Lisa Grafstein, a first-term Democrat, has held her seat in North Carolina’s 13th Senate District winning just over 50 percent of the vote.
Grafstein defeated her Republican challenger, Scott Lassiter, a Wake County Soil and Water District Supervisor, who took about 47 percent of the vote. Libertarian candidate Susan Hogarth won 3 percent of the vote share.
This district includes the southern part of Wake County and was labeled a toss up that leans slightly Democratic by N.C. Common Cause. In 2022, Grafstein won by a margin of nearly 30 percentage points.
Grafstein, 57, is a civil rights attorney specializing in employment law and disability rights and has served in this seat since 2023.
Her campaign platform prioritized health care and reproductive freedom, workers’ rights and fair wages, and expanding access to affordable housing and supporting public school teachers and students.
Grafstein sponsored 25 bills this past legislative session, including bills codifying the right to use contraception and enabling local governments to enact rent control.
Lassiter, 37, is a former public school teacher and currently an assistant principal in Wake County with prior political experience. He has also served on the Apex Town Council.
Lassiter also owns and operates a nonprofit organization, the Lassiter Education Foundation, that provides scholarships to at-risk youths.
In 2023, Lassiter sued House Speaker Tim Moore for allegedly having an affair with Lassiter’s wife. The charges were later dropped.
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