Republican Richard Hudson, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has lost what was widely viewed as a safe seat in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District.
Hudson, a 14-year congressional veteran and senior GOP figure, conceded to Democrat Richard Ojeda, a former state senator and retired Army major who served 24 years in the military and previously ran for president.
As head of the NRCC, Hudson played a central role in helping the House Republican campaign committee raise more than $260 million for contests nationwide. His own re-election campaign spent roughly $2 million.
With 99 percent of the vote reported, Ojeda had secured 138,707 votes compared with Hudson’s 132,692.
The result stunned Republican leaders and campaign operatives, who had not expected Hudson to lose.
“No freaking way!” one Republican operative told Our News Outlet.
A strong showing by former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper helped fuel a broader Democratic surge in a state Donald Trump had won three times.
Two other Republican incumbents from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx and Greg Murphy, were still awaiting final calls in their races.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention
Donald Trump reviews documents at his desk while Hudson, at far left, looks on
As of Wednesday afternoon, Murphy held a lead of fewer than 250 votes, while Foxx trailed by 99.
Cooper, the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina since 2008, centered his campaign on the slogan, “Make stuff cost less.”
The message resonated with voters in North Carolina and across the country, where exit polls repeatedly showed that the economy and rising living costs were among the election’s defining concerns.
Cooper appeared at his election-night watch party in Raleigh shortly after the race was called, greeted by an exuberant crowd chanting, “Cooper! Cooper! Cooper!”
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“Tonight,” Cooper said, “we told Washington loud and clear that North Carolinians will always matter more than billionaires and insiders.”
“I am still a prisoner of hope,” Cooper added, saying the results showed that voters were ready for a change in direction.
Democratic strategist Mally Smith, who served as a senior political and coalitions adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign in North Carolina, described the Democratic breakthrough as “incredible” in comments to Our News Outlet.
“Democrats having full control of state government, picking up House seats, and winning the Senate is beyond most North Carolina Democrats’ wildest dreams,” Smith said, calling the outcome “a seismic election for the state.”
Democrat Jamie Ager also captured North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District in the Appalachian region, flipping the seat from Republican control.
It marked the first House flip of election night.
A review by Our News Outlet of Ager’s family history revealed this fall that his grandparents were first cousins.
North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District has endured a turbulent political period.
The seat is currently held by Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, who withdrew from the re-election contest in August after reports emerged that he had given lavish gifts—including towers of ice cream and firearms—to young female staffers and had written them poems.
Following a recommendation from the House Ethics Committee, Edwards was formally censured by fellow lawmakers.
Edwards disputed the findings, arguing that the gifts and other gestures were expressions of “friendship” and contained nothing improper.
He remained in office because he faced no legal action. Edwards apologized to his wife for his conduct and denied having any inappropriate intentions.
After Edwards ended his re-election campaign, Republican Party officials chose State Representative Jennifer Balkcom to replace him on the November ballot.
