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House District 117

Henderson County · 2026
Likely R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+13.4
runs 11.7 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Democrats since 2018
2024 result
R+15.4
won by Balkcom (R)
Lynne Russo
Democrat · Candidate
  • Russo is a small business owner and community advocate in western North Carolina.
  • She moved to Hendersonville during the pandemic and, after Hurricane Helene, produced informational videos on FEMA assistance and recovery resources for area residents.
campaign site
Chelsea Walsh
Republican · Candidate
  • Life and health insurance broker and former chair of the Henderson County Republican Party.
  • Named the Republican nominee for the District 117 seat in August 2026, having previously sought the seat in the 2022 primary.

Election night results

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Live returns and a precinct map for this race on Nov. 3.

Early voting

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Ballots cast so far in this district, in person and by mail. Updated every morning.

Who lives here

The people of House District 117, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$67,829
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
37%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
12%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
73%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
3.0%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
12%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Hendersonville 67% · Fletcher 15% · Mills River 9% · Etowah 4% · Horse Shoe 3%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 72k voters are registered here; 54,278 voted in 2024.

White
90%
92%
Black
3.2%
2.5%
Hispanic
3.9%
3.0%
Asian
0.7%
0.6%
American Indian
0.2%
0.2%
Other
1.7%
1.2%
Registered (2024)Voted (2024)
Voter race and ethnicity are self-reported at registration; voters without a designation (6% here) are excluded from the voted-side shares. Source: NCSBE voter file, 2024.

How this seat has moved

Actual result (solid)MRPI composite (dashed)Shaded = midterm

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 40% to 42%.

Precinct detail

27 precincts.

About this seat

HD-117 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+13.4. Districts this far from even are not competitive in a typical cycle - the outcome tracks the district’s underlying partisanship rather than individual campaigns. Democrats have gained 2.9 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 5.8 points their way.

Campaign money

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Russo (D) $22K cash$0 cash Walsh (R)
Russo has a committee on file; Walsh has no machine-readable figures (nothing filed yet, or filed on paper). Raised this cycle: Russo $78K / Walsh $0.
Actual legislative results, observed except where marked · NCSBE 2018–2024 · boundaries: Redistricting Data Hub (redistrictingdatahub.org) · demographics: Census ACS 2020–2024 · voter file: NCSBE
Data as of October 29, 2026 · campaign finance last refreshed August 20, 2026
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