A deep dive into NC's swingiest congressional district

In North Carolina's lone congressional tossup, Republican businesswoman Sandy Smith and retired Army Col. Laurie Buckhout are running with a Trump-centric message. Who will win?

Republican businesswoman Sandy Smith and retired Army Col. Laurie Buckhout (left to right) are running in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.

In North Carolina’s lone congressional tossup, Republican businesswoman Sandy Smith and retired Army Col. Laurie Buckhout will need to appeal to moderates and independent-minded voters if they have any hope of unseating Democratic Rep. Don Davis in November.

But before they get too far ahead of themselves, they must first come out on top in their head-to-head primary showdown. That means trying to prove to the most fervent eastern North Carolina Republican voters that they are the candidate most in line with former President Donald Trump, who isn’t expected to endorse in the primary.

In a profile of the race published today by The Assembly, I take a deep dive into the state of play, candidates’ electability arguments, their near identical messaging on the issues and their wildly different styles of campaigning.

These are the top takeaways from the piece:

#1 Skeletons in the closet