Democratic Congressman Don Davis is seeking re-election this year in the state's only competitive congressional district.
Davis is a former state senator and Air Force veteran from Greene County. He was first elected to the first district seat in 2022 and says his biggest first-term accomplishment was fighting an Air Force proposal to move squadrons out of its Seymour Johnson base in Goldsboro.
“We were facing 520 job cuts, and we successfully stopped that from happening, and we're going to continue to stop that,” he said.
Davis' opponent is Republican Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army colonel who lives in Edenton. She says Davis is weak on immigration and border security issue
Buckhout told TV station WITN she wants to reinstate former President Donald Trump's Remain in Mexico policy.
“Close the border right away,” she said, “Border Patrol right now they're just letting folks in and they're processing folks in and then saying seven years later, you can show up to court. That's just unreasonable.”
Davis backed a bipartisan immigration reform bill that fizzled out in Congress, and said both parties need to come together and reach a deal on comprehensive immigration reform.
Buckhout is also running on a gun rights platform and has been strongly supportive of former President Donald Trump's campaign.
More than $10-million is being spent on the 1st district campaign. Both parties think it could help determine which party controls the U-S House.
The first district covers about 20 counties in northeastern North Carolina. The state's other 13 districts strongly favor one political party.