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House District 98

Mecklenburg County · 2026

Toss-Up

Partisan baseline (2024)

D+0.9

runs 2.6 pts more Democratic than NC overall · moving toward Democrats since 2018

2024 result

D+4.4

won by Helfrich (D)

Rep. Beth Helfrich

Democrat · Incumbent

Flipped this seat in 2024
Educator and school leader with small-business and communications experience

campaign site

John Rhodes

Republican · Challenger

Cornelius real estate agent; held this seat 2003-2007
Rated the least effective legislator in the NC House before losing the seat to Thom Tillis

campaign site

Election night results

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Live returns and a precinct map for this race on Nov. 3.

Early voting

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Ballots cast so far in this district, in person and by mail. Updated every morning.

Who lives here

The people of House District 98, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income

$125,438

▲ vs NC · NC $75k

Bachelor's degree or higher

61%

▲ vs NC · NC 36%

Poverty rate

▼ vs NC · NC 13%

Homeownership

73%

▲ vs NC · NC 67%

Unemployment

3.2%

▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%

Uninsured rate

▼ vs NC · NC 10%

Top communities: Huntersville 42% · Cornelius 36% · Davidson 22% · Concord 0%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 69k voters are registered here; 52,752 voted in 2024.

White

84%

86%

Black

7.6%

7.0%

Hispanic

3.6%

3.0%

Asian

2.0%

1.8%

American Indian

0.2%

Other

2.6%

2.0%

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

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 48% to 52%.

Precinct detail

11 precincts.

About this seat

HD-98 is rated Toss-Up from its 2024 partisan baseline of D+0.9. Districts this close to even are decided by candidates, campaigns, turnout and the year’s statewide environment rather than by underlying partisanship alone. Democrats have gained 1.4 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 2.7 points their way.

Campaign money

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Helfrich (D) $150K cash$14K cash Rhodes (R)

Helfrich holds 10.7x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Helfrich $208K / Rhodes $16K.

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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