North Carolina holds its primary election Tuesday. Who has Trump endorsed?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Trump endorsed 12 NC candidates; 11 of 12 are seen as likely winners.
- Phil Berger is in a tight race; Whatley faces five other GOP challengers.
- North Carolina's primary is March 3, 2026 — election night will be closely watched.
Good morning! It’s Danielle Battaglia with another edition of Under the Dome focused on the Trump administration.
Every reporter has a day of the year they consider their version of Christmas. Mine is election night.
So Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!
North Carolina is one of three states holding primaries on March 3, the first in the country for the 2026 elections.
And true to form, President Donald Trump has been involved in the elections, choosing candidates to endorse.
In North Carolina, Trump endorsed 12 candidates.
Here are his endorsements:
- Michael Whatley for open U.S. Senate seat
- Greg Murphy, incumbent for North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District
- Virginia Foxx, incumbent for North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District
- Addison McDowell, incumbent for North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District
- David Rouzer, incumbent for North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District
- Mark Harris, incumbent for North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District
- Richard Hudson, incumbent for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District
- Pat Harrigan, incumbent for North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District
- Chuck Edwards, incumbent for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District
- Brad Knott, incumbent for North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District
- Tim Moore, incumbent for North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District
- Phil Berger, state Senate leader and incumbent for District 26
Trump is known to pick candidates likely to win. And 11 out of 12 of these candidates fall under that category. The exception is Berger, who is in a tight race with his local sheriff, Sam Page.
Ballotpedia tracks the endorsements Trump makes and found that during the 2024 primary, 96% of the candidates Trump endorsed won. In 2022, another midterm election, he had a 92% success rate in the primary.
Besides Berger vs. Page, another race to watch is Whatley’s. He’s running against five other Republicans.
Retired Judge Advocate General officer and author Don Brown and controversial past candidate and nurse Michele Morrow have trailed behind Whatley in polls, but those same polls show that people aren’t really sure who Whatley is.
This election night will be one to watch.
Make sure to follow The News & Observer’s coverage Tuesday night as we bring you the very latest on the elections.
What else we worked on:
- The Supreme Court struck down many of Trump’s tariffs. What it means for NC
- NC man with shotgun fatally shot by Secret Service at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort
- What we know about the man shot dead at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate
- Does your vote count if you die before Election Day in North Carolina?
- Whatley urges volunteers to remember what’s at stake for GOP ahead of midterms
- Did new Foushee ad in heated NC-4 primary make false claims about Allam?
- Fact check: Ukrainian refugee’s death in Charlotte wasn’t caused by open borders
- Mother of refugee killed in Charlotte was a guest at Trump’s State of the Union
- NC public radio & TV stations lost federal funding last year. How are they now?
- House candidate fired from community college after calling Charlie Kirk racist
- NC Rep. Foushee will boycott State of the Union for second straight year
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and supporting local journalism.
Be kind to each other.
If you have any feedback or tips for this edition of the newsletter, feel free to reach out to me directly at dbattaglia@mcclatchydc.com.
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