See more of our coverage in your search results.
The man charged with keeping the House in Republican hands officially lost his own seat Thursday, when the Associated Press called North Carolina’s 9th District for Democrat Richard Ojeda.
Follow for live updates on the 2026 Midterm Elections
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee since 2023, lost by about 6,000 votes, with all precincts counted.
Hudson had already conceded Wednesday, his 55th birthday.
“In the words of Ronald Reagan: we lost a skirmish, but the battle goes on,” he said.
Ojeda, a retired Army major and onetime West Virginia state senator, celebrated on X in all caps: “WE JUST UNSEATED THE CHAIR OF THE NRCC.”
Hudson, first elected in 2012, carried the seat by more than 18 points two years ago, when President Trump won in the district by about 16.
No Democrat has held the south-central NC district since 1963.
Hudson is the second party campaign chief in as many midterms to lose his own race.
More coverage of the 2026 midterm elections:
- Live updates on the midterm elections
- NYC voters gave Hochul more love than Mamdani at the polls: stats
- Dem, 19, wins Massachusetts House seat by knocking off eight-term GOPer
- Iowa Dem wins state House race despite dropping out months ago
- Ted Cruz calls midterm election results a ‘Watergate-level repudiation’ of the GOP, warns ‘Americans will be hurt’ by radical Dems
Then-DCCC chair Sean Patrick Maloney lost his Hudson Valley seat in 2022 to Mike Lawler (R-NY) — who conceded that same seat on election night this week.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
