List of United States Senators from North Carolina

This page displays current and historical information pertaining to the U.S. Senate delegation from North Carolina.

Current members

The current members of the U.S. Senate from North Carolina are:

Election history

U.S. Senate Delegations by State
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For more information on the different classes of U.S. Senators, please see: Classes of United States Senators

Class II

Senators in Class II were elected to office in the November 2020 general election, unless they took their seat through appointment or special election. Class II terms run from the beginning of the 117th Congress on January 3, 2021, to the end of the 119th Congress on January 3, 2027.

2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate North Carolina

Incumbent Thom Tillis defeated Cal Cunningham, Shannon Bray, and Kevin E. Hayes in the general election for U.S. Senate North Carolina on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thom Tillis (R)	48.7	2,665,598
		Cal Cunningham (D)	46.9	2,569,965
		Shannon Bray (L)	3.1	171,571
		Kevin E. Hayes (Constitution Party)	1.2	67,818

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,474,952
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jeremy Thomas (Independence Party)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina

Cal Cunningham defeated Erica Smith, Trevor Fuller, Steve Swenson, and Atul Goel in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cal Cunningham	56.9	717,941
		Erica Smith	34.8	438,969
		Trevor Fuller	3.8	48,168
		Steve Swenson	2.7	33,741
		Atul Goel	1.8	22,226

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,261,045
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Steve Williams (D)
• Eva Lee (D)
• Eric Mansfield (D)
• Katherine Bell-Moore (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina

Incumbent Thom Tillis defeated Paul Wright, Larry Holmquist, and Sharon Hudson in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thom Tillis	78.1	608,943
		Paul Wright	7.6	58,908
		Larry Holmquist	7.4	57,356
		Sharon Hudson	7.0	54,651

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 779,858
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Sandy Smith (R)
• Garland Tucker III (R)

Constitution primary election

The Constitution primary election was canceled. Kevin E. Hayes advanced from the Constitution primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina.

Libertarian primary election

The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Shannon Bray advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina.

2014

On November 4, 2014, Thom Tillis (R) won election to the United States Senate. He defeated incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan (D) and Sean Haugh (L) in the general election.

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Kay Hagan Incumbent	47.3%	1,377,651
	Republican	Thom Tillis	48.8%	1,423,259
	Libertarian	Sean Haugh	3.7%	109,100
	Write-in	John Rhodes	0%	621
	Write-in	David Waddell	0%	201
	Write-in	Barry Gurney	0%	142
	Write-in	Write-in (miscellaneous)	0.1%	4,307
Total Votes				2,915,281
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections

2008

On November 4, 2008, Kay Hagan (D) won election to the United States Senate. She defeated Elizabeth Dole (R) and Christopher Cole (L) in the general election.^[1]

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Kay Hagan	52.7%	2,249,311
	Republican	Elizabeth Dole	44.2%	1,887,510
	Libertarian	Christopher Cole	3.1%	133,430
	N/A	Write-in	0%	1,719
Total Votes				4,271,970
Source: [1]

2002

On November 5, 2002, Elizabeth H. Dole (R) won election to the United States Senate. She defeated Erskin B. Bowles (D), Sean Haugh (L) and Paul G. DeLaney in the general election.^[2]

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Elizabeth H. Dole	53.6%	1,248,664
	Democratic	Erskin B. Bowles	45%	1,047,983
	Libertarian	Sean Haugh	1.5%	33,807
	N/A	Paul G. DeLaney	0%	727
Total Votes				2,331,181

1996

On November 5, 1996, Jesse Helms (R) won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Harvey B. Gantt (D), Ray Ubinger(L) and J. Victor Pardo (Natural Law) in the general election.^[3]

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jesse Helms	52.6%	1,345,833
	Democratic	Harvey B. Gantt	45.9%	1,173,875
	Libertarian	Ray Ubinger	1%	25,396
	Natural Law	J. Victor Pardo	0.4%	11,209
	N/A	Write-in	0%	143
Total Votes				2,556,456

Class III

Senators in Class III were elected to office in the November 2022 general election, unless they took their seat through appointment or special election. Class III terms run from the beginning of the 118th Congress on January 3, 2023, to the end of the 120th Congress on January 3, 2029.

