North Carolina's 1st congressional district
North-eastern North Carolina House district, held by Democrat Don Davis, redrawn by Republicans in 2025.
North Carolina's 1st was the top House race in Lowdown's count of outside spending filed from 24 to 30 September 2026, at $3.49m, as Democrat Don Davis defends a seat Republicans redrew in 2025.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Will North Carolina's 2025 redraw cost Don Davis his seat?
Timeline for North Carolina's 1st congressional district
Mentioned in: Nine Republican PACs file $164m of $259m
US Midterms 2026Background
North Carolina's 1st District covers the state's north-east. It votes in 2026 on a map the Republican-led General Assembly passed on 22 October 2025 as Senate Bill 249 (Session Law 2025-95), designed to make the seat Republican. A three-judge federal panel in the Middle District of North Carolina declined to block it on 26 November 2025, finding a partisan rather than a racial motive.
The redraw moved six Republican-leaning counties, Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde and Pamlico, into the district and shifted four, including Davis's home county of Greene, into the 3rd. Trump carried the new lines 55.4% to 43.8% in 2024; on the old lines Davis beat Republican Laurie Buckhout 49.5% to 47.8%. Buckhout won the March 2026 primary for a rematch.
Outside money has followed the redraw. In Lowdown's count of the 300 largest independent-expenditure filings for 24 to 30 September, the 1st came tenth overall and first among House races, behind nine Senate contests.