Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a narrow lead over rival Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District as ballots continue to be counted.
In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters want generational change within the party, Foushee has a lead of just over 1,000 votes with 99% of the results so far, according to the Associated Press.
Under state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results end up within 1%, Allam could request a recount.
Successfully removing a sitting legislator is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent changes in the election, as some voters are calling for new leaders and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.
Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County commissioner, is running to the left of FousheeThe 69-year-old frames his candidacy as part of a broader rejection of long-standing Democratic norms.
During the election campaign, Allam delivered an anti-establishment message and pledged to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both to oppose President Trump’s agenda and to push for more ambitious policies.
“North Carolina is a purple state that is often labeled red, but we are not a red state,” he told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability concerns. “We are a state of working-class people who just want their elected officials to stand up for the issues that affect them.”
She contrasted the congresswoman on immigration, expressing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee has refused to go that far and has instead advocated for defunding ICE and broader reforms to the federal immigration system.
Allam also clashed with Foushee over US policy toward Israel. A vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam renounced campaign donations from pro-Israel lobby groups, such as AIPAC, and repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.
Although Foushee announced last year that she would not accept donations from AIPAC this cycle, she and Allam continued to argue about the broader role of outside spending in the race.
Their showdown comes four years after the candidates first met in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the Most expensive primaries in state historyand outside groups spent more than $3.8 million.
However, this year is about to break that record. Outside groups have reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.