Early Voter Surge Gives Democrats Hope in Cumberland’s 2 U.S. House Districts

It’s been 10 years since Fayetteville and Cumberland County had a Democratic representative in the U.S. House.

Going into the 2026 midterms, the conventional wisdom has been that this wouldn’t change following this year’s election—Republican Reps. Richard Hudson in the 9th Congressional District and David Rouzer in the 7th Congressional District were expected to easily retain their seats.

But early voting, since it started in mid-October, has seen a surge of Democratic and independent voters participating compared to the  2022 midterms.

Democrats said the surge shows they can pull off upsets in both U.S. House Districts.

Others advise caution with predictions based on early voting totals, as voters who favor Republican candidates can decide the outcomes with strong turnout on Tuesday.

Reasons for Optimism?

The Democrats seeking to unseat Hudson and Rouzer have expressed optimism.

“I think that we’re on the verge of flipping these seats,” Richard Ojeda, who is trying to defeat Hudson, said during a news conference Wednesday.

“I think that we actually have a good-sized lead right now,” he said. “I think Democrats are voting for us. I think the majority of unaffiliated are voting for us.”

In a news release on Friday, Ojeda noted that the influential Cook Political Report shifted its assessment of the 9th District from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”

Democrat Kimberly Hardy, who is challenging Rouzer in the 7th District, said at the Wednesday news conference that a survey in August found her trailing Rouzer 49% to 43%. “We were right behind him, and the lag was because he had name recognition that we didn’t have yet,” she said.

Her camp also cited the Fox News Power Rankings, which shifted the 7th District from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican” on October 27.

Hudson’s campaign dismissed the Democrats.

“Democrats can dream all they want, Richard Hudson wins because he delivers for the people he represents,” Hudson campaign manager Cam Mills said in a statement to CityView. “Washington Democrats are still selling open borders, empty prisons, and men in women’s sports. North Carolina voters already said no to that agenda once and they’ll say no again.”

Rouzer’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment by telephone and by email.

Republican Voters Standing By?

The election isn’t over, and Republican-supporting voters can still turn out in force on Election Day.

In the 2022 and 2018 midterms, registered Republicans had higher participation rates than registered Democrats and registered unaffiliated voters, political observer Mike Rusher wrote on X on Sunday as he analyzed statewide turnout.

While statewide “Ds built an enormous raw-ballot advantage” during early this year’s voting, he said, Republicans have more likely voters waiting in the wings who can vote on Tuesday.

As of Sunday, there were 641,000 registered Republicans who voted in three of the last four elections who hadn’t yet voted this year, Rusher said. Democrats had 388,000 high propensity voters who hadn’t yet voted, and there were 527,000 unaffiliated frequent voters standing by.

“That’s a 253k Republican advantage among high-propensity major-party registrants,” he wrote.

Early Vote Turnout in Cumberland’s 2 House Districts

At the end of early voting on Saturday, according to the Carolina Elections Vote Tracker, here are the total number of votes cast in the 7th District and 9th District:

• 7th District: 75,193 independents; 71,522 Democrats; 66,638 Republicans; 575 Libertarians; 94 Green Party. Total: 214,022.
• 9th District: 64,408 Democrats; 57,227 independents; 57,123 Republicans; 466 Libertarians; 60 Green Party. Total: 179,284.

Read on for information about the candidates and their positions.

7th District Candidates

The 7th District spans southeastern North Carolina. It runs from Wilmington and the Brunswick County beaches on the coast to Hope Mills, Fayetteville, and the rural southern and eastern sides of Cumberland County. In 2024, Rouzer won reelection with 58.6% of the vote.

Rouzer faces Hardy and Libertarian candidate Maad Abu-Ghazalah.

Who is Rep. David Rouzer?

Rouzer is a Wilmington resident.

He served in the state Senate from 2009 to 2012 and has held the 7th Congressional District seat since taking office in early 2015. Due to changes to the district map boundaries over the years, Cumberland County was not part of the 7th District from early 2021 to early 2023.

Rouzer has sponsored or supported legislation to improve transportation, to help farmers, improve federal response in natural disasters, and expand access to health care.

