Rouzer hasn’t faced a serious primary challenger since 2014, when he faced then-County Commissioner Woody White, winning by around 13 points.
This time around, Rouzer squared off against Libertarian-leaning Max Southworth-Beckwith, who painted the incumbent as a beltway insider, responsible for bloated budgets in D.C. But Rouzer remained popular with conservative voters, winning the primary by a nearly four-to-one margin.
In a statement, on Twitter, Rouzer focused on turnout – which was up about 13 percent from 2014 levels – rather than specific issues, writing, “today’s turnout should send a strong message to liberal elites in Washington: Republican enthusiasm is strong and voters are looking for solutions and leaders who put American families first.”
On the Democratic side, it was a four-way contest, with current North Carolina state Representative Charles Graham pulling ahead of his nearest competitor by two points.
Related - The Newsroom: The four Democratic primary candidates for North Carolina's 7th Congressional District
Graham credited his Democratic competitors with a good race, and said he hopes to highlight a host of issues as he campaigns toward the general election.
“So, you know, we have a lot of needs here affordable housing, we need to support issues that are what I call those kitchen-table issues: healthcare, a living wage, I'm all in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $15. We have many issues here around the environment, environmental issues with clean drinking water, clean air, with the PFAS, including the Chemours contamination, especially down in the Cape Fear River Basin. So that's very important to those folks," Graham said. "And of course, you know, here in my community in Lumberton, you know, we have a lot of issues surrounding flooding and affordable housing as well."
Graham added that, as a largely agrarian district, farmers were also important,
"So we want to support our farmers and make sure that they're the getting their needs met as well, especially during this economic downturn that we're involved with," he said.
While placing third overall, Wilmington-area resident Steve Miller did take the top spot among New Hanover County voters. North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District covers Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Pender, and Robeson counties, as well as parts of Cumberland County.
