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Regional races for seats in the North Carolina General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives favored incumbents.

Unofficial results from the Nov. 5 General Election show Republican incumbent Bill Ward of Elizabeth City holding on to his District 5 seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

With all precincts reporting, Ward has 22,231 votes compared to 18,780 for Howard Hunter III, a Democrat from Ahoskie. Hunter, the incumbent in 2022, lost the District 5 seat to Ward during that year’s election.

The unofficial results show Ward as the top vote-getter in Gates (3,495-to-2,178), Pasquotank (10,658-9,129), and Camden (4,635-1,412) counties while Hunter was favored in his home county of Hertford (6,061-3,443).

In the race for the District 1 seat in the North Carolina Senate, Bobby Hanig, the Republican incumbent from Currituck County, has defeated Susan Harman-Scott, a Democrat from Dare County.

The unofficial results show Hanig with 62,483 votes while Harman-Scott was named on 46,624 ballots with all precincts reporting in the 10-county district.

The Roanoke-Chowan area is Senate District 1. Harman-Scott topped the balloting in Bertie (5,149-to-3,627), Hertford (5,999-3,338), and Northampton (5,205-3,700). Hanig carried Gates County (3,376-2,246) as well as the other six counties in the district (Camden, Currituck, Dare, Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Tyrrell).

Incumbent Shelly Willingham, a Democrat, won reelection to the District 23 seat in the NC House of Representative, defeating Republican challenger Brent Roberson (24,970-to-19,297). Bertie County is part of House District 23, as are Edgecombe and Martin counties.

Unofficial results from the race for the NC District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives show incumbent Democrat Don Davis defeating Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout, 184,993-to-179,167, a narrow margin of 1.56 percent between the two candidates.

Davis topped the voting in 11 of the District’s 22 counties. He won by wide margins in Bertie (5,244-to-3,544), Hertford (6,143-3,211) and Northampton (5,356-3,498).

Buckhout carried the other 11 counties, to include Gates County (3,304-to-2,258).

On Wednesday of last week, Buckhout formally conceded the race to Davis.

Several District Court Judges in the local area were elected on Nov. 5. Each ran unopposed.

Four of those judges are in Judicial District 7 (Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, and Northampton counties):

W. Rob Lewis II (37,742 votes)

Teresa Raquel Robinson Freeman (36,795)

Takiya Lewis Blalock (36,410)

Jamal Summey (36,781)

Lewis, Freeman, and Blalock are all Democrat incumbents, while Summey, also a Democrat, is new to the bench.

The following judges were elected in Judicial District 1 (Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Pasquotank, and Perquimans counties):

Edgar L. Barnes (64,951 votes)

Amber Davis Malarney (64,789)

Both are Republican incumbents.

Voter turnout statewide was 73.02 percent (5,669,148 ballots cast out of 7,763,502 registered voters).