In a surprise win, Democratic High Point Mayor Cyril Jefferson defeated Republican incumbent Addison McDowell in North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District.

Jefferson’s first obstacle was the district itself, located in the central Piedmont. The General Assembly redrew the map in 2023 to favor GOP candidates. So much so that no Democrat ran in the next election, and McDowell won with nearly 70% of the vote.

Wake Forest University politics professor John Dinan says there were other challenges.

"In a district that's pretty heavily favored by the way it's drawn up to be a Republican-leaning district, you're going to expect that the challengers have to be on air with a lot of TV ads and a lot of money, and there wasn't a whole lot of money spent," says Dinan. "These are all the recipes of why people were not expecting that Jefferson could pull off this upset." 

Dinan calls Jefferson a strong candidate who capitalized on his name recognition and record as High Point mayor, and who campaigned hard across the entire district. Dinan says he was also boosted by McDowell’s relative newness to the job, and the blue wave that began at the top of the ticket.

Jefferson will resign from the mayor’s office before taking his seat in Congress in January. City Council will choose a member to fill the post through the end of the term.