Democrat Wiley Nickel won a closely watched race for the U.S. House of Representatives seat representing a swing district in North Carolina.
Nickel had 51.3 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Republican Bo Hines, 25, had 48.6 percent.
The Associated Press called the race at 12:17 a.m. on Nov. 9.
Hines, who was backed by former President Donald Trump, has not yet conceded, and Nickel has not declared victory.
Various analysts thought this was perhaps the single most crucial Congressional race to watch. FiveThirtyEight analysts noted that if the Congressional districts were ranked from most Republican to most Democratic, North Carolina’s 13th District fell exactly in the middle. It combines the blue-leaning and tech-heavy suburbs of Raleigh with firmly red rural counties where Republicans are advised to have Trump’s imprimatur.
And because the polls close early and it’s an Eastern state, its trends would give hints to the rest of the country.
Were suburban voters, moved by concerns over the economy, inflation, and crime, moving back to the GOP after defecting during Trump’s administration? Or would they, particularly the soccer moms among them, stick with the Democrats motivated by issues like abortion? How would each party’s base turn out for this midterm election?
Nickel, 46, has national political experience. He was an advance man for former Vice President Al Gore in the 1990s and did similar work for the Obama White House. He also worked with Gore on climate issues. In 2006 he ran for a state senate seat and lost in his native California, where he descends from a powerful landowner. He then moved to North Carolina and opened a criminal law practice. He was elected to the North Carolina State Senate in 2018.
Hines, 25, has never run for office before. The son of an NFL player, he had a standout freshman year as a wide receiver for the North Carolina State Wolfpack, then transferred to Yale because he'd become interested in politics. He played a few games there but got hurt and never played again. He had already expressed an interest in running for Congress in 2017. From the Charlotte area originally, Hines considered candidacy in another district near Greensboro and Winston-Salem before settling, as the state’s Congressional maps kept changing, on this one.
Nickel’s campaign website ticks the usual Democrat policy boxes—climate, pro-gay and abortion, gun safety—without advocating positions most Democrats would think radical. Nickel notes he’s a gun owner.
Hines’ website on the Republican side shows uncompromising positions on the Second Amendment, abortion, and similar issues. The first photo one sees on his home page is indicative: it’s not the young photogenic athlete’s, but Trump’s. On the economy, he echoes Trump’s “America First” policy “that serves American people by protecting American jobs and businesses.”
Both candidates fit their parties’ North Carolina mold. Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer said Nickel “represents a kind of moderate governing style that tends to play well with swing voters” in North Carolina. Hines meanwhile shows his unswerving alignment with Trump.
