An unusually high number of Republican state lawmakers are facing challengers in the March primary. Candidate filing for the 2026 election got under way on Monday and runs through Dec. 19.
Senate leader Phil Berger is one of multiple Republican incumbents in the legislature who will face opposition from within their party in the March primary. As of Friday, at least 14 candidates have filed to take on a sitting legislator in the GOP primary.
Some of the candidates are conservatives unhappy with their representative's record. In Cumberland and Moore counties, longtime Sen. Tom McInnis, R-Moore, faces a challenge from Ray Daly. Daly is criticizing McInnis for supporting proposed gambling expansion and a ban on shrimp trawling.
But some of the Republican primary challengers are part of an organized effort by teachers to take on incumbents in deep-red districts. The candidates are part of a group called "NC Educators on the Ballot," which describes itself as "a grassroots movement to put educators and public education supporters on Republican primary ballots across North Carolina."
Several moderate Democrats like Reps. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, and Shelly Willingham, D-Edgecombe, are facing primary challengers too. So is Rep. Abe Jones, D-Wake.
Five primary races to watch
With the primary less than three months away, this week’s WUNC Politics Podcast digs into the races worth watching. Two other political reporters, Adam Wagner of the NC Newsroom and Dawn Vaughan of The News & Observer, joined the conversation. Here are some of our picks for noteworthy intraparty fights this year:
The sheriff taking on a GOP goliath: State Senate leader Phil Berger has been in power for nearly 15 years, but for the first time he has a serious challenger in the Republican primary: Longtime Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.
“We've already been seeing them trade punches for months on social media,” Wagner said. “They're going back and forth about everything, from decades of careers.”
The outcome will be decided by a few thousand GOP voters in Rockingham and northern Guilford counties, but a win by Page would massively upend the power dynamics in state government.
The newly GOP-friendly seat: Now that the legislature has redrawn the 1st Congressional District to favor Republicans, at least five of them are competing for their party’s nomination.
They include state Sen. Bobby Hanig, Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson, Lenoir County Commissioner Eric Rouse, Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck and attorney Ashley-Nicole Russell.
“It's almost refreshing that there are multiple Republicans trying to get this, as opposed to Trump picks somebody, and that's how it is,” Vaughan said on the podcast. A Trump endorsement, however, could determine a winner – if the president decides to weigh in.
The most vulnerable Democrat: Democratic Rep. Carla Cunningham of Charlotte made enemies in her party by supporting an immigration enforcement bill, helping Republicans override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto. Now multiple Democrats, including prominent pastor Rodney Sadler, want to defeat her in the primary. We’ll be watching to see if Stein weighs in.
A challenge for the House Freedom Caucus: Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Keith Kidwell has ruffled some feathers this year on agricultural legislation and for battling the Senate’s push to ban shrimp trawling.
Belhaven farmer Darren Armstrong filed to take on Kidwell in the GOP primary. He was appointed by the Senate to the Beaufort County community college board.
A Democratic primary rematch: Rep. Rodney Pierce, D-Halifax, last year unseated longtime Democratic Rep. Michael Wray, criticizing Wray for voting with Republicans. Now Wray is trying to get his old seat back, making the case that his approach to legislating brought major state funding to the district.
Listen to the full discussion – on these races and more – on the WUNC Politics Podcast.
