Rep. Don Davis (D) staved off a stiff problem in North Carolina on Tuesday, securing a second time period in a newly configured district that had been a high goal of Home Republicans, Choice Desk HQ tasks.
Davis, an Air Drive veteran and former state senator, defeated Laurie Buckhout, an Military veteran and advisor, in a northeastern nook of the Tar Heel State that contains a heavy Black inhabitants.
The seat has been represented by a Democrat for greater than a century, but it surely turned extra aggressive following a controversial redistricting that closely favored Republicans, who drew the brand new strains.
The competition was largely targeted on immigration, which has been a vulnerability for Democrats this cycle in gentle of the surge of migrants on the southern border. Buckhout sought to spotlight the problem, and to tie Davis to President Biden’s controversial dealing with of the disaster.
Davis, nonetheless, had put himself in a great place to deflect these assaults. In July, he was one in all simply six Home Democrats to vote for a GOP decision condemning the administration’s border insurance policies.
The Democratic help for the decision stirred loads of controversy — not least as a result of the textual content of the invoice labeled Harris the “border czar” — but it surely helped to distance Davis from the White Home on a problem that has been a thorn within the aspect of Democrats across the nation.
His victory is a uncommon vibrant spot for Democrats in North Carolina, the place Republican lawmakers on the state degree had drawn a brand new congressional map, authorized final 12 months, which closely gerrymandered the districts within the GOP’s favor. The brand new strains made it just about not possible for 3 incumbent Democrats — Reps. Kathy Manning, Wiley Nickel and Jeff Jackson — to win reelection, main all three to retire on the finish of the present time period.
The brand new strains additionally shifted the first District in ways in which made the seat extra aggressive than it was two years in the past, when Davis was first elected to Congress. And with the stakes excessive, exterior teams flooded the district with funding, making it among the many most costly races within the nation.
Heading into the competition, the skin spending alone topped $27 million, in line with OpenSecrets, with the bulk — $15.5 million — benefiting Davis.
