© 2024 WFAE
90.7 Charlotte 93.7 Southern Pines 90.3 Hickory 106.1 Laurinburg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Here are some of the other stories catching our attention.

Fields Set For June 7 Congressional Primaries In New Districts

Map of re-drawn Congressional districts, which will have primaries on June 7. See an interactive map of the old and new districts below.

After a short filing period, the fields are set for June 7 primaries in North Carolina’s redrawn Congressional districts. Ten of the 13 incumbents face primaries, including both in the districts serving Mecklenburg County.

Congressional primaries were delayed after a panel of three judges ruled the 1st and 12th districts were illegally gerrymandered along racial lines. The General Assembly redrew the lines, making major changes in district shapes and locations.   

Candidate filing opened March 16, a day after the state’s regular primary March 15 and ended Friday, March 25.

Democrat Alma Adams of Greensboro faces six challengers for her party’s nomination in the newly configured 12th District. The old district snaked from Charlotte to Greensboro and was one of two targeted in a federal lawsuit. The new 12th is entirely within Mecklenburg County.

The law doesn’t require it, but Adams says she’ll move to Charlotte as she tries to win re-nomination. Challengers include former state Senator Malcolm Graham and Representatives Rodney Moore and Tricia Cotham.

In the Republican primary for the new 9th district, incumbent Robert Pittenger will face Todd Johnson and Mark Harris, pastor of Charlotte’s First Baptist Church. The old 9th district ran from Charlotte north to Iredell County. The new district stretches from southeast Charlotte eastward.

In the 8th district, which includes an area from Cabarrus and Rowan Counties eastward, incumbent Republican Richard Hudson will square off against businessman Tim D’Annunzio.

The redistricting also put two incumbents in the same district: Republicans George Holding and Renee Elmers. Elmers is running to keep her seat in the 2nd District, which includes parts of Wake and surrounding counties.

Holding currently represents the 13th District but switched after his district shifted west on the new map.  The two also face conservative Greg Brannon, who lost this month’s primary to incumbent U.S. Senator Richard Burr.

The federal judges who threw out the current map haven’t weighed in yet on the redrawn lines. They have three options - approve the new map, ask state lawmakers to re-draw it again, or draw new districts themselves.  

If the lines have to be redrawn yet again, state elections officials say that could mean postponing the primary and reopening filing for a third time.

CANDIDATE LISTING

See the full Congressional candidate listing on the State Board of Elections website, http://dl.ncsbe.gov/index.html?prefix=Candidate_Filing/

INTERACTIVE MAP

Move the slider left or right with your mouse to compare the current districts to the new ones. 

David Boraks previously covered climate change and the environment for WFAE. See more at www.wfae.org/climate-news. He also has covered housing and homelessness, energy and the environment, transportation and business.