Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson has won reelection to his North Carolina seat in a district that runs through several southern counties.
Despite a mandated redrawing of the state’s congressional map that helped make the race competitive, the ally of President Donald Trump won the Republican-leaning 8th Congressional District that is located in the southern portion of the state and includes the city of Concord.
His challenger, Democrat Patricia Timmons-Goodson, had served on North Carolina’s state Supreme Court.
Hudson assumed office in 2013 and won his past reelection efforts handily.
The closely contested race had included a barrage of television ads from both sides.
A three-judge panel last year ordered the General Assembly to draw new congressional and state legislative maps.
As a result, the 8th District became more favorable to Democrats. Cumberland County and city of Fayetteville was no longer divided into two districts, giving Democrats a strong base of voters.
The district runs from Cumberland to Cabarrus County.
But even with the redraw, the 8th District was still Republican-friendly.
After trying and failing to win the 9th District in 2018 and 2019, national Democrats focused on the 8th District this year, in part because they felt Timmons-Goodson was such a strong candidate.
National groups sent roughly $2 million on her behalf. As a result, the Congressional Leadership Fund spent $2 million on behalf of Hudson in October, alleging she was soft on crime and supported by groups who want to defund the police.
Timmons-Goodson, like most Democratic candidates, ran on health care. She said Hudson wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no plan to replace it.
Because of that court-ordered redraw of the Congressional maps, Democrats picked up at least two seats on Tuesday.
Democrat Kathy Manning won in the 6th District in Greensboro and Democrat Deborah Ross won the 2nd District in Raleigh.
Going into the election, Republicans held a 10-3 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation. Because of those two wins, Democrats will at least have five seats from North Carolina in Congress.
