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House District 59

Guilford County · 2026
Lean R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+8.0
runs 6.3 pts more Republican than NC overall · stable across recent cycles
2024 result
R+10.4
won by Branson (R)
Elma Hairston
Democrat · Challenger
  • High Point speaker and author; former High Point NAACP president
  • Won the 2026 Democratic primary with 59 percent
campaign site
Rep. Jerry "Alan" Branson
Republican · Incumbent
  • HD-59 incumbent appointed in 2024 and trucking company owner
  • Former eight-year Guilford County Commissioner
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 59, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$85,075
NC
▲ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
35%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
10%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
80%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
3.3%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
8%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Greensboro 30% · Whitsett 12% · Mcleansville 11% · Gibsonville 10% · Jamestown 9%

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; 56,567 voted in 2024.

White
67%
69%
Black
26%
25%
Hispanic
3.3%
2.5%
Asian
1.6%
1.4%
American Indian
0.3%
0.2%
Other
2.4%
1.8%
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 46%.

Precinct detail

26 precincts.

About this seat

HD-59 is rated Lean R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+8.0. Districts in this range are competitive when candidates, campaigns and the year’s statewide environment line up against the district’s modest partisan tilt. Its baseline has been essentially stable since 2018.

Campaign money

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Hairston (D) $0 cash$59K cash Branson (R)
Branson has a committee on file; Hairston has no machine-readable figures (nothing filed yet, or filed on paper). Raised this cycle: Hairston $0 / Branson $77K.
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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