigh voters.
• Herbert Young Community Center in Cary saw the highest number of early voters, with 10,014 ballots cast. 
• 586 ballots were from same-day registrations. 
• The total voter turnout by NC House District was highest for District 37, where three newcomers are on the Democratic ballot.
• 13,523 voters in the closely watched NC-04 congressional race district have already cast a ballot.
• The final day of early voting, Saturday, was the highest single-day turnout in three primary early voting periods (2022, 2024, and 2026) with 10,598 ballots cast. 

Political Action Committees (PACs) from across the county are spending a nauseating amount of money to influence your vote in the Triangle-area Democratic Congressional primary between Valerie Foushee and Nida Allam. 

These PACs operate separately from the candidates themselves and can spend as much money as they want on the mailers and TV, radio, and digital ads that are smothering the district.

And thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, it’s all perfectly legal.

The spending by non-candidate affiliated PACs has dramatically dwarfed the paltry sums spent by the candidates themselves ($354,000 by Allam and $457,000 by Foushee).

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Tracking Outside Spending in the 4th Congressional District Primary

The 2022 contest between Rep. Valerie Foushee and Nida Allam was the most expensive congressional primary in state history. PAC spending on their 2026 rematch is rivaling that record. Here’s a running tab.

by Chase Pellegrini de Paur February 26, 2026March 2, 2026

The top candidates in the 4th Congressional District Democratic primary have high profiles in Orange and Durham Counties. Valerie Foushee, the 69-year-old two-term incumbent, is the highest-profile member of an Orange County political dynasty, and has served the area at nearly every level of government over the last three decades. Her challenger, Durham County commissioner Nida Allam, has made herself a fixture of Durham politics and activism since her first election in 2020.

But in order to win the March 3 election—which will all but decide November’s general election result in ultra-blue District 4—they’ll need to win over voters in Western Wake County who are less familiar with both of them, too.

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The Road to Victory in NC-04 Runs Through Western Wake County

Rep. Valerie Foushee and challenger Nida Allam are working to win over 130,000 Wake voters added to the district since their 2022 matchup.

by Chase Pellegrini de Paur and Chloe Courtney Bohl February 25, 2026February 27, 2026

In a recent campaign video posted on social media, a leopard print-clad Congresswoman Valerie Foushee seems almost proud of being outspent in her Triangle-area Democratic primary election.

“An out-of-state PAC is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat me,” she tells the camera, a gleam in her eyes. “And why is this PAC running ads against me funded by billionaires?”

Foushee was referring to spending by Leaders We Deserve, an organization and political action committee (PAC) associated with Gen Z Democratic rabble-rouser and gun control activist David Hogg that has received backing from tech investor (and gun safety advocate) Roy Conway.

By reviewing ads, mailers, and FEC reports, the INDY has identified more than $1 million spent by outside groups like Hogg’s on the 4th Congressional District primary so far this cycle, nearly all in support of Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam’s bid to unseat Foushee. Spending is likely to escalate as groups try to influence voters in the ultra-blue district in the two weeks remaining before Election Day on March 3.

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Outside Money Flows into 4th Congressional District Primary, Again

In the race between U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee and Nida Allam, outside PACs have spent more than $1 million, mostly benefiting the challenger in an election dominated by the issue of campaign finance.

by Chase Pellegrini de Paur February 18, 2026March 3, 2026

Erin Paré, the Republican representative for North Carolina’s 37th House district, usually comes across as mild-mannered on social media. But in November, as Democrats in southern Wake County celebrated historic wins in the 2025 municipal elections, she lashed out. 

Democratic challengers had just ousted Republican incumbent mayors in Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs—previously considered Republican strongholds—by wide margins. As party strategists took a victory lap on TV, Paré, one of two Republicans in Wake County’s 13-member delegation in the state House, penned a bristly clapback to a pundit’s botched pronunciation of “Fuquay-Varina.”

Pronunciation faux pas aside, Democrats carved an undeniable foothold in southern Wake last fall, and it’s an open question whether Paré’s right-wing politics will still resonate with voters in her fast-growing, increasingly diverse and educated district in 2026.

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In N.C. House District 37’s Democratic Primary, Who Can Beat Incumbent Republican Rep. Erin Paré? 

Three candidates are making the case to take down one of the only Republicans in Wake County’s state House delegation. 

by Chloe Courtney Bohl February 13, 2026February 25, 2026

DeDreana Freeman’s grassroots credibility and nonconformist bent are central to her pitch in the Democratic primary for North Carolina Senate District 22, which covers most of Durham County. It’s a solidly blue seat where the March primary effectively decides the election—and where, this year, Freeman and her opponent, first-term incumbent Sophia Chitlik, share similarly progressive values on most fronts.

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A State Senate Primary Pits a Folk Hero Against a First-Term Force

Two candidates bring different tactics, backgrounds, and reputations to the race to represent District 22.

by Lena Geller February 12, 2026February 12, 2026

Durham District Attorney Satana Deberry is facing off against challenger Jonathan Wilson II in a rematch of the 2022 Democratic primary. Deberry, who was first elected in 2018, is running because “there is still more to do,” she said, while Wilson said he believes the community wants a new voice inside the DA’s office.

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The Democratic Primary for Durham DA is a 2022 Rematch. What’s Changed This Time?

Defense attorney Jonathan Wilson is once again challenging Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry for her seat. Does he have momentum?

by Justin Laidlaw February 10, 2026March 1, 2026

Much has changed about Wake County—not to mention the state, nation, and world—since incumbent District Attorney Lorrin Freeman was first elected as the county’s chief prosecutor in 2014. 

After growing by more than 200,000 people (or about 20%) in the last decade, Wake became the state’s most populous county. The year 2016 saw the rise and election of Donald Trump. A global pandemic followed in 2020, as did widespread civil unrest, the likes of which are playing out again in the streets of cities across the country as stepped-up federal immigration enforcement becomes increasingly violent.  

All of these events have impacted the DA’s office, and it will be a much different place for Freeman’s successor—in all likelihood, one of three Democrats running in the March 3 primary—when they step into it in 2027. (No Republican filed to run.)

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The Democratic Primary for Wake County DA Hinges on Experience—and Perspective

A three-way primary will decide who succeeds longtime District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.

by Jane Porter February 9, 2026March 1, 2026

To be a Durham school board member is to bear a monstrous amount of responsibility—yes, education for 30,000 kids, but also managing a workplace for over 5,000 employees and stewarding the tax dollars of over 340,000 residents—while having almost no power to actually do anything.

Need more money or a new school building? Go beg the county commission to raise taxes even more. Don’t like how the district administration is handling something? Go complain to the superintendent, your one employee, and hope he doesn’t follow a trend of superintendent turnover and leave for another district in a state that actually funds education. Want to take a principled stand for progressive values like Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s school board chair did? Enjoy getting your ass dragged before a state legislature hellbent on prosecuting a culture war rather than passing a budget to, say, pay teachers fairly.

That’ll be the reality for whichever four candidates win seats on the Durham Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education in the March primary.

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We Talked to All 12 Durham School Board Candidates So You Don’t Have To

Here’s a rundown of the candidates’ experience, priorities, and pitches to voters ahead of the March election to fill four seats on the Durham Public Schools Board of Education.

by Chase Pellegrini de Paur February 6, 2026February 16, 2026

The March 3 election includes races from local school boards up to Congress. You can find all of our candidate questionnaires here.

2026 Primary Candidate Questionnaires

The March 3 election includes races from local school boards up to Congress.

by INDY staff February 6, 2026March 3, 2026