NC-04

With 46 percent of the vote, North Carolina State Senator Valerie Foushee has won the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th congressional district.

As the region is solidly liberal, the victory all but guarantees that Foushee will win the general election to fill retiring Rep. David Price’s open seat. Foushee has over two decades of experience in public office—she previously served on the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, Orange County Board of Education, and North Carolina House of Representatives, in addition to the state senate—and has long championed equity in education, increased access to healthcare, environmental protection, and reproductive rights.

Foushee faced a formidable opponent this election in Nida Allam, a Durham County Commissioner who was endorsed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and ran on a staunchly progressive platform that especially enthused younger voters. Allam ended the night with 36 percent of the vote.

At the start of her campaign, Foushee trailed behind her opponents in funding, but after receiving more than $2 million from AIPAC and a crypto-currency billionaire, she finished as the top-raiser in the race, which is now the most expensive Congressional primary in North Carolina history. Foushee came under fire for the contributions over the past few months, with several people and organizations pulling their endorsements and many condemning the spending as an affront to progressive values and the “one person, one vote” principle.

NC-13

Wiley Nickel has secured the Democratic nomination for US House District 13, beating out his main opponent Sam Searcy by more than 30 percent of the vote.

Nickel, a North Carolina state senator and criminal defense attorney, will be up against Trump-backed Republican politician Bo Hines in the general election.

Nickel has said that his primary goal in Congress is to address the issues that working families talk about around the kitchen table, and aims to fight for tax reform and increased public school funding. 

The newly drawn 13th district is no longer a Republican stronghold, but Nickel will have to work hard to rally voters in conservative Johnston County, which makes up the bulk of the district, for a chance at defeating Hines in November.

U.S. Senate

As predicted, Cheri Beasley has won the Democratic primary for US Senate, crushing her ten opponents with 81 percent of the vote.

Beasley, a former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, will face off against Republican nominee Ted Budd in the general election to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr. Budd’s triumph in today’s primary was thanks in large part to an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, which gave him a comfortable lead over top contenders Rep. Mark Walker and former governor Pat McCrory.

To successfully flip the GOP-held seat, Beasley will need to pull out all the stops in the coming months; top political prognosticators have predicted that the election will favor the Republican candidate, citing North Carolina’s track record in senate races and President Biden’s poor approval ratings.

That said, Beasley has shown that she can attract voters in rural areas of the state, and has plenty of experience and funding to pour into the effort. If she wins the general election, Beasley will become North Carolina’s first Black senator.

“We can build a better future for our state and our families,” Beasley said in her acceptance speech. “But it’s going to take all of us working together: knocking doors, calling our neighbors, calling voters. It is all hands on deck.”

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Follow Staff Writer Lena Geller on Twitter or send an email to lgeller@indyweek.com.