N&O endorsement: Our choice in the 4th Congressional District’s Democratic primary

When President Joe Biden effectively handed Vice President Kamala Harris the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, he also prevented a debate about how the Democratic Party should oppose Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

Now that debate has emerged full-blown in North Carolina’s deep blue 4th Congressional District.

The district’s Democratic incumbent, Rep. Valerie Foushee, 69, is a low-key but reliably progressive representative. She is seeking a third term after working her way up from local offices and seats in the state House and Senate.

Foushee is facing a primary challenge from Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, 32, who lost an open race for the 4th District nomination to Foushee in 2022. A third candidate, Mary Patterson of Durham, is also on the ballot but has not mounted a significant campaign.

A lot has happened since Foushee won by nine points in 2022. Trump has returned to the White House with a blank check from a conservative Supreme Court and a compliant Republican-controlled Congress. He has reduced the federal workforce by more than 300,000, stripped environmental regulations and sent thousands of federal agents into Minnesota in a brutish effort to arrest undocumented immigrants that led to the killing of two Minneapolis protesters.

Many liberal Democrats are unhappy with their party’s leadership in Washington, D.C., saying it has failed to meet Trump with equal fire and an effective message.

Allam hopes to ride that discontent to Washington by casting Foushee as part of the cautious response by establishment Democrats, some of whom she says are unwilling to act against the wishes of their corporate campaign donors.

Allam was elected to the Durham County Board of Commissioners at 26 and became the state’s first Muslim woman to win public office. She is calling on Democrats to launch a stronger response to Trump, even if it means ousting a Democratic incumbent.

“I couldn’t stand idly by,” Allam said of her decision to challenge Foushee. “Innocent civilians are being gunned down using our tax dollars, and we’re telling people to wait for change?”

Foushee says this is not the time for Democratic infighting. It’s a time for Democratic unity in Congress.

“I don’t see us separating ourselves with separate agendas,” she said. “I just see us all working in tandem to do what we can as it relates to benefiting the American people.”

Foushee was criticized for taking more than $2 million in campaign contributions in 2022 from the American-Israel PAC (AIPAC) and meeting in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024 as Israel’s attacks on Hamas were killing thousands of civilians in Gaza. Foushee is no longer accepting contributions from AIPAC, and she says her trip to Israel was about pressing for humanitarian aid, not support for Israel’s actions.

Allam worked as a political director on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, and the independent senator spoke at a rally with Allam in Durham on Friday.

But leading state Democrats are backing Foushee, including Gov. Josh Stein, former governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper and David Price, who represented the 4th District for decades. Foushee also has the support of the Democratic leaders of the state Senate and House, Sen. Sydney Batch and Rep. Robert Reives.

The effort by Republican state lawmakers to further gerrymander the state’s congressional districts may help Allam. The district centered around Orange and Durham counties previously included rural counties to the north of Durham. Those have been replaced by more suburban portions of western Wake County and eastern Chatham County.

Allam has tapped into powerful issues — the death toll in Gaza and the abusive actions of federal immigration agents. Foushee takes a quiet approach. “I keep my head down and do the work,” she said.

And that work includes taking on Trump. Foushee was among the co-sponsors of a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. She said she would support a vote to impeach Trump if Democrats regain the House. A GOVTRACK.us ideology rating of Foushee based on bills she has co-sponsored shows her in the middle of the Democratic caucus.

Allam is an ambitious candidate who is rightly calling for a bolder Democratic response to Trump, but Foushee is a capable incumbent who supports unified and resolute Democratic opposition to the president.

While Democrats in Congress need to be pushed on progressive issues, even one of Congress’ most progressive members — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — is stressing Democratic unity over infighting.

On balance, Foushee represents her district and her party well. And while Allam raises powerful issues, there’s not much difference in how she and Foushee would vote.

Foushee may be nearing the end of her long political career, but there is no compelling reason to vote her out. With appreciation for Allam’s willingness to challenge her party, but also with respect for Foushee’s service, we recommend Rep. Valerie Foushee.

This story was originally published February 15, 2026 at 4:30 AM.