Elections

Ross to face Villaverde for Wake County’s congressional seat in NC. Here are results.

Christine Villaverde won the Republican primary for North Carolina’s second congressional district in 2022. She will face off against the Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross in November.
Christine Villaverde won the Republican primary for North Carolina’s second congressional district in 2022. She will face off against the Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross in November. https://votevillaverde.com/

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Candidates for US House of Representatives District 2 in North Carolina

Rep. Deborah Ross, the incumbent, is not being challenged in the Democratic primary. Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar, Adina Safta and Christine Villaverde are running in the Republican primary. Get to know the candidates with our 2022 Voter Guide.


U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, the Democratic incumbent in North Carolina’s second congressional district, will face Christine Villaverde in November’s general election.

Ross ran unopposed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. She has represented North Carolina District 2 since 2021 after court-mandated redistricting removed many Republican voters.

But Republican nominee Villaverde hopes to swing the district red after beating out Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar and Adina Safta.

According to unofficial results, Villaverde captured 55% of the vote, cruising to victory with 10,000 more votes than her closest opponent.

Ganorkar won 26% of the vote, while Safta came in last with 19%.

Villaverde, the only NC 2 candidate who responded to a News & Observer questionnaire, listed immigration, crime and safety and debt and spending as her top three issues. There was no topic in which she disagreed with the Republican Party’s agenda, Villaverde said.

The former emergency manager and police officer advocates for “states’ rights.” The COVID-19 response and abortion laws should “be solved at the state level,” she said.

Ganorkar, who immigrated to the United States from India, identified his main goal as building “the bridge for the naturalized citizens to help them cross over from the Democrat plantation to America the beautiful,” according to his campaign website.

“RINOs and Democrats are using immigrants to poison America with socialism,” he says. “I am the antidote.”

Deborah Ross speaks outside the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
Deborah Ross speaks outside the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. Ethan Hyman ehyman@newsobserver.com

Safta ran on a similar platform. The Romanian-born Republican moved to New York when she was 10. Having grown up in a Communist country, the “freedom, liberty and the American dream,” appealed to her, she says on her campaign website.

“We are at a pivotal moment in our country and it is more critical now than ever that all patriots get involved in this upcoming election,” she said.

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Lars Dolder
The News & Observer
Lars Dolder is editor of The News & Observer’s Insider, a state government news service. He oversees the product’s exclusive content and works with The N&O’s politics desk on investigative projects. He previously worked on The N&O’s business desk covering retail, technology and innovation.
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Candidates for US House of Representatives District 2 in North Carolina

Rep. Deborah Ross, the incumbent, is not being challenged in the Democratic primary. Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar, Adina Safta and Christine Villaverde are running in the Republican primary. Get to know the candidates with our 2022 Voter Guide.