With the primary elections wrapped up Tuesday night, let’s take a look at some of the key GOP primaries for US House.

Current Congressional Republicans cruise:

Greg Murphy (NC-3), Virginia Foxx (NC-5), David Rouzer (NC-7), Richard Hudson (NC-9), and Chuck Edwards (NC-11) all faced little or nominal opposition in the primaries and the General Election and are fully expected to return to Congress.  

As expected NC House Speaker Tim Moore (Cleveland), running in (NC-14), faced little primary opposition and will advance from the NC House to the US House in the fall.

The other GOP congressional primaries were highly contested with the GOP primary winners almost certain to win in November.

First Congressional District

As reported by Carolina Journal, Retired Army Colonel Laurie Buckhout bested two-time candidate Sandy Smith in North Carolina’s First Congressional District Republican primary election. Buckhout will face Democrat incumbent Don Davis in the November general election.

“Laurie Buckhout’s primary victory puts this race firmly up for grabs for Republicans,” said NRCC spokeswoman Delanie Bomar. “Laurie’s service as a combat Army colonel and time as a business owner perfectly contrasts self-serving D.C. Democrat Don Davis, who has burdened North Carolinians with his disastrous agenda of record-high inflation. Republicans are all-in to flip this seat red in November.”

The district, made more competitive in recent redistricting, could be a bellwether for softening support for top-of-the-ticket Democrats, such as President Joe Biden

Sixth Congressional District

In the Greensboro area Sixth District, former US representative Mark Walker is looking to reclaim a district he represented from 2015-2021. Walker will face Addison McDowell, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, in a May run-off.  Another Trump visit for McDowell right before the second primary could tip this to McDowell. However Walker has a dedicated group of supporters from his previous service. Forecasting a very low turnout election is extremely difficult.

Eight Congressional District

In a stunning political comeback of the ages, Pastor Mark Harris will head to Congress from the ruby-red Eighth Congressional District.

Harris was the nominee for a different version of the district in 2018. Harris’ narrow 2018 victory was overturned after allegations of ballot harvesting in Bladen County. Mecklenburg state Rep. John Bradford, who invested significant personal resources advocating for his candidacy and attacking Harris, could not keep Harris under the 30% threshold to force a runoff. Harris won 30.44% of the primary vote, meaning he won the race by less than 150 votes.

Supporters of Union County’s Allen Baucom blistered Bradford for running for Congress from a district other than his own. Baucom took 27% of the vote to Bradford’s 17%.

Harris had an underfunded campaign and was not able to answer many of the attacks against him. However he started with significantly higher name ID, and the other candidates failed to raise their profiles enough before attacking Harris to overtake him, in this photo finish race.

10th Congressional District

In NC-10, a war veteran will replace retiring GOP US Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Boosted by Americans for Prosperity, Afghanistan war veteran Pat Harrigan upset state Rep. Grey Mills and several other candidates, winning 41% of the vote to Mills 39%. AFP knocked thousands of doors for Harrigan, who won every county in the district except Mills’ home of Iredell.

13th Congressional District

District 13 was North Carolina’s wildest congressional race this year, with 14 Republicans on the ballot.

The deep-red district’s largest counties are Johnston and parts of Wake. The district includes all or parts of Harnett, Lee, Franklin, Granville, Person, and Caswell counties

Johnston County’s Kelly Daughtry will face Wake County’s Brad Knott in a May runoff. If Daughtry can consolidate the Johnston County vote, the districts largest pool of GOP primary voters, this race could be hers for the taking. Both campaigns will be well funded and outside groups could play a role here.