North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (March 3 Republican primary)
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← 2024
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| North Carolina's 1st Congressional District |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: December 19, 2025 |
| Primary: March 3, 2026 Primary runoff: May 12, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Tilt Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th North Carolina elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 |
A Republican Party primary takes place on March 3, 2026, in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. North Carolina utilizes a semi-closed primary system. Parties decide who may vote in their respective primaries. Voters may choose a primary ballot without impacting their unaffiliated status.[1]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on North Carolina's 1st Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (March 3 Democratic primary)
- North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
Candidates and election results
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 1
Asa Buck, Laurie Buckhout, Robert Hanig, Eric Rouse, and Ashley-Nicole Russell are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 1 on March 3, 2026.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Sandy Roberson (R)
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Submitted Biography: "Ashley Nicole Russell is running for Congress to put America First and to serve the people of North Carolina with courage, conviction, and leadership. She grew up in this state with very little, learning early the values of hard work, faith, personal responsibility, and perseverance. Like so many North Carolinians, she knows what it means to build a life through grit and determination. Those values shaped her career as an attorney, small business owner, and national advocate for families. She founded North Carolina’s first Collaborative Family Law firm because she believes strong families are the foundation of a strong nation. In Congress, Ashley Nicole will fight to secure the border, enforce our laws, and protect American sovereignty. She will work to lower taxes, restore energy independence, cut job-killing regulations, and bring good-paying jobs back home. She believes in an economy that rewards work, not bureaucracy. She will defend parents’ rights, expand school choice, and return control of education to local communities. She will stand for life, protect free speech, defend religious liberty, and support law enforcement. She believes in this country, in its people, and in the promise of the American Dream. She will bring strength, clarity, and conviction to Congress, and she will never stop fighting for the values that make America great."
Voting information
- See also: Voting in North Carolina
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asa Buck | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Laurie Buckhout | Republican Party | $5,197 | $22,679 | $8,822 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Robert Hanig | Republican Party | $248,806 | $2,581 | $246,225 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Eric Rouse | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Ashley-Nicole Russell | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
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Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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District analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.
- District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting ahead of the 2026 election.
- Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
- State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Below is the district map used in the 2024 election next to the map in place for the 2026 election. Click on a map below to enlarge it. Error: One or both images not found for the specified years.
Partisan Voter Index
Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+1. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 1 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made North Carolina's 1st the 215th most Republican district nationally.[2]
2020 presidential election results
The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.
Kamala Harris  | Donald Trump  |
|---|---|
| 45.9% | 53.4% |
Presidential voting history
North Carolina presidential election results (1900-2024)
- 18 Democratic wins
- 14 Republican wins
| Year | 1900 | 1904 | 1908 | 1912 | 1916 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1940 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Party | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | R | R | R | R |
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of North Carolina's congressional delegation as of October 2025.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from North Carolina | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | U.S. Senate | U.S. House | Total |
| Democratic | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Republican | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancies | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 14 | 16 |
State executive
The table below displays the officeholders in North Carolina's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.
| Office | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| Governor | Josh Stein |
| Lieutenant Governor | Rachel Hunt |
| Secretary of State | Elaine Marshall |
| Attorney General | Jeff Jackson |
State legislature
North Carolina State Senate
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 20 | |
| Republican Party | 30 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 50 | |
North Carolina House of Representatives
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 49 | |
| Republican Party | 71 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 120 | |
Trifecta control
North Carolina Party Control: 1992-2025
Fourteen years of Democratic trifectas • Four years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in North Carolina in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in North Carolina, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| North Carolina | U.S. House | Ballot-qualified party | 5% of registered voters in the same party or 200, whichever is greater | $1,740 | 12/19/2025 | Source |
| North Carolina | U.S. House | Unaffiliated | 1.5% of all registered N.C. voters in the district, as of January 1 of the election year. | $1,740 | 12/19/2025 | Source |
See also
- North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (March 3 Democratic primary)
- North Carolina's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
- United States House elections in North Carolina, 2026 (March 3 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in North Carolina, 2026 (March 3 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2026
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2026
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2026
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2026
External links
Footnotes
