Democrats Flip Four North Carolina House Seats Drawn for Republicans as Rep. Brian Jack Launches NRCC Bid

Since Democrats took control of Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the count has kept moving in their favor, and the sharpest swing is in North Carolina.

As of Thursday, the Associated Press had called nine of the state's 14 House seats for Democrats and none for Republicans. The delegation went into Election Day with 10 Republicans and four Democrats.

North Carolina: maps built for the GOP, results that weren't

The AP has called five North Carolina races for Democrats that were drawn to favor Republicans. Four of them flipped. The state's congressional map was redrawn in 2023 to tilt toward the GOP, and these districts performed that way in 2024.

The 14th District was the closest that year, with Republican Tim Moore winning by about 16%. In the 6th, Republican Addison McDowell won by more than 38%.

In the 1st District, Democratic Rep. Don Davis won re-election in a seat Republican legislators redrew last year to make it friendlier to their candidates. Davis led Republican Laurie Buckhout by more than 10,000 votes on Thursday, a bigger margin than in 2024.

At the top of the ticket, former Gov. Roy Cooper won the open U.S. Senate seat by nearly 20%.

Five North Carolina races remain uncalled, and two are razor-thin. In the 3rd District, Republican Rep. Greg Murphy leads Democrat Raymond Smith by 233 votes. Democrats didn't field a candidate there in 2024. In the 5th, Democrat Chuck Hubbard leads 11-term Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx by 99 votes. Both races may go to recounts.

If every current lead holds, North Carolina's delegation flips to 10 Democrats and four Republicans.

Jack's NRCC pitch, and his explanation for the losses

Rep. Brian Jack, a Georgia Republican and longtime Trump political strategist, announced Wednesday that he is running to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee. He is one of the candidates vying to replace Rep. Richard Hudson in the job.

In a Nov. 4 letter to House Republicans, Jack called Tuesday "a historic loss" and urged the conference to unify rather than descend into infighting. He pointed to 2008, when Democrats won 257 seats, and 2010, when Republicans won 242 two years later. "The road to the majority starts now," he wrote.

Jack also pinned part of the North Carolina wipeout on his own side. "When Senate Republicans withdrew support from North Carolina weeks ago, they created a cascade that likely swept away many of our colleagues from that state," he wrote.

He wants early organizing for 2028, noting that once the 120th Congress is sworn in, Republicans will have roughly 16 months before a presidential nominee shifts the nation's attention.

Other Republicans offer different diagnoses. Vice President J.D. Vance blamed the party's heavy losses on the Iran war. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said on his podcast that "it was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election, it was a Watergate-level repudiation."

The wider count

The latest tallies show Democrats leading Republicans 253 to 157 in the House, with 25 races still uncalled. Republicans held two western seats, with Rep. Mike Kennedy re-elected in Utah and Amanda McKinney winning in Washington.

The last two Senate races, Mississippi and Alaska, were still uncalled as of Thursday. Wednesday evening's counts showed Democrat Scott Colom leading Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes with 96% counted, and Democrat Mary Peltola leading Sen. Dan Sullivan by 626 votes with 74% counted.

Democrats have flipped seven Senate seats: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Progressives also won locally. Nithya Raman, a city councilmember since 2020, narrowly beat Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles.

Health policy and what a Democratic Congress can actually pass

A wave of Democrats with medical backgrounds is headed to Washington. Pediatrician Annie Andrews won a Senate seat in South Carolina, and Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, won in Michigan. Amy Acton, Ohio's former health director, was elected governor.

The group 3.14 Action Fund, which backs Democratic candidates with science and medical backgrounds, said six doctors and public health professionals it supported won. Defend Public Health, an advocacy group, is already calling on the new Congress to investigate Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a process coordinating committee member Julie Scofield said "should lead to impeaching and removing Kennedy from office."

Being in the majority does not mean Democrats can legislate freely. Spencer Perlman of Veda Partners, a healthcare policy research director, wrote to investors that any market rally tied to Democratic control would likely be "a proverbial sugar high." Enacting changes such as rolling back the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is "extremely challenging" with the president's veto in play.

Markets and the courts

The Nasdaq fell 5.5% Thursday, its worst day in 19 months, amid signs the artificial intelligence industry could face tougher regulation after the midterm results, the Guardian reported.

Separately, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a 14-day restraining order late Thursday blocking construction of President Trump's proposed triumphal arch in Washington. The order came shortly after the National Capital Planning Commission voted 8-4 to approve the project.

The next hard dates are the North Carolina recounts. A 233-vote gap in the 3rd District and a 99-vote gap in the 5th will help decide whether the Democratic sweep there stops at nine seats, reaches ten, or climbs higher.

The NRCC leadership contest will also show whether House Republicans accept Jack's case that they can rebound the way they did in 2010.