House GOP Campaign Chief Richard Hudson Loses Safe North Carolina Seat to Democrat Richard Ojeda

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., the chairman of the House Republicans’ campaign arm, lost his re-election bid Tuesday to Democrat Richard Ojeda, NBC News projected.

With all 169 precincts counted early Wednesday, Ojeda led Hudson 138,707 votes to 132,692 in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, WUNC reported. Results are unofficial until the statewide canvass Nov. 13.

Republicans have held the district since 1963, according to NBC News. Hudson won it by 18.5 points in 2024 and by 13 points in 2022, the Washington Times reported.

Hudson chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party organization charged with winning or keeping the House majority. Democrats took control of the House on Tuesday.

He is the second party campaign chairman to lose re-election in the last two midterms. In 2022, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Sean Patrick Maloney lost his New York seat.

Hudson was the highest-ranking North Carolina Republican in congressional history and was seeking an eighth term, WUNC reported. He began airing television ads only in recent days, a sign of a tightening race.

A Long-Shot Challenger

Ojeda is a retired Army major and former West Virginia state senator who lost a bid for the Democratic Senate nomination in that state in 2020. The district runs from Cumberland County, home to Fort Bragg, north to Guilford County.

“I lost a lot of friends in a war sold on a lie, and I’m going to Congress to make sure nobody’s kid gets sent to another one,” Ojeda said in a statement.

He pledged to “lower drug prices, protect Social Security and the VA, and get corporate money out of our politics.”

“We just unseated the chair of the NRCC,” Ojeda posted on social media. “It’s a new day in America.” Hudson raised more than $4 million this cycle to Ojeda’s roughly $2.8 million, the Washington Times reported.

Hudson has served in the House since 2013, representing other North Carolina districts before winning the 9th in 2022. His defeat added another seat to the new Democratic majority.

“Nobody in Washington thought this seat was in play. Our volunteers never bought that for a second,” said Amy Dorra, Ojeda’s campaign manager.

Hudson’s loss came after Republicans largely stopped spending in North Carolina’s Senate race, where Democrat Roy Cooper built a wide lead over Republican Michael Whatley, NBC News reported.

NBC News projected Cooper the winner. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday he led Whatley by nearly 20 points, a margin that boosted Democrats running further down the ballot.

Three counties in the district voted heavily for Ojeda, according to the Washington Times, helping him overcome a district once rated safely Republican.

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