North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2026

North Carolina redrew its congressional district boundaries in October 2025. Voters will elect representatives under the new map in 2026. Click here to read more about mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections.

← 2024
North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District
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. Voting in North Carolina
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District 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 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

All U.S. House districts, including the 3rd Congressional District of North Carolina, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. The primary is March 3, 2026, and a primary runoff is May 12, 2026. The filing deadline was December 19, 2025. For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

• North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2026 (March 3 Democratic primary)
• North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2026 (March 3 Republican primary)

Candidates and election results

General election

The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Austin Ayers is running in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Austin Ayers (L)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Allison Jaslow, George Papastrat, Christopher Schulte, and Raymond Smith Jr. are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Allison Jaslow
		George Papastrat
		Christopher Schulte
		Raymond Smith Jr.

---

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Gregory Murphy

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Austin Ayers

Voting information

See also: Voting in North Carolina

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Austin Ayers

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Gregory Murphy	Republican Party	$1,050,389	$512,816	$2,121,035	As of September 30, 2025
Allison Jaslow	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
George Papastrat	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Christopher Schulte	Democratic Party	$47,822	$42,259	$5,563	As of September 30, 2025
Raymond Smith Jr.	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Austin Ayers	Libertarian Party	$10	$1	$9	As of September 30, 2025
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." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	12/23/2025	12/16/2025	12/9/2025	12/2/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Likely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

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

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

• 2024
• 2022
• 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy (R) defeated Gheorghe Cormos (L) in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gregory Murphy (R)	77.4	248,276
		Gheorghe Cormos (L)	22.6	72,565

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 320,841
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary

The Democratic primary scheduled for March 5, 2024, was canceled.

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for March 5, 2024, was canceled. Incumbent Gregory Murphy (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 without appearing on the ballot.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Niki Nixon (R)

Libertarian Party primary

The Libertarian Party primary scheduled for March 5, 2024, was canceled. Gheorghe Cormos (L) advanced from the Libertarian Party primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 without appearing on the ballot.

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy (R) defeated Barbara Gaskins (D) in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gregory Murphy (R)	66.9	166,520
		Barbara Gaskins (D)	33.1	82,378

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 248,898
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Barbara Gaskins (D) defeated Joe Swartz (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Barbara Gaskins	80.8	23,051
		Joe Swartz	19.2	5,495

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 28,546
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tyron Brown (D)
• Jason Minnicozzi (D)

Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy (R) defeated Tony Cowden (R), Eric Earhart (R), George Papastrat (R), and Brian Friend (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gregory Murphy	75.7	50,123
		Tony Cowden	14.1	9,332
		Eric Earhart	4.9	3,274
		George Papastrat	2.7	1,789
		Brian Friend	2.6	1,698

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 66,216
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy (R) defeated Daryl Farrow (D) in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gregory Murphy (R)	63.4	229,800
		Daryl Farrow (D)	36.6	132,752

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 362,552
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary scheduled for March 3, 2020, was canceled. Daryl Farrow (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 without appearing on the ballot.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Aleccia Sutton (D)

Republican primary

The Republican primary scheduled for March 3, 2020, was canceled. Incumbent Gregory Murphy (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 without appearing on the ballot.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Steven Benton (R)
• Rob Rollason (R)

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.

• District map
• Competitiveness
• Presidential elections
• State party control

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.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's 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+10. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 10 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made North Carolina's 3rd the 122nd most Republican district nationally.

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.

2024 presidential results in North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

Kamala Harris	Donald Trump
45.2%	52.8%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in North Carolina, 2024

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

See also: Party control of North Carolina state government

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.

State executive officials in North Carolina, 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

See also

North Carolina	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
North Carolina congressional delegation Voting in North Carolina North Carolina elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

North Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ted Budd (R)

Thom Tillis (R)

Representatives

District 1

Donald Davis (D)

District 2

Deborah Ross (D)

District 3

Gregory Murphy (R)

District 4

Valerie Foushee (D)

District 5

Virginia Foxx (R)

District 6

Addison McDowell (R)

District 7

David Rouzer (R)

District 8

Mark Harris (R)

District 9

Richard Hudson (R)

District 10

Pat Harrigan (R)

District 11

Chuck Edwards (R)

District 12

Alma Adams (D)

District 13

Brad Knott (R)

District 14

Timothy Moore (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (4)

2025-2026 Elections to the United States Congress

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Election information

Ballot access for major and minor party candidates • List of candidates running for election • List of congressional challengers • Retiring senators • Retiring representatives

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Super PACs/Organizations

American Bridge 21st Century • American Crossroads • American Unity PAC • Campaign for Primary Accountability • Club for Growth Action • Congressional Leadership Fund • Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee• Crossroads Generation • Ending Spending Action Fund • Endorse Liberty • Fair Share Action • FreedomWorks for America • Government Integrity Fund • House Majority PAC • Independence USA Fund • League of Conservation Voters • Liberty for All PAC • Majority PAC • National Association of Realtors • NEA Advocacy Fund • Now or Never PAC • Planned Parenthood Votes • Ready for Hillary • Republicans for a Prosperous America • Restore America's Voice PAC • SEIU Pea-Federal • Women Vote!

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