Congresswoman Valerie Foushee appeared to narrowly fend off a strong challenge from Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam in Tuesday’s primary, but the race could be eligible for a recount.
Allam’s campaign, backed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and other left-leaning groups, made the race a referendum on the party’s approach in Congress to battling the Trump administration. And Democrats appeared closely split: With all precincts reporting late Tuesday night, Foushee was ahead by just 1,202 votes. She had 49.18% of votes cast, with 48.22% of voters choosing Allam.
Provisional votes will be counted in the coming days, and the election could end up within the 1% margin where Allam could request a recount. The Associated Press has not called the race, but Foushee declared victory in a press release.
"I am deeply humbled to have the opportunity to represent this district for another term," Foushee said in the release. "The people of the 4th District demand progressive change like dismantling ICE, ensuring Medicare for All, regulating AI, establishing a Green New Deal, and passing legislation to block arms sales to Israel. This remains my top priority in Congress — no matter what narrative out-of-state groups attempt to cast about my voting record."
An upset victory for Allam, 32, would mean Democratic voters are shifting further to the left — preferring a younger, more outspoken leader to represent them in Washington. She did win Durham County and southwestern Wake County but fell short of Foushee in Orange and Chatham counties, which Foushee previously represented in the state Senate.
Much like Allam and Foushee’s previous face-off in the 2022 primary, the race attracted millions of dollars in spending from outside PACs and donors across the country seeking to shape the Democratic caucus in Congress.
The primary came weeks after a similar primary contest in New Jersey, where activist Analilia Mejia won an upset over former Congressman Tom Malinowski for an open seat. Foushee’s incumbent status, coupled with endorsements from prominent North Carolina Democrats like Gov. Josh Stein and former Gov. Roy Cooper, helped her fend off Allam.
Allam argued that Foushee has not been forceful enough in opposing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions in North Carolina, Minnesota and elsewhere. When ICE and Border Patrol agents came to the Triangle, Allam was among the protesters who filmed them and shouted at them.
Foushee says she’s sponsored and supported legislation to hold ICE accountable for what she calls a “profound abuse of power.” Allam wants to abolish ICE, while Foushee wants to defund the agency and push for major reforms to federal immigration enforcement.
Conflicts in the Middle East were also central in the race. Allam said Israel’s actions in Gaza should be considered a genocide, and she’s criticized Foushee for accepting contributions from the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC during her previous runs for Congress.
Foushee has also faced criticism for taking an AIPAC-sponsored trip to Israel, and she announced last year she will no longer accept funding from the group. Last August, Foushee co-sponsored the “Block the Bombs Act” that would ban the sale of offensive weapons to Israel. Both candidates strongly condemned the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in the days before the primary.
Many Triangle Democrats didn’t have a problem with Foushee’s record and were hesitant to switch leaders in Congress. “I like Nida, personally,” said Melissa McCullough of Chapel Hill. “But Valerie Foushee has credibility amongst her peers, good committee assignments … and she brings home federal dollars. Now is not the time to send in someone who has to start from scratch.”
Many of the ads that voters in the 4th District saw weren’t funded by the two candidates. Initially, much of that spending came in support of Allam.
A group called “American Priorities” spent at least $500,000 on ads promoting Allam and attacking Foushee. The disclosure records show a lot of its money is coming from out-of-state tech executives like Omer Hasan. He also donated a lot to a PAC supporting Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor of New York.
American Priorities said in a press release that the race is the first of a dozen or so primaries where it’s getting involved, and one of its key issues is reducing military aid to Israel.
Another Allam backer was Leaders We Deserve, a group led by gun control advocate David Hogg. It spent more than $270,000 on pro-Allam advertising.
But Foushee benefitted from some last-minute outside spending in the race. A newly formed group called “Jobs and Democracy PAC” — connected to the artificial intelligence company Anthropic — put more than a million dollars behind her in the final days before the primary, likely because she co-chairs a committee on AI for House Democrats. Another group called “Article One PAC” spent $600,000 on pro-Foushee ads late in the campaign.
Allam has backing from Sanders, as well as the labor group AFL-CIO, College Democrats of America and her 2022 primary opponent and singer Clay Aiken.
Thanks to redistricting that packed Democratic voters into a few urban districts to create more Republican-friendly districts elsewhere, the 4th Congressional District looks a lot different than it did during the 2022 primary between Foushee and Allam, with a even stronger Democratic lean. Rural counties that favored Foushee are no longer in the district.
And while Foushee won easily over Allam four years ago, this year's contest was much closer.