2022

See also: United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate North Carolina

Ted Budd defeated Cheri Beasley, Shannon Bray, Matthew Hoh, and Michelle Lewis in the general election for U.S. Senate North Carolina on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ted Budd (R)	50.5	1,905,786
		Cheri Beasley (D)	47.3	1,784,049
		Shannon Bray (L)	1.4	51,640
		Matthew Hoh (G)	0.8	29,934
		Michelle Lewis (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	137
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2,378

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,773,924
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Michele Parks (Independent)
• Marc White (Independent)
• Charles Roberson (Independent)
• Susan Gaddy (Independent)
• Brenda Rodriguez (Independent)
• Hayden Boyette (Independent)
• Barry Caulder (Independent)
• Kimrey Rhinehardt (Independent)
• Adrien Meadows (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cheri Beasley	81.1	501,766
		James Carr Jr.	3.5	21,903
		Alyssia Hammond	3.4	21,005
		Marcus Williams	2.8	17,446
		Constance Johnson	2.0	12,500
		Everette Newton	1.6	10,043
		Chrelle Booker	1.6	9,937
		Brendan K. Maginnis	1.1	7,044
		Robert Colon	1.1	6,904
		Greg Antoine	0.8	5,179
		Tobias LaGrone	0.8	5,048

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 618,775
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jenna Hamrick (D)
• Richard Watkins (D)
• Keith Davenport (D)
• Erica Smith (D)
• Jeff Jackson (D)
• Ava Edwards (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ted Budd	58.6	448,128
		Pat McCrory	24.6	188,135
		Mark Walker	9.2	70,486
		Marjorie K. Eastman	2.9	22,535
		David Flaherty	1.0	7,265
		Kenneth Harper Jr.	0.9	7,129
		Jennifer Banwart	0.4	3,088
		Charles Moss	0.4	2,920
		Leonard L. Bryant	0.4	2,906
		Benjamin Griffiths	0.4	2,870
		Debora Tshiovo	0.4	2,741
		Lee Brian	0.3	2,232
		Lichia Sibhatu	0.3	2,191
		Drew Bulecza	0.3	2,022

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 764,648
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Rene Borghese (R)
• James Gaghan (R)
• Carlton Ellerby (R)
• Marty Cooke (R)
• Jon Warren (R)
• Len McBride (R)

Libertarian primary election

The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Shannon Bray advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate North Carolina.

2016

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Richard Burr Incumbent	51.1%	2,395,376
	Democratic	Deborah Ross	45.4%	2,128,165
	Libertarian	Sean Haugh	3.6%	167,592
Total Votes				4,691,133
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections

2010

On November 2, 2010, Richard Burr (R) won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Elaine Marshall (D) and Michael Beitler (L) in the general election.^[4]

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Richard Burr incumbent	54.8%	1,458,046
	Democratic	Elaine Marshall	43%	1,145,074
	Libertarian	Michael Beitler	2.1%	55,687
	N/A	Write-in	0%	1,272
Total Votes				2,660,079

2004

On November 2, 2004, Richard Burr won election to the United States Senate. He defeated Erskine Bowles (D), Tom Bailey (L) and Walker F. Rucker (Write-in) in the general election.^[5]

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Richard Burr	51.6%	1,791,450
	Democratic	Erskine Bowles	47%	1,632,527
	Libertarian	Tom Bailey	1.4%	47,743
	Write-in	Walker F. Rucker	0%	362
Total Votes				3,472,082

1998

On November 3, 1998, John Edwards (D) won election to the United States Senate. He defeated Lauch Faircloth (R) and Barbara Howe (L) in the general election.^[6]

U.S. Senate, North Carolina General Election, 1998
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	John Edwards	51.2%	1,029,237
	Republican	Lauch Faircloth	47%	945,943
	Libertarian	Barbara Howe	1.8%	36,963
Total Votes				2,012,143

Historical members

See also

• United States Senate
• United States congressional delegations from North Carolina
• Classes of United States Senators

Footnotes

	v • e State of North Carolina Raleigh (capital)
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