Primary 2024: Buckhout, Smith eye chance to unseat Davis
(The Center Square) – Of all the North Carolina congressional districts redrawn and put into play for this election, none may be more competitive than the northeastern part of the state.
U.S. House District 1 will include a general election ballot with incumbent Democrat Don Davis of Snow Hill and Libertarian Tom Bailey of Greensboro. The Super Tuesday Republican primary matches Laurie Buckhout and Sandy Smith.
Smith lost to Davis 52.4%-47.6% in the 2022 midterms.
In analyses of the redistricting maps, the 1st Congressional District is the only one to rate as a toss-up. It has changed geographic boundaries from past years slightly but remains a place where Democrats have long prevailed. The rating system has all 13 others either “safe” or “likely” for one of the two major parties.
The platforms of Smith and Buckhout run on similar Republican themes.
On their campaign websites, each champions the right to life; defending the 2nd Amendment; securing the border; fiscal responsibility; and military strength, including taking care of veterans after their service days.
Buckhout also wants to “lower your cost of living” in her seven points of emphasis.
Smith’s major issues also include limits on mail-in ballots; standing with law enforcement and rejecting calls to defund the police; supporting school choice; backing the Constitution; medical freedom, including no mandates and a free and open market from which to choose options; and support of small businesses. Smith calls the “Green New Deal” a socialist dream, saying energy independence is critical to national security.
Buckhout, an Edenton resident, is a retired Army colonel who grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and has degrees from James Madison and Webster universities. After retirement from the military, she started, built and then sold the company Electronic Warfare and Cyberspace Operations.
Smith, a Nash County resident with a farm in the Pitt County community of Ayden, is an East Carolina graduate. Her business experiences include managing, negotiating, training and development in agriculture, construction and spinal biomechanics.
According to Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports, Buckout’s campaign ended 2023 with more than $1.1 million cash in hand and Smith’s had just over $154,000.
The district is the northeasternmost part of the state. It stretches from Currituck County to Vance and a small part of Granville along the Virginia border; a western edge of Nash, Wilson and Wayne counties; a southern tip of Lenoir and Greene counties; and its southern line is Edgecombe, Martin, Washington and Tyrell counties.
The mail-in absentee ballot process began Jan. 19, in-person early voting starts Thursday and Primary Election Day is March 5. North Carolina is one of 14 states with both Democrat and Republican primaries on Super Tuesday.
