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House District 21

Wake County · 2026
Likely D
Partisan baseline (2024)
D+26.0
runs 27.6 pts more Democratic than NC overall · moving toward Democrats since 2018
2024 result
D+25.6
won by Liu (D)
Rep. Ya Liu
Democrat · Incumbent
  • Attorney and small business owner who serves as a House Democratic Whip.
  • Served on the Cary Town Council before winning her House seat in 2022 and holds doctoral degrees in sociology and law.
campaign site
Bryson Johnson
Republican · Candidate
  • Cybersecurity engineer from Cary.
  • Earned a bachelor's degree from Campbell University and a graduate credential from EC-Council in 2026.
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 21, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$157,504
NC
▲ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
73%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
5%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
75%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
3.8%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
3%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Apex 58% · Cary 37% · New Hill 5% · Durham 0% · Holly Springs 0%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 64k voters are registered here; 50,515 voted in 2024.

White
65%
67%
Black
8.8%
7.9%
Hispanic
4.2%
3.7%
Asian
15%
15%
American Indian
0.6%
0.6%
Other
6.8%
6.2%
Registered (2024)Voted (2024)
Voter race and ethnicity are self-reported at registration; voters without a designation (10% 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 62% to 63%.

Precinct detail

11 precincts.

About this seat

HD-21 is rated Likely D from its 2024 partisan baseline of D+26.0. 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 2.5 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 5.0 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Liu (D) $14K cash$201 cash Johnson (R)
Liu holds 69.8x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Liu $29K / Johnson $4K.
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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