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Senate District 1

Dare, Hertford, Northampton, Bertie, Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Gates, Tyrrell & Camden counties · 2026
Likely ROpen seat
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+13.1
runs 11.4 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Republicans since 2018
2024 result
R+14.4
won by Hanig (R)
Melissa Zehner
Democrat · Candidate
  • Melissa Zehner is a mother of two public school students and a community advocate living on the Outer Banks.
  • She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and held management positions in Minor League Baseball before becoming a stay-at-home parent.
campaign site
Jerry Tillett
Republican · Candidate
  • Retired Superior Court judge.
  • Served as a judge for Judicial District 1 of the North Carolina Superior Court, first taking the bench in 1993.
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 Senate District 1, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$69,389
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
27%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
12%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
76%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
5.3%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
9%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Elizabeth City 20% · Moyock 8% · Kill Devil Hills 7% · Hertford 6% · Ahoskie 5%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 162k voters are registered here; 113,360 voted in 2024.

White
70%
73%
Black
27%
24%
Hispanic
1.1%
0.8%
Asian
0.4%
0.3%
American Indian
0.2%
0.2%
Other
1.9%
1.2%
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
2022 includes an estimated share where old district lines crossed today’s (2022 47% estimated); hover any point for the exact split. See Methodology.

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 42% to 49%.

Precinct detail

96 precincts.

About this seat

SD-1 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+13.1. 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 4.8 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 9.5 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Zehner (D) $16K cash$37K cash Tillett (R)
Tillett holds 2.4x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Zehner $20K / Tillett $124K.
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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