Confirmed: After multiple recounts, NC Senate majority leader Phil Berger has conceded to rural sheriff Sam Page.
Corporate Cronies vs. Everyman USA
In the first primary election of 2026, the Senate race in North Carolina between the most politically powerful man and a “man-of-the-people” rural county sheriff came down to two points.
“We won this because of relationships!” said Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page during his election night victory speech. This is in contrast to his opponent Senate President Phil Berger’s unabashed embrace of corporate donations. He’s spent more than $10M on his campaign has refused to pass a state budget to protect his plans to cut NC’s corporate tax to 0 percent by 2030. His prioritization for the ultra-rich is a slap in the face to his working-class constituents who are trying to get by.
Earlier this year, several media outlets reported North Carolina Republicans had recently gained a lead over Democrats in voter registrations, but only a few mentioned that unaffiliated voters have both parties beat, with 39% of our total voter registrations. And as last night’s results trickled in, the priority of these voters became increasingly clear.
These are the voters who are paying nearly $1,000 in electricity bills from Duke Energy. The ones who received a friendly reminder to avoid using heat during peak hours of the coldest weeks of the year. These are the parents who now have to drive their children as far as 30 to 45 minutes out before beginning their commute because local rural county schools are shutting down due to a lack of funding. These are the ones who are facing more than double the cost of their healthcare bill. The voters who are reckoning with the very clear impact of the Big Betrayal Bill, which spells out budget shortfalls while local governments are expected to shoulder more than ever before.
You see, this year’s elections were never going to be about red vs. blue. It was always going to be about the needs of everyday working people against the wealthy elite who are willing to strip all of our resources away to power up their corporations at the expense of our children, our families, and our futures.
Red or Blue, electeds everywhere are on notice.
Berger flagrantly aligned himself with those who exploit our work and worth. He wants us to believe that we are powerless against them. But voters showed us that not even Phil Berger is invulnerable to accountability and to delivering for his constituents.
In addition to Berger’s two-point loss, every single State Democrat who voted to override Governor Stein’s veto lost their bid for re-election. The bills they let slide by are impacting the very energy, business, and immigration issues we are facing right now. Even tight congressional battles like Nida Allam v. Valerie Foushee once again called into question our leaders’ relationships with AIPAC and other corporate donors.
Down the ballot, voters overwhelmingly chose candidates from their own communities. Working-class candidates Ramona Allen and Sean Ewing, who won the majority of votes in the Alamance County Commissioner race. Rowan County ousted the incumbent sheriff for a working father. Even in deep red counties, people rejected the status quo. Davidson County unseated two incumbent commissioners who voted for a $60M sports complex despite other issues voters wanted to prioritize, including school funding, EMS staffing, and community safety measures.
For some folks in counties that have been gerrymandered to hell under Phil Berger’s 16-year leadership, primaries are the only way to deliver a clear message. The endgame isn’t in November for several poor and working-class people in North Carolina; it was this past Tuesday. And they made their message loud and clear: if the government doesn’t work for us, we can put the government on notice.
The 2026 Midterm Election playing field is set.
Unaffiliated voters turned out in droves to have a say in who represents them. We had one of the highest primary turnout rates in recent state history. The NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) reported that early voting across the board increased 25.4 percent compared to the 2022 primary election. In some counties, early-voting participation even surpassed 2024 primary levels, demonstrating strong engagement among NC voters. More than this, polling showed dramatic swings once voters learned about their incumbents’ records. This was an informed electorate making a clear choice.
North Carolina’s primaries are over*, but in the state where far-right extremists and corporate cronies notoriously experiment with what they can get away with, the playing field is set. Everyday working people are paying attention to who is willing to fight for kitchen table issues.
Organizations like Carolina Federation, Down Home NC, and NCAE are bringing those issues to the surface. Campaigns grounded in affordability, accountability, and community will move voters everywhere across the state. Expect to see this repeated throughout the nation over the next several months of primaries and once again in November, when candidates like Roy Cooper and Trump-endorsed Michael Whatley bring us back to the polls.
