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Trump Won This Hard-Red District By 14 Points But Democrats Insist They Have Way To Flip It

Trump Won This Hard-Red District By 14 Points But Democrats Insist They Have Strategy To Flip It (Screenshot/CNN)

A Democratic congressional candidate said Thursday she believes she can flip a hard-red North Carolina district that President Donald Trump carried by 14 points.

Democratic North Carolina congressional candidate Allison Jaslow filed Thursday to run in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, a race Democrats view as a potential battleground as they try to reclaim a U.S. House majority next fall. During an interview on “The Arena,” CNN host Kasie Hunt pointed out the uphill battle Jaslow faces in a district Trump won by double digits.

“I think voters across the country, but especially here in North Carolina, have an extreme desire to have better representation than they have right now. In fact, North Carolina is one of the states that’s a part of the redistricting wars,” Jaslow told Hunt. “It actually started here earlier than this year. And, objectively, voters don’t have the types of leaders that they want right now.”

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Jaslow framed her candidacy around her military service, saying her experience as an Iraq War veteran uniquely positions her to represent a redrawn eastern North Carolina district.

“And so I’m trying to step up and be that type of leader. This is definitely a tough district. I’m an Iraq war veteran, and this is a district that has two military bases in it after it was redrawn earlier this year. And these members of the military and the veterans in these communities deserve somebody who understands the sacrifices that they’ve made in Congress.”

Hunt said voters feel frustrated with both Trump and Democrats.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m necessarily like all the other Democrats. I have a unique lived experience that many other members of Congress do not have. And also, I think that there’s a huge contrast between myself and the sitting incumbent in this case,” Jaslow said. “Earlier this year, Kasie, I stepped down from my role as the chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which is the nation’s leading post-9-11 generation veterans advocacy organization.”

North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District is rated R+10 by the Cook Political Report, meaning it votes about 10 points more Republican than the nation as a whole, a steep structural barrier for any Democrat. Trump carried the district by roughly 14 points in the 2024 presidential election.

Republicans have held the seat continuously since the mid-1990s, and Democrats have failed to come close to prevailing despite multiple wave elections, including 2006 and 2018. In addition, recent GOP-drawn redistricting maps approved by the courts further reinforced Republican strength in eastern North Carolina.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/CNN)