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House District 97

Lincoln County · 2026
Likely R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+43.9
runs 42.2 pts more Republican than NC overall · stable across recent cycles
2024 result
Uncontested
no major-party opponent filed · Rhyne (R) unopposed
Greg McBryde
Democrat · Candidate
  • Retired truck driver and former small business owner from Lincolnton.
  • Has served on the Lincolnton Planning Board.
campaign site
Rep. Heather Rhyne
Republican · Incumbent
  • Pharmacist representing Lincoln County in the NC House.
  • Served eight years on the Lincoln County Board of Education, including three as chairwoman, before her July 2024 appointment to the 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 97, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$78,421
NC
▲ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
28%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
11%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
79%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
3.3%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
9%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Lincolnton 36% · Denver 33% · Iron Station 10% · Vale 7% · Stanley 6%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 71k voters are registered here; 55,688 voted in 2024.

White
89%
90%
Black
5.7%
5.1%
Hispanic
3.6%
2.9%
Asian
0.5%
0.4%
American Indian
0.1%
0.1%
Other
1.5%
1.1%
Registered (2024)Voted (2024)
Voter race and ethnicity are self-reported at registration; voters without a designation (7% 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; 2024 uncontested (100% estimated) - no major-party opponent, so the value shown is the district’s underlying partisanship, not an election result. See Methodology.

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 26% to 30%.

Precinct detail

23 precincts.

About this seat

HD-97 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+43.9. 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 ›
McBryde (D) $4K cash$22K cash Rhyne (R)
Rhyne holds 5.7x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: McBryde $5K / Rhyne $50K.
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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