Majority Rising NC
2026 NC Legislative Dashboard
Back to dashboard / Senate / SD-11

Senate District 11

Nash, Franklin & Vance counties · 2026
Toss-Up
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+0.8
runs 0.8 pts more Democratic than NC overall · moving toward Republicans since 2018
2024 result
R+2.6
won by Barnes (R)
James Gailliard
Democrat · Challenger
  • Served two NC House terms (2019-2023) and was the first person of color to represent that Rocky Mount-area district
  • Longtime senior pastor of Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount, with civic and economic-development work in Nash County
campaign site
Sen. Lisa S. Barnes
Republican · Incumbent
  • Third Senate term after one term in the NC House
  • Her husband's farm, Barnes Farming, was fined nearly $190,000 by the state after a migrant worker's 2023 heat-related death
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 Senate District 11, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$64,352
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
23%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
13%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
68%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
5.5%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
11%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Rocky Mount 24% · Henderson 16% · Louisburg 11% · Youngsville 11% · Nashville 8%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 156k voters are registered here; 115,367 voted in 2024.

White
56%
61%
Black
37%
34%
Hispanic
3.7%
2.7%
Asian
0.6%
0.5%
American Indian
0.4%
0.4%
Other
2.0%
1.2%
Registered (2024)Voted (2024)
Voter race and ethnicity are self-reported at registration; voters without a designation (8% 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 45% to 50%.

Precinct detail

54 precincts.

About this seat

SD-11 is rated Toss-Up from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+0.8. Districts this close to even are decided by candidates, campaigns, turnout and the year’s statewide environment rather than by underlying partisanship alone. Republicans have gained 0.8 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 1.6 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Gailliard (D) $121K cash$188K cash Barnes (R)
Barnes holds 1.6x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Gailliard $333K / Barnes $140K.
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
Report an error