North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee holds narrow lead over primary challenger : NPR
Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a slight lead over challenger Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District as ballots continue to be counted.
In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters want generational change within the party, Foushee holds a lead of just over 1,000 votes so far with 99% of the results, according to the Associated Press.
Per state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results fall within a 1% margin, Allam could request a recount.
Succeeding in ousting an outgoing legislator is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent election upheavals as some voters clamor for new leadership and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.
Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County commissioner, is running to the left of Foushee69, framing his candidacy as part of a broader rejection of long-standing Democratic norms.
On the campaign trail, Allam spread an anti-establishment message, pledging to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both in opposing President Trump’s agenda and pushing for more ambitious policies.
“North Carolina is a purple state that’s often labeled red, but we’re not a red state,” she told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability issues. “We are a state of working class people who just want their elected officials to stand up for the issues that affect them.”
She drew a contrast with the congresswoman on immigration, expressing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee refused to go that far, instead advocating for defunding ICE and broader reforms to the federal immigration system.
Allam also clashed with Foushee over U.S. policy toward Israel. As a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam has renounced campaign donations from pro-Israel lobby groups, such as AIPAC, and has repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.
Although Foushee announced last year that she would not accept donations from AIPAC this cycle, she and Allam continued to argue over the broader role of outside spending in the race.
Their showdown comes four years after the candidates’ first showdown in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the most expensive primary in state historywith outside groups spending more than $3.8 million.
However, this year we are on track to break that record. Outside groups reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.
