North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District six-way GOP primary will head to a run-off election, as no candidate earned more than the 30% threshold to win outright. Trump-endorsed Addison McDowell leads with just over 26% of the vote and former Congressman Mark Walker just behind him at a 24% of the total vote.
McDowell recently secured the support of US Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC. McDowell formerly worked as a constituent liaison in Budd’s office.
Former Congressman Mark Walker, who represented the district from 2015-2020, is running again for his old congressional seat. Prior to serving the 6th district in Congress, he was a Baptist minister in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. He also ran as a candidate in the 2022 Republican primary race for US Senate alongside former Governor Pat McCrory and eventual winner Budd.
Trailing the top two vote-getters were Col. Christian Castelli (ret) at 21%, Bo Hines at 14%, former Mayor of High Point Jay Wagner at almost 9%, and Dr. Mary Ann Contogiannis at 5%.
Hines, endorsed by Club for Growth, was the 2022 Republican nominee in the 13th Congressional District. Endorsed by Trump in that race, Hines lost the general election to then-NC senator Wiley Nickel, a Democrat. Hines is focused on border security and immigration reform, as evidenced by his first TV ad.
Castelli served in uniform for 22 years until he retired in 2012. He was an airborne ranger, and he earned his green beret in 1998.
Jay Wagner has served as the mayor of High Point since 2016. Wagner has been an attorney at law for twenty-five years and is a partner at Fisher-Wagner law firm.
Voters talked to the Carolina Journal about why they felt the primary was important: “That we can send the right candidate to the general election,” said Abhi Patel.
“I think mainly it is for the lesser races, like the nonpresidential races, because I think that is pretty much already decided, especially on the Democratic side,” Stacey Hamilton told the Carolina Journal.
The runoff election will be held May 14.