There will be a lot of fresh faces in North Carolina’s Congressional delegation starting in 2023. Longtime Reps. G. K. Butterfield and David Price, along with Sen. Richard Burr, are retiring.
Rep. Ted Budd will now be Sen. Budd when the newest members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are sworn in Jan. 3.
Thanks to population growth over the last decade, North Carolina gained a 14th congressional district in 2022. Democrat Jeff Jackson will be the first congressional representative to represent the district that covers south Charlotte and much of Gaston County.
Of the 14 individuals North Carolina is sending to the House in 2023, five may be unfamiliar faces. All of North Carolina’s new House members come from seats in the state Senate.
All of North Carolina’s congressional districts are different this year, after the months-long political and legal fight over redistricting. Courts twice rejected the maps created by the legislature as unconstitutional gerrymanders, instead selecting a map drawn by its own special master.
That dispute over North Carolina’s congressional districts is now before the United States Supreme Court. In the meantime, the new maps were used for the 2022 congressional elections that led to seven Democrats and seven Republicans being elected to represent North Carolina in the U.S. House.
Here’s a look at the new members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation:
Ted Budd (R) - Senate
Budd won North Carolina’s contentious 2022 Senate election to fill the seat left open by Sen. Richard Burr’s retirement. The Republican defeated Democrat Cheri Beasley in November.
The newly elected senator had represented parts of the Triad and the Triangle as congressional representative for the old 13th District.
Budd is a conservative Republican who won the party primary with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. He voted against certifying the election for Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2020, with several other Trump loyalists in Congress.
Budd, who owns a gun store, opposes many gun control measures. He is on the record as opposing abortion and wants tougher immigration enforcement.
The next session of Congress will come with a divided government. Republicans will have control of the House, but Democrats have maintained a slim majority in the Senate.
North Carolina’s senior senator, Thom Tillis, has emerged in recent years as a dealmaker. Being able to negotiate across the aisle will become even more important for getting legislation passed in the coming session.
Chuck Edwards (R) - 11th Congressional District
Edwards is the only new Republican headed to the House of Representatives from North Carolina. He defeated scandal-plagued Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the Republican primary in May.
The 11th Congressional District includes Asheville and points west to the North Carolina mountains. He previously served three terms in the North Carolina Senate, representing a district that included Brevard and Hendersonville.
Edwards will join the House as part of a new Republican majority. During his campaign, he said his priorities include “securing the border,” supporting the energy policies of former President Trump and opposing abortion.
Wiley Nickel (D) - 13th Congressional District
Nickel, a Democrat, defeated Bo Hines, a Trump-endorsed Republican, to represent the new 13th Congressional District. The district includes southern Wake County, Johnston County and parts of Harnett and Wayne counties.
The Wake County Democrat served two terms in the North Carolina Senate before being elected to Congress. During the campaign he positioned himself as a moderate Democrat who supports abortion rights, wants universal background checks for gun sales and increased education funding.
Nickel is one of four new North Carolina Democrats heading to Washington, D.C. to represent the state.
Jeff Jackson (D) - 14th Congressional District
Jackson, a Democrat, will represent North Carolina’s newest district, the 14th. The district includes the southern half of Charlotte and south Mecklenburg County west to Gastonia.
He defeated Republican Pat Harrigan by a wide margin in November. Jackson is a well-known name in politics around Mecklenburg County, representing part of the county in the North Carolina Senate for eight years before winning the 2022 congressional election.
Jackson initially filed to run for the Democratic nomination for Senate, but pulled out as part of a deal for the party to put its full support behind Beasley, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Don Davis (D) - 1st Congressional District
Davis will have some big shoes to fill, replacing longtime Democratic Rep. G. K. Butterfield to represent much of northeast North Carolina.
He spent six terms in the North Carolina Senate representing Greene and Pitt counties before he was elected to Congress in November. The Democrat also served as mayor of Snow Hill and as an officer in the United States Air Force.
During the campaign, Davis said some of his priorities include improving rural infrastructure, making health care more accessible, protecting the environment and supporting abortion access.
Valerie Foushee (D) - 4th Congressional District
Foushee will take over representing North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District with the retirement of longtime Rep. David Price.
The new 4th district includes Durham, Orange, Alamance, Granville and Person counties, and a small section of Caswell County. The district is seen as a strong blue seat with population centers in Durham and Chapel Hill.
Foushee won in a crowded Democratic primary that included challengers like American Idol star Clay Aiken and Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam. Foushee served four terms in the North Carolina Senate representing Orange and Chatham counties before being elected to congress.