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House District 85

Avery, McDowell, Yancey & Mitchell counties · 2026
Likely R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+44.7
runs 43.0 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Republicans since 2018
2024 result
R+48.4
won by Greene (R)
Suzanne Gavenus
Democrat · Candidate
  • Licensed clinical social worker serving as Director of Counseling and Wellness at NCSSM in Morganton.
  • She has lived in Burnsville for more than 23 years after living and working in Avery County.
campaign site
Rep. Dudley Greene
Republican · Incumbent
  • Retired McDowell County sheriff serving as the state House member for Avery, McDowell, Mitchell, and Yancey counties.
  • He is serving his third term in the NC House.
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 85, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$58,352
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
22%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
14%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
77%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
5.5%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
11%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Marion 25% · Burnsville 19% · Newland 10% · Spruce Pine 10% · Nebo 9%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 67k voters are registered here; 50,520 voted in 2024.

White
95%
97%
Black
1.6%
1.3%
Hispanic
1.8%
1.1%
Asian
0.3%
0.3%
American Indian
0.2%
0.1%
Other
0.9%
0.7%
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 26% to 29%.

Precinct detail

54 precincts.

About this seat

HD-85 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+44.7. 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 2.9 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 5.8 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Gavenus (D) $6K cash$3K cash Greene (R)
Gavenus holds 1.9x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Gavenus $14K / Greene $9K.
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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