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Senate District 21

Moore & Cumberland counties · 2026
Likely R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+21.7
runs 20.1 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Republicans since 2018
2024 result
R+25.6
won by McInnis (R)
Paul Taylor
Democrat · Candidate
  • Paul Taylor is a U.S. Army veteran and community organizer who has worked with families facing eviction and homelessness.
  • He served in the U.S. Army from 1977 to 1997.
campaign site
Sen. Tom McInnis
Republican · Incumbent
  • Chief operations officer at Iron Horse Auction Company.
  • Serving his sixth term in the state Senate.
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 21, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$76,289
NC
▲ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
34%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
11%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
71%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
5.3%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
8%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Fayetteville 15% · Hope Mills 14% · Southern Pines 10% · Pinehurst 10% · Carthage 6%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 155k voters are registered here; 110,797 voted in 2024.

White
71%
75%
Black
19%
18%
Hispanic
4.9%
3.4%
Asian
1.1%
0.9%
American Indian
1.0%
0.9%
Other
2.9%
1.9%
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 37% to 42%.

Precinct detail

48 precincts.

About this seat

SD-21 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+21.7. 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 1.7 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 3.3 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Taylor (D) $0 cash$228K cash McInnis (R)
McInnis has a committee on file; Taylor has no machine-readable figures (nothing filed yet, or filed on paper). Raised this cycle: Taylor $0 / McInnis $505K.
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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