Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) declared victory over her progressive challenger early Wednesday morning, but the race remains too close to call and is within the margin for a recount.
The polls in North Carolina closed at 7:30 p.m., with election results beginning to roll out around 8:30 p.m. As of 12:45 a.m., Foushee had 49.2% of the vote compared to progressive candidate Nida Allam’s 48.2%, with 99% of the vote counted, per the Associated Press.
According to reports, Foushee said in a release that she is “deeply humbled to have the opportunity to represent this district for another term.”
The race is not expected to head for a runoff, as candidates only need to secure more than 30% of the vote to win the party nomination. But a recount can be requested by a second-place candidate if the race falls within a 1% margin as set by state law.
This is Allam’s second attempt to beat Foushee, after losing to the congresswoman by nine points in the 2022 primary to replace former Rep. David Price.
The primary election caps off months of enormous outside spending from the incumbent’s opponents targeting her over previous pro-Israel stances, as well as growing frustration among younger voters who did not view Foushee as confrontational enough in pushing progressive values.
Allam spent much of her campaign aggressively highlighting that Foushee benefited in 2022 from over $2.1 million in spending by the pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She also pointed to a 2024 trip the congresswoman took to the Jewish state.
But the anti-Israel push, as well as the flood of cash from progressive groups, may not have been enough to oust Foushee — despite the fact that Article One PAC, a group tied to a billionaire AIPAC donor, dropped $600,000 on media supporting the congresswoman in the week leading up to the primaries.
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Progressives viewed Foushee’s race as a chance to build on the momentum achieved in the 2025 elections, when New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was heavily favored by establishment Democrats. Social justice activist Analilia Mejia bested former Rep. Tom Malinowski in a crowded Democratic primary for a special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District last month, handing progressives another victory.
If Foushee is declared the official winner of Tuesday’s primary, she is all but assured to win the general election. It is rated a solid Democrat by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Former Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district by 46 percentage points in 2024.