GOP Rep. Richard Hudson is projected to win North Carolina's 8th Congressional District against Democrat Patricia Timmons-Goodson

• Four-term incumbent Rep. Richard Hudson is projected to keep his seat in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District against Democrat Patricia Timmons-Goodson.
• The district is located in central North Carolina and includes the Montgomery, Moore, Hoke, and Stanly counties.
• Timmons-Goodson is the first Black person to ever serve on the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
• See the live coverage and full results from all US House elections.

Four-term Rep. Richard Hudson is projected to keep his seat in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District despite a challenge by Democrat Patricia Timmons-Goodson, Insider and Decision Desk HQ can report.

The candidates

Hudson is the former president of Cabarrus Marketing Group, a marketing and consultation firm that was dissolved following his run for Congress. Hudson was first elected to his position in 2012, where he defeated incumbent Larry Kissell by 7.8 percentage points and has won all subsequent elections with relative ease. He currently sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and is the Agriculture Policy Group chair. As the congressman representing the Fort Bragg US Army base in Fayetteville, Husdon has heavily focused on military and veteran issues in Congress, in addition to work on energy policy. Timmons-Goodson is a former attorney who is the first Black woman to join the 12th judicial District Court in North Carolina. She also became the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court of North Carolina in 2006.

In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Timmons-Goodson to become the US District Judge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, but her nomination was never approved and expired at the end of the 114th Congress in January 2017.

Timmons-Goodson's campaign platform revolves around expanding Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, racial equality in the justice system and schools, and investing in rural communities. Her campaign was recently endorsed by the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

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A recent internal poll of the race conducted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is backing Timmons-Goodson, found her leading Hudson by 3 points, 45% to 42%.

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The district

North Carolina's 8th Congressional District is in central North Carolina, encompassing a swath of the state stretching from the suburbs outside of Charlotte east to the city of Fayetteville. The boundaries of North Carolina's 8th District were recently redrawn after a court ordered the North Carolina legislature to redraw its entire congressional district maps in 2019, ruling that the previous map drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature was unlawfully gerrymandered to favor Republicans.

While North Carolina's previous 13-district map had 10 districts that favored Republicans and three that favored Democrats, the new map contains eight districts that favor Republicans and five that favor Democrats.

In the 2016 presidential election, the district under its current lines voted for President Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in a 56-41% split, according to Daily Kos.

The money race

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Hudson has raised $3.7 million, spent over $3.2 million, and has around $925,000 in cash on hand while Timmons-Goodson has raised around $3.3 million, spent $3 million, and has about $285,000 in cash on hand.

What some of the experts said

The race between Hudson and Timmons-Goodson was rated as "tilts Republican" by Inside Elections and "leans Republican" by the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

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