NC’s Republican-drawn congressional districts lead to narrow Democratic victories

CHARLOTTE — The incumbent Republican representative of North Carolina’s Third Congressional District conceded his race.

Greg Murphy congratulated Democrat Raymond Smith in this eastern N.C. district. Smith finished ahead of Murphy by 293 votes.

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North Carolina Republican lawmakers changed the district lines earlier this year in an effort to help secure victory.

However, after the 2026 midterm election saw a blue wave sweep across the U.S., the Tar Heel State’s congressional representation completely flipped almost overnight.

The change was so stark that the Wikipedia page for dummymandering, a term used to describe a gerrymandering effort that inadvertently benefits the opposite party, now shows the North Carolina congressional election map as its featured image.

Currently, Republicans hold 10 of the state’s 14 seats in the House of Representatives and both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats.

After the midterm election, Democrats will likely hold 11 House seats, pending the results in Congressional District 5, along with one U.S. Senate seat.

Ten of those races were decided with a difference of less than 3% of votes between the Republican and Democratic candidates. In addition to Smith’s 293-vote victory, Democrat Chuck Hubbard is leading Republican incumbent Rep. Virginia Foxx in NC-05 by less than 300 votes. Several other districts were also split by just a few thousand votes.

You can see more election results at this link.