North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District spans 25 counties and includes much of northeastern North Carolina.
It’s also home to a race expected to be among the most competitive for the US House of Representatives in this year’s midterm elections. In 2024, Davis defeated Buckhout by just 6,307 votes.
Last fall, Republicans in the General Assembly passed a gerrymandered map that redrew the district to be more favorable to a Republican candidate. Cook Political Report described Davis as “without a doubt, the most vulnerable House Democrat in the country.”
Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the race to a “toss up” in late July.
Rep. Don Davis
Davis is a pastor, a retired US Air Force captain, and a resident of Greene County who has served in the US House of Representatives since 2023.
Prior to entering Congress, he was a member of the North Carolina Senate for 10 years.
Among Davis’ priorities are working across the aisle to get support for the district on issues like healthcare, aid for farmers, and education.
In June, Davis called on President Donald Trump to provide $175 million in federal support to help expand healthcare in Martin and Beaufort counties.
The closure of Martin General Hospital left 21,000 people without access to emergency healthcare.. Davis is asking the federal government to provide funding to reopen the hospital, and to expand the East Carolina University Hospital in Beaufort County.
Davis’ endorsements include VoteVets, the North Carolina AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the North Carolina Association of Educators.
Laurie Buckhout
Buckhout is a retired US Army colonel and Iraq War veteran who founded Corvus Consulting, a cyber defense consulting business.
Buckhout sold the business in 2019 for $9 million and moved from Virginia to Edenton, North Carolina, in 2021.
One controversy that arose during her 2024 campaign was her arrest for DUI in Georgia that was later reduced to reckless driving after a plea deal. She initially refused a breathalyzer test, but one was later administered showing her blood alcohol level at 0.088, above the legal limit of 0.08.
Video of the 2017 arrest was released earlier this year and shows Buckhout trying to use her connections with the Pentagon to get out of the arrest.
Buckhout’s endorsements include Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
