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Democrat Richard Ojeda is running against Rep. Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in North Carolina’s 9th District. Ojeda is hoping discontent with the Trump administration can overcome a district that forecasters rate as “solid Republican.”
Democrat Richard Ojeda is challenging Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, according to the Washington Examiner. Hudson is the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Ojeda faces long odds. The Washington Examiner reported that forecasters such as the Cook Political Report rate the district “solid Republican.”
The report said President Donald Trump won the district by 16 points. It did not say in which election.
What Ojeda is counting on
Ojeda hopes public discontent with the Trump administration will build into a blue wave big enough to unseat Hudson, the Washington Examiner reported from Elon, North Carolina.
According to the outlet, the fallout from the Iran war and the high gas prices that followed has Democrats thinking they could flip even a district like this one.
What the report did not say
The report did not give polling for the race. It did not say how much either campaign has raised, and it did not give the date of the vote.
It also did not say how voters in the district feel about the Iran war or gas prices. The case for an upset, as the report presents it, is what Democrats hope will happen, not a measured shift in the district.
What it means for you
- If Ojeda unseats Hudson, it would defy the “solid Republican” rating from forecasters such as the Cook Political Report and a 16-point Trump margin in the district.
- Hudson chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, so a race against him draws attention beyond one district, per the Washington Examiner’s account.
- Democrats are hoping that high gas prices after the Iran war will cost Republicans votes. The report offered no polling to show whether that is happening.