2025 Legislative Session Wrap-Up

Campaign Filing Period Ends 

Now that flings for the 2026 election have ended, there are a couple of storylines. One is that there are a lot of primaries we will be watching in March. Another is the incumbents who decided not to run for reelection. 

Primaries 

● This document shows all primaries, prepared by reporter Bryan Anderson. Obviously, the most watched primary will be the one with Senate Prom Tempore Phil Berger and Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page. 

● 30% of Republican lawmakers that are running again will be in a contested primary. 16% of Democrats running again will also have a primary. On the Republican side, there are 5 open seats with contested primaries, and one on the Democratic side. 

Not Running 

Senate: 

● Bobby Hanig #SD01 

House: 

● Matthew Winslow #HD07 

● Ted Davis #HD20 

● William Brisson #HD22 

● Bryan Cohn #HD32 

● John Sauls #HD51 

● Mark Brody #HD55 

● Stephen Ross #HD63 

● Harry Warren #HD76 

● Sarah Stevens #HD90 

The November Election 

● The Democrats will contest 168 of the 170 districts in the state legislature. The Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton stated on X that the 2 additional seats are ones where the candidates are technically running as independents who intend to caucus with the Democrats. On the GOP side, the Republicans left 32 seats without candidates- 28 in the House and 5 in the Senate. 

Impact 

● In this year's November elections, we saw many incumbents lose their races, so it will be interesting to see if that trend follows in 2026. If the March primary sweeps lots of incumbents, it may set up a very different short session for the General Assembly. 

2025 General Assembly Long Session Wrap

● 108 bills passed this year (6% of all filed bills). 

● 15 bills were vetoed, and 8 vetoes were overridden. 

● The NCGA left 8 bills in conference, waiting to be worked out between the chambers. This includes the Farm Act and the Budget. 

● If you'd like to listen to a wrap of the political year, listen to our podcast episode here.