Redistricting sets up shifting congressional race across Eastern North Carolina
The newly approved congressional map for North Carolina is redrawing political lines across the East and prompting key decisions for incumbents and challengers ahead of the 2026 election.
Under the new map, Lenoir and Greene counties move from the 1st Congressional District into the 3rd District, currently represented by Republican Greg Murphy. Despite the shift, Lenoir County Commissioner Eric Rouse, a Kinston business owner, said he remains committed to seeking the Republican nomination for the 1st District.
“I announced I was going to run in the First Congressional District and those plans have not changed,” Rouse said Thursday. “The lines may have changed a bit, but the needs of Eastern North Carolina have not. We need jobs and I’ve got a long track record of creating jobs in Eastern North Carolina. We finally have a President who protects and promotes job creation as his top priority and I’m going to have President Trump’s back in Congress.”
Rouse joins Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson and State Sen. Bobby Hanig of Currituck County in the Republican primary for the seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis of Snow Hill. Davis, who is serving his second term, has not announced whether he will seek re-election in the 1st District or run in the 3rd, where both he and Rouse now reside.
In a statement to Neuse News, Davis said he “is exploring all options.”
Murphy, who has represented the 3rd District since 2019, confirmed earlier this week that he will seek re-election in the reconfigured district, which now stretches west to include Lenoir and Greene counties.
“I look forward to continuing to represent the people of Eastern North Carolina,” Murphy said in his campaign announcement.
The new map, approved by the North Carolina General Assembly in October, makes the 1st District more competitive and favors Republican candidates, while the 3rd District remains a GOP stronghold anchored along the coast.
In Lenoir County, residents are already voicing frustration and fatigue over another round of redistricting. Some say the process has become a political weapon used by both parties.
“It will take a constitutional amendment to create a nonpartisan committee to handle it for it to work,” said Kinston resident David Blackshear. “Both sides can screw it up, but what is happening now is egregious.”
As district boundaries shift, Eastern North Carolina voters will soon decide who they want representing their new congressional landscape — and which priorities will rise to the top in Washington.
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