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House District 79

Beaufort, Dare, Hyde & Pamlico counties · 2026
Likely ROpen seat
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+24.8
runs 23.1 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Republicans since 2018
2024 result
R+26.4
won by Kidwell (R)
–
No major party opponent
Democrat · 2026
  • No Democrat is on the November ballot for this seat.
Darren Armstrong
Republican · Candidate
  • Farmer who has co-owned Armstrong Farms for nearly 30 years.
  • Former chairman of the U.S. Grains Council and a member of the Beaufort County Community College Board of Trustees.
campaign site

Election night results

Follow this race ›

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 79, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$64,481
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
27%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
15%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
74%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
4.0%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
9%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Washington 26% · Kill Devil Hills 10% · Chocowinity 8% · Manteo 8% · Nags Head 4%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 70k voters are registered here; 52,514 voted in 2024.

White
82%
85%
Black
14%
13%
Hispanic
1.9%
1.4%
Asian
0.3%
0.2%
American Indian
0.1%
0.1%
Other
1.6%
1.0%
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
Hollow points are estimates, not measured results: 2022 (100% estimated) modeled - no contested legislative race covered enough of this ground to measure, so most of the value is estimated from statewide races on the same ballot. See Methodology.

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 37% to 45%.

Precinct detail

43 precincts.

About this seat

HD-79 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+24.8. Districts this far from even are not competitive in a typical cycle - the outcome tracks the district’s underlying partisanship rather than individual campaigns. Republicans have gained 2.7 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 5.4 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
No Democrat on the ballot$16K cash Armstrong (R)
Armstrong (R) is unopposed by a Democrat and holds $16K cash on hand. Raised this cycle: $147K. No Democrat is on the November ballot here, so no committee reports on that side.
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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