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Senate District 43

Gaston County · 2026
Likely R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+20.1
runs 18.5 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Democrats since 2018
2024 result
R+23.6
won by Overcash (R)
Steve Rutherford
Democrat · Candidate
  • A 20-year U.S. Navy veteran from Gaston County who works as an entrepreneur and documentary filmmaker.
  • A South Point High School graduate who served as president of the NAACP chapter in Charleston, South Carolina.
campaign site
Sen. Brad Overcash
Republican · Incumbent
  • State senator for District 43 in Gaston County and an attorney in private practice.
  • Took office in the state Senate in January 2023 and is now in his second term.
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 43, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$67,672
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
27%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
14%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
66%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
4.9%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
11%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Gastonia 49% · Belmont 15% · Mount Holly 13% · Dallas 9% · Stanley 5%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 152k voters are registered here; 109,873 voted in 2024.

White
72%
76%
Black
20%
18%
Hispanic
4.8%
3.8%
Asian
1.0%
0.9%
American Indian
0.2%
0.2%
Other
2.1%
1.4%
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
Hollow points are estimates, not measured results: 2022 (100% estimated) modeled - no contested legislative race covered enough of this ground to measure, so most of the value is estimated from statewide races on the same ballot. See Methodology.

How far this district swings

Across these cycles the Democratic share of the two-party vote here has ranged from 36% to 38%.

Precinct detail

41 precincts.

About this seat

SD-43 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+20.1. Districts this far from even are not competitive in a typical cycle - the outcome tracks the district’s underlying partisanship rather than individual campaigns. Democrats have gained 2.5 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 5.1 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Rutherford (D) $4K cash$234K cash Overcash (R)
Overcash holds 63.4x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Rutherford $2K / Overcash $315K.
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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