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Senate District 17

Wake County · 2026
Likely D
Partisan baseline (2024)
D+29.3
runs 31.0 pts more Democratic than NC overall · moving toward Democrats since 2018
2024 result
Uncontested
no major-party opponent filed · Batch (D) unopposed
Sen. Mrs. Sydney Batch
Democrat · Incumbent
  • Sydney Batch is a family law attorney and social worker who represents District 17 in the NC Senate and serves as Senate Democratic Leader.
  • She earned her bachelor's degree, master's degree in social work, and law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served one term in the NC House before joining the Senate.
campaign site
Shirley Johnson
Republican · Candidate
  • Consultant with Revived Life Coaching & Consulting.
  • Spent more than a decade on the staff of the Illinois State Senate in appropriations, press, and constituent outreach roles.
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 17, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$139,807
NC
▲ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
73%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
4%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
64%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
3.3%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
4%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Cary 41% · Apex 34% · Morrisville 14% · Holly Springs 6% · Raleigh 6%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 138k voters are registered here; 107,028 voted in 2024.

White
64%
66%
Black
11%
9.8%
Hispanic
4.3%
3.7%
Asian
14%
14%
American Indian
0.5%
0.5%
Other
6.9%
6.1%
Registered (2024)Voted (2024)
Voter race and ethnicity are self-reported at registration; voters without a designation (10% 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: 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 62% to 66%.

Precinct detail

27 precincts.

About this seat

SD-17 is rated Likely D from its 2024 partisan baseline of D+29.3. Districts this far from even are not competitive in a typical cycle - the outcome tracks the district’s underlying partisanship rather than individual campaigns. Democrats have gained 1.9 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 3.8 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Batch (D) $43K cash$214 cash Johnson (R)
Batch holds 199.4x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Batch $659K / Johnson $7K.
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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