North Carolina is holding congressional primaries on Tuesday. Polls closed at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The races and the stakes:
North Carolina held primaries for Congress and its state legislature on Tuesday.
The state gained one new seat in the House of Representatives after the 2020 Census due to its population growth over the past decade.
North Carolina is no stranger to highly contentious legal battles over congressional district lines, and 2022 was no exception. The state Supreme Court struck down multiple maps drawn by the GOP-controlled state legislature for unfairly favoring Republicans, and appointed a special master to draw a fairer map to be used for the 2022 cycle.
The most high-profile primary race took place in western North Carolina, where embattled freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost reelection against some fierce opposition from within his own party.
He was defeated by state Sen. Chuck Edwards, who was endorsed by Republican heavyweights in the state including Sen. Thom Tillis and several leaders in North Carolina's state legislature.
Cawthorn was a 24-year-old political newcomer when he made a splash with an upset primary victory in 2020, beating out another GOP candidate who had endorsements from then-President Donald Trump and former Rep. Mark Meadows.
But Cawthorn since went from a rising Republican star to alienating his party colleagues both in his home state and in Washington, D.C. Now, 26, Cawthorn is dealing with legal troubles and ethics probes including driving infractions and gun incidents, inflammatory comments about everyone from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, redistricting drama, and claims he was offered cocaine and orgies at D.C. parties.
Competitive Republican and Democratic primaries also took place in the newly-redrawn 13th congressional district. The seat, which includes part of the Raleigh-Durham area and some of the surrounding suburbs, is poised to be North Carolina's only toss-up seat in the general election, according to election experts.
Ex-college football player Bo Hines, who is endorsed by Trump, defeated candidates including former Rep. Renee Ellmers, and local attorney Kelly Daughtry, who spent nearly $3 million self-funding her campaign, for the Republican nomination.
Meanwhile, state Sen. George "Wiley" Nickel secured the Democratic nomination for the seat.
In another competitive seat, the eastern North Carolina-based 1st District vacated by retiring Rep. G.K. Butterfield. state Sen. Don Davis, who Butterfield endorsed to succeed him, defeated state Sen. Erica Smith, a 2020 candidate for US Senate.
The seat has also seen a bitter and nasty Republican primary race between Sandy Smith, who secured the nomination, and Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Robeson. Robeson's campaign unleashed a torrent of opposition research on Smith, including allegations of domestic abuse against her two ex-husbands and daughter, which she denies.
A crowded Democratic primary also took place in the safely-Democratic, Durham-based 4th District to replace retiring longtime Democratic Rep. David Price. State Sen. Valerie Foushee defeated Wake County Commissioner Nida Allam and former "American Idol" star Clay Aiken in the Democratic primary for the seat.
And state Sen. Jeff Jackson, who briefly ran for North Carolina's open US Senate seat before changing plans to campaign for a House seat, easily secured the Democratic nomination for North Carolina's new, safely-blue 14th District based in fast-growing Charlotte.
North Carolina state legislative primaries:
Charlotte and Greensboro mayoral primaries:
