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House District 18

New Hanover County · 2026
Likely D
Partisan baseline (2024)
D+23.3
runs 25.0 pts more Democratic than NC overall · stable across recent cycles
2024 result
Uncontested
no major-party opponent filed · Butler (D) unopposed
Rep. Deb Butler
Democrat · Incumbent
  • Wilmington attorney.
  • Has represented District 18 in the House since 2017 and earned her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law.
campaign site
Latisha Grady
Republican · Candidate
  • Business operations professional with more than 20 years of experience across real estate, accounting, HR, and fintech.
  • Worked as an operations specialist at Ripple Labs and co-founded a natural hair care company.
campaign site

Election night results

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

Early voting

See early voting ›

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

Who lives here

The people of House District 18, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$60,260
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
42%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
18%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
43%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
4.7%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
13%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Wilmington 100%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 74k voters are registered here; 49,364 voted in 2024.

White
74%
79%
Black
19%
15%
Hispanic
3.2%
2.5%
Asian
0.8%
0.8%
American Indian
0.2%
0.2%
Other
3.1%
1.8%
Registered (2024)Voted (2024)
Voter race and ethnicity are self-reported at registration; voters without a designation (11% 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
Hollow points are estimates, not measured results: 2024 uncontested (100% estimated) - no major-party opponent, so the value shown is the district’s underlying partisanship, not an election result. See Methodology. Solid points can also carry a smaller estimated share where old district lines crossed today’s (2022 19%); hover any point for the exact split.

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 60% to 64%.

Precinct detail

17 precincts.

About this seat

HD-18 is rated Likely D from its 2024 partisan baseline of D+23.3. Districts this far from even are not competitive in a typical cycle - the outcome tracks the district’s underlying partisanship rather than individual campaigns. Its baseline has been essentially stable since 2018.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Butler (D) $48K cash$2K cash Grady (R)
Butler holds 20.5x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Butler $52K / Grady $6K.
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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