Democrats add NRCC Chair Hudson’s seat to 2026 ‘Districts in Play’
On Aug. 5, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced that NC-9 is being added to their Districts in Play list of competitive districts held by Republicans, as the 2026 midterms approach. NC-9 is currently held by US Rep. Richard Hudson, who is also the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican equivalent of the DCCC.
“I don’t believe the announcement means that they are making a serious attempt to unseat Hudson,” Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “The designation might just be a feint to get him to spend more of his time and energy campaigning in his own district rather than on his work as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee supporting truly vulnerable Republicans. The acid test will be if they actually spend real money in the district.”
Hudson won in 2024 with 56.30% (210,042 votes) over Democrat Nigel William Bristow, who received 37.75% (140,852 votes). In 2022, Hudson won his first term with 56.50% (131,453 votes) over Democrat Ben Clark, who received 43.50% (101,202 votes).
Dan Bishop served the 9th District from 2017 to 2023, when Hudson began his first term in the 8th District. Bishop’s district became known as the 8th, and Hudson’s became the 9th, after the 2022 court-ordered redrawing of the congressional map. Before the redraw, Hudson served the 8th Congressional District for a decade from 2013 to 2023.
NC-9 has been trending strongly red in elections since 2020, when US Sen. Thom Tillis carried the district with a +12.5% margin, and President Donald Trump won with a +13.8% margin, according to Jackson. In 2022, US Sen. Ted Budd won there by 17.8%, and in 2024, Trump carried it by 15.9%.
“Voters know Richard Hudson is responsible for House Republicans’ disastrous anti-working family platform, crushing North Carolinians,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a press release. “A protector of corruption, and self-interested Republicans at the expense of North Carolina’s working families, Hudson does not work for this community. This November, voters are going to show him the door and elect real leadership focused on fighting for them, not more political power.”
NC-9 is rated a solid R district by the Cook Political Report, which was last updated Nov. 17, 2025, as an R+8 district.
“Democrats can dream all they want; Richard Hudson wins because he delivers for the people he represents,” Cam Mills, campaign manager for Hudson, told the Carolina Journal. “Washington Democrats are still selling open borders, empty prisons, and men in women’s sports. NC voters are already said no to that agenda once, and they’ll say no again.”
“Democrats add NRCC Chair Hudson’s seat to 2026 ‘Districts in Play’” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
