Republican incumbent Greg Murphy clawed back ahead of Democratic challenger Raymond Smith in North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday night, after Smith had led earlier in the night. The race, covering a swath of southeastern North Carolina that had not elected a Democrat to Congress since the 1990s, turned into an unexpectedly tight contest in a seat Republicans have held for years.
A Lead That Changed Hands Twice
According to the Raleigh News & Observer, Murphy regained a narrow lead over Smith after the Democrat had led earlier in the night. The swing was significant enough to rattle expectations in a district that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report had rated likely Republican, and where Murphy had won by 54.8 percentage points in 2024, according to the Washington Post.
Election-night tracking from the NC Beat showed just how volatile the count got. With 160 of 190 precincts reporting, the outlet's tracker had Murphy ahead of Smith 101,482 votes to 98,633, a margin of 2,849 votes. Roughly an hour earlier, the same tracker had shown Smith leading by more than 7,000 votes, a swing the NC Beat attributed to Republican-leaning Election Day votes arriving from previously unreported counties, including Onslow.
Redrawn Lines Reshaped the District
The volatility traces back to new congressional maps North Carolina lawmakers approved on October 22, 2025, which changed the makeup of both the 1st and 3rd districts in Eastern North Carolina, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina's Carolina Demography project. The redraw moved Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde and Pamlico counties out of the 3rd District and into the 1st, while shifting Greene, Lenoir, Wilson and Wayne counties into the 3rd. The researchers noted it was the first time in the modern era that North Carolina redrew its maps mid-decade without a court order.
A 2025 report from WUNC said a legal challenge to the new map was widely anticipated, with critics expected to argue it weakened Black voters' ability to elect a congressional representative.
Who's Running: A Physician Versus an Army Veteran
Murphy is a physician who was elected to Congress in a 2019 special election after serving in the North Carolina state House, the News & Observer reported. The district he represents, which the paper describes as including Pitt, Onslow and Duplin counties, has elements that the Washington Post separately described as covering Greenville, Goldsboro and Jacksonville.
Smith, his Democratic challenger, is a U.S. Army veteran and former state House member who campaigned on lowering costs for families and ensuring benefits for veterans, per the same News & Observer report.
Voting Disruptions Prompted Extended Hours
Election Day itself saw disruptions at two 3rd District precincts, prompting North Carolina's State Board of Elections to approve extended voting hours, according to WCTI12. Voting at Holloway Recreation Center in Kinston was extended until 8 p.m., while the Wilson City Recreation Building stayed open until 7:45 p.m., the station reported.
As of the latest reporting, the contest remained a partial count rather than a certified result, with returns still arriving from across the district's counties. The back-and-forth tally underscored how much the newly drawn lines have changed the political math in a seat Republicans have controlled for decades.
