North Carolina Runoff One Week Away

On July 17, 2012 runoff elections will take place for the North Carolina congressional districts where a single winner did not reach the required amount of votes. This includes the Republican nominations in districts 8, 9, and 11.

In District 8, Richard Hudson and Scott Keadle will compete for the nomination to face incumbent Democratic Congressman Larry Kissell. The district is always a close vote with Congressman Kissell taking over the office in 2008 when he defeated Republican Congressman Robert Hayes 55% to 45%. That margin shrank in 2010, but a bump by President Obama may be enough to put him back over the top by a larger margin.

District 9 is a heavily Republican district that no less than 10 candidates in the general election. Robert Pittenger and Jim Pendergraph got 32% and 25% of the vote in the primary (respectively) and the winner of next week's runoff will likely be the next Congressman. The district had previously been represented by Congresswoman Sue Myrick who is not seeking re-election.

While those two contests are nothing to yawn at, District 11 is far more interesting. Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler survived a challenge in 2010 by a wider margin than other incumbent Democrats from purple states, but resigned after eight years in Congress. On the Democratic side, Hayden Rogers was able to secure more than 50% of the vote and avoid a runoff. On the Republican side, Mark Meadows and Vance Patterson will compete in the runoff. Meadows got 43% of the vote in May compared with Patterson's 27%.