In Cumberland County-specific items, he called for an investigation into Fayetteville’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center following complaints about care for amputees, and he supported a $25.1 million grant to redevelop the Murchison road corridor.

On his campaign website, Rouzer called for tougher border security, including the use of the military in border enforcement. He said he wants more support for military veterans. On the issue of abortion, he describes himself as pro-life. He opposes gay marriage and noted that when he was in the state Senate, he co-sponsored the bill to for the state constitutional amendment that prohibited gay marriage. This amendment was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Who is Kimberly Hardy?

Hardy is an assistant professor of social work at Fayetteville State University and lives between Fayetteville and Linden in Cumberland County. She had unsuccessful runs for the state House in 2020 and 2022.

She is the second vice-chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

She said on her campaign website that she wants to increase the minimum wage and supports no tax on tips. Congress and the president in 2025 temporarily eliminated taxes on tips for an estimated 6 million workers. Taxes on tips are scheduled to resume on January 1, 2029.

Other Hardy issues include: Protecting the Medicare and Medicaid federal health insurance programs; federal spending to lower the death rates of babies and mothers; lower prescription drug costs; access to clean drinking water; cleanup of contaminated land; and programs to help veterans and entrepreneurs start businesses.

Who is Maad Abu-Ghazalah?

Abu-Ghazalah lives north of Wilmington in New Hanover County.

In a survey he completed for Ballotpedia he described himself as “the only fiscally responsible, anti-war candidate in the race.”

On Ballotpedia and his campaign website, Abu-Ghazalah said he wants to balance the federal budget and address the national debt, which is more than $40 trillion. He wants to protect the environment, protect civil rights, and replace the income tax and its tax loopholes with a federal sales tax.

Abu-Ghazalah called for a “sensible immigration” policy that allows immigrants into the United States in a safe, controlled manner.

9th District Candidates

The 9th District starts in the sandhills of Hoke County, Fayetteville, and Fort Bragg and runs north through Moore County into the Piedmont region of Asheboro, Greensboro, and Burlington. In 2024, Hudson won reelection with 56.3% of the vote in a three-way race.

Who is Richard Hudson?

Hudson has represented Cumberland County in Congress since taking office in early 2013. He likes to promote himself as “Fort Bragg’s congressman.” Most of Fort Bragg is in the 9th District. His residence is in Southern Pines.

When he’s not working his day job as a lawmaker, Hudson is chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, a political organization that works to elect Republican candidates to the U.S. House.

Hudson’s work of interest to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg includes obtaining 20 acres of federal property for North Carolina to build a new nursing home for veterans. The new home is to replace one that shut down in 2024 and evicted 85 residents due to health and safety problems.

In August he announced $162.9 million in funding for various defense and support facilities at Fort Bragg. He also sponsored a bill to ban credit card companies and other financial institutions from creating and maintaining private databases of people’s purchases of firearms.

Hudson on his campaign website said he pursued efforts to address water contamination in the Cape Fear River region. On the topics of abortion and euthanasia, he said he “fights for legislation which protects life from conception until natural death.”

Who is Richard Ojeda?

Ojeda—pronounced “oh-jed-uh”—is an Army veteran who has held elected office. According to his website, he is a retired major who served 24 years, with 15 at Fort Bragg. He also has lived in West Virginia, where he served in the state Senate for two years of a four-year term before resigning, according to MetroNews. He also had a short-lived run for president that ended in 2019, The Intercept reported.

Ojeda lives in Moore County near Aberdeen.

Per his campaign website, Ojeda said he supports efforts to expand the Medicaid healthcare program for lower-income people, to protect rural hospitals from closing, and to ensure people have healthcare coverage. Veteran pensions and benefits need protection, he said, and he would prioritize mental health care for veterans and their families.

A former teacher, Ojeda wants to raise teacher pay and boost federal funding for rural schools.

He told Ballotpedia that the immigration system has “has lost its moral compass,” and “Masked agents disappearing people off the streets must end.”

A person’s first $45,000 of annual income should not be taxed, he said.

Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.