Buckhout defeats Smith in 1st U.S. House District

Laurie Buckhout defeated Sandy Smith by more than 4,400 votes in their Republican primary race in the 1st U.S. House District on Tuesday.

Buckhout garnered 33,789 votes to Smith’s 29,383 votes, or 53.4% to 46.5%, winning in 15 of the district’s 22 counties, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections’ website.

In a statement, Buckhout thanked voters of the 1st House District for her victory.

“I am honored you have selected me as your Republican nominee,” she said. “I would also like to commend Sandy Smith for a hard-fought campaign. I never thought this would be easy and she made me earn this victory tonight. She’s forced me to be a better candidate and I thank her.”

Buckhout will now face incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., in the November election. Buckhout took direct aim at Davis in her statement Tuesday night.

“Here in North Carolina, Joe Biden and the Biden agenda have one name, and that’s Don Davis,” she said. “Davis has enabled Joe Biden’s failures. But I am ready and able to take on Don Davis to fight for working families in (the 1st District) by securing our borders, stopping Joe Biden’s reckless spending, and fighting for the America First Agenda that protects and promotes American jobs.”

Smith couldn’t be reached for comment, but on her Facebook page she released the following statement:

“Thank you to my supporters for voting and volunteering for our campaign. You are all amazing and am honored to have earned your vote and support. While it wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, I am proud of the race we ran. Outspent by millions of dollars we did pretty darn well.

“I just got off the phone with Laurie Buckhout and congratulated her on her victory tonight. We must win the House and defeat Don Davis and I offered her my support as we work to defeat Joe Biden’s agenda and flip #NC01.”

Buckhout won her home county of Chowan by 892 votes, carrying 74% of the vote to Smith’s 26%. She also carried Wilson County by 581 votes, winning 54.5% of the vote. She also won in Perquimans County by 378 votes, in Edgecombe County by nearly 300 votes, and in Currituck by more than 200 votes.

Her largest margin of victory was in Lenoir County, where she defeated Smith by a 1,826-vote margin, capturing nearly 64% of the vote. Buckhout also carried Wayne, Martin, Granville, Washington, Greene, Bertie, Tyrrell and Gates counties.

Smith won Pasquotank County by 166 votes, garnering 52.5% of the vote to Buckhout’s 47.5%. Smith also won her home county of Nash by fewer than 100 votes. She also won Camden with 53% of the vote and carried Vance, Hertford, Halifax, and Northampton counties.

In an interview Tuesday night, Buckhout said the campaign against Smith had been hard-fought.

“It’s has been a long, tough campaign and my opponent did a great job,” she said. “She (Smith) made me a better candidate because of it. I think the voters of North Carolina got to see all of us. I was out there everywhere, probably lost 15 pounds on this campaign but I ate a lot of barbecue to try to make it up.”

She said ending the primary campaign was “kind of bittersweet” but she is looking forward to the general election campaign against Davis.

In remarks to her campaign supporters at a campaign event at Colony Tire in Edenton, Buckhout reminded them of the job ahead.

“It’s time to fight for working families, everybody across the district,” she said. “Bidenomics is hurting everyone. Everyone has seen it. There are folks I’ve seen out on the campaign trail who are having a hard time choosing between groceries or fuel to put in their car to go to work. It’s been a disturbing scene to see how many more folks have to go to food pantries. There are families who have to use pantries more than ever because they just can’t make all the ends meet.

“We need to do better, stop the Bidenomics and the crazy inflation,” she continued. “The person voting for all that and helping with that is Don Davis.

“Don Davis has been here for two years and he’s made nothing better. He’s gone right along with Joe Biden and his agenda. Under Joe Biden, a trip to the grocery store is a weekly dose of sticker shock. Under Joe Biden, paying for the gas that gets you to the grocery store wipes out the household budget of a lot of families in this district. Don Davis goes right along with it. We can no longer accept Don Davis in Congress because he doesn’t represent us.

“Here in the first district of North Carolina, Joe Biden and the Biden agenda has one name and that is Don Davis has enabled all of Joe Biden’s failures. And if you want more of the same failures, vote for Don Davis.

She concluded: “If you want someone who is going to fight for you, who is going to fight for this district, fight for working families, who is going to fight for farmers, fight for veterans, who is going to fight for our elderly, then you are going to vote for Laurie Buckhout.”