Vol. II, No. 152 From Our Region to Yours
Politics

GOP House Campaign Chief Richard Hudson Loses the One Seat He Could Watch Personally

The chairman of the committee built to keep Republicans' House majority lost North Carolina's 9th District to Democrat Richard Ojeda, in a seat his party had held since 1963.

By 2 min read

The west front of the U.S. Capitol under a blue sky with thin clouds, the white dome centered above the long House and Senate wings, wide stone stairs leading down to a green lawn bordered by rows of red and yellow tulips, with small figures of visitors walking the paths.
The U.S. Capitol, where the House majority Richard Hudson was in charge of keeping will now be run by the other party. His office is also affected. Photo: United_States_Capitol_-_west_front.jpg: Architect of the Capitol derivative work: O.J. / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

WASHINGTON — Every two years, House Republicans pick one member to guard all of their seats. This year he could not guard his own.

Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina lost his re-election bid to Democrat Richard Ojeda, NBC News projected. Hudson is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. NBC News describes it as the party organization tasked with winning or maintaining the House majority.

Ojeda won North Carolina’s 9th District 138,707 votes to 132,692, with all 169 precincts counted, WUNC reported. That is 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent. The results stay unofficial until the statewide canvass on Nov. 13.

The seat

Republicans had held the district since 1963, NBC News reported. Hudson won it by nearly 20 points in 2024, according to WUNC. He was seeking an eighth term.

Ojeda is a retired Army major and a former West Virginia state senator. NBC News measured the swing toward Democrats at 18.25 points from the 2024 presidential race.

“Nobody in Washington thought this seat was in play,” Ojeda’s campaign manager, Amy Dorra, said, according to WUNC.

That includes the people whose job it was to know.

The concession

Hudson conceded Wednesday. “Last night, the voters of North Carolina’s 9th District made their choice, and I respect it,” he said in a statement. He also called Ojeda to congratulate him.

The chairman’s job is to send help to Republicans in trouble. NBC News reported Republicans largely stopped investing in North Carolina’s Senate race after Roy Cooper built a wide lead. The help went elsewhere. So, it turns out, did the district.

“The chairman had a list of the most endangered members,” said a senior Republican aide known to this bureau only as Deep Throat Lozenge. “He read it top to bottom. He was at the bottom.”

A tradition

Hudson is the second party campaign chairman in a row to lose his own seat in a midterm, NBC News reported. In 2022, Democratic chairman Sean Patrick Maloney lost New York’s 17th District.

New York’s 17th is busy again this year. Republican Rep. Mike Lawler conceded it to Democrat Cait Conley on Tuesday night.

Democrats have flipped 35 Republican-held House seats so far, by NBC News’ count. The committee will now review what went wrong. It has a member with unusually direct experience.

Hudson leaves Congress in January. His successor at the committee will inherit a majority to win back and, as a precaution, a seat of their own to watch.

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