LaKesha Womack Wins NC 14th District in Major Upset Over Tim Moore

Democrat LaKesha Womack defeated incumbent Republican Tim Moore in North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District by 6,415 votes out of 288,361 cast, WFAE reported — a 51.1% to 48.9% margin that erases the nearly 15 percentage points by which Moore won the same seat in 2024.

The result stands as one of the biggest surprises of Tuesday’s election. With all precincts reporting, Womack held a lead of more than 2 percentage points throughout the night as precinct-level results rolled in, starting off with a lead early and holding onto it as the count progressed, never trailing the former North Carolina House speaker.

Moore had long been one of the most powerful politicians in the state. As former speaker of the North Carolina House, he helped draw his own district’s boundaries while serving in the General Assembly, crafting a map that stretched from parts of west Mecklenburg County west through Gaston, Cleveland, Rutherford and Burke counties. That gerrymandering had delivered him a nearly 15-point victory in 2024, making the 14th District widely viewed as safe for Republicans heading into this year’s midterm elections.

Lakesha Womack, Democratic Candidate for NC’s 14th Congressional District | State Lines

As chief strategy officer for ASPIRE Community Capital, an emerging Community Development Financial Institution dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for undercapitalized entrepreneurs, Womack flipped the seat anyway, taking 51.1% of the vote to Moore’s 48.9%.

Democrat LaKesha Womack defeated incumbent Republican Tim Moore in North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District. In another upset, Democratic challenger Jamie Ager flipped a Republican-held district in western North Carolina, leading 57.1% to 41.3% over Republican Jennifer Balkcom in the 11th District, which covers much of the mountains and had been the state’s one open U.S. House seat. Balkcom had been running to replace scandal-plagued Rep. Chuck Edwards. In the 9th District, which includes much of the state’s center from Pinehurst to Burlington, incumbent Republican Rep. Richard Hudson — chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee — defeated Democratic challenger Richard Ojeda 51.17% to 48.83%.

Elsewhere in the Charlotte region, incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Alma Adams easily won reelection in the 12th District, which covers Charlotte and parts of Mecklenburg County. The Associated Press declared Adams the winner, with her leading 82% to 18% over Republican Jack Codiga with most precincts reporting a little after 10 p.m. North of Charlotte, Republican incumbent Rep. Pat Harrigan narrowly defeated Democrat Ashley Bell in the 10th District, which includes Iredell, Lincoln and Catawba counties, winning 49.72% to 48.69% with all precincts reporting. In the 8th District, which runs from southeast Mecklenburg County to Lumberton, Republican Mark Harris led Democrat Colby Watson 50.39% to 48.62% with almost all precincts reporting.

In eastern North Carolina, Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat trying to hold onto his 1st District, faced a tough race with Republican Laurie Buckhout but prevailed 49.46% to 47.33% with all precincts reporting. And Democratic challenger Cyril Jefferson led incumbent Republican Addison McDowell 51% to just under 49% with almost all precincts reporting.

Democrats are aiming to flip control of the U.S. House, while Republicans have been working to protect their majority by gerrymandering more favorable districts in Republican-controlled states like Texas, a move countered by Democrats in California and other states they control. In North Carolina, the General Assembly redrew district lines, including Davis’s 1st District, to make demographics more favorable to Republicans. The state had already shifted from a 7-7 Republican-Democratic split in its House delegation to a 10-4 split following an earlier round of redistricting before the latest gerrymanders. Republicans were hoping to pick up at least one more seat by defeating Davis, but instead found themselves losing ground in districts like Moore’s that they had designed to be safe.

Womack’s 6,415-vote victory in a district Moore helped draw represents a direct reversal of the mapmaking that had given him a 15-point cushion just two years earlier.