Democrats Flip Two Key North Carolina Seats
Democrats Ken McCool and LaKesha Womack defeated Republican incumbents Tricia Cotham and Tim Moore in North Carolina elections on Tuesday.
Democratic candidates secured two significant victories in North Carolina on Tuesday, defeating Republican incumbents in both a state house and a congressional race.
Ken McCool, a former Matthews commissioner, won the North Carolina House District 105 seat in Mecklenburg County with 57.1% of the vote. He defeated Tricia Cotham, who had switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party in 2023. Cotham's defeat follows a redistricting effort by Republican lawmakers intended to make her seat more conservative. McCool campaigned on affordability, public schools, and legislative balance.
In a congressional race, Democratic newcomer LaKesha Womack defeated U.S. Representative Tim Moore by 6,415 votes. Moore, a former five-term Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, had won the district by 16 percentage points in 2024. While Moore held a majority in the five western-most counties, he lost by nearly a two-to-one margin in 28 Mecklenburg County precincts.
Moore's loss occurs amid a broader transition in North Carolina GOP leadership, following the primary defeat of former Senate leader Phil Berger and Senator Thom Tillis's decision not to seek reelection. Election results remain unofficial until the statewide canvass on November 13.
