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Senate District 44

Lincoln, Cleveland & Gaston counties · 2026
Likely R
Partisan baseline (2024)
R+39.6
runs 37.9 pts more Republican than NC overall · moving toward Republicans since 2018
2024 result
R+45.0
won by Alexander (R)
Rod Powell
Democrat · Candidate
  • Retired public school history and civics teacher who chairs the Cleveland County Democratic Party.
  • Taught in public schools for thirty years and lives in Casar.
campaign site
Sen. Ted Alexander
Republican · Incumbent
  • State senator for District 44 with a career directing Main Street downtown-revitalization programs.
  • Served two terms as mayor of Shelby, elected in 2003 and re-elected in 2007, and has been in the state Senate since January 2019.
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 44, from the Census American Community Survey (2020-2024). The dark tick on each bar marks North Carolina overall.

Median household income
$66,173
NC
▼ vs NC · NC $75k
Bachelor's degree or higher
25%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 36%
Poverty rate
14%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 13%
Homeownership
75%
NC
▲ vs NC · NC 67%
Unemployment
4.2%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 4.7%
Uninsured rate
9%
NC
▼ vs NC · NC 10%
Top communities: Shelby 25% · Lincolnton 18% · Denver 15% · Kings Mountain 11% · Cherryville 6%

Who registers vs. who votes

Each group's share of registered voters against its share of those who actually voted in 2024. About 153k voters are registered here; 116,209 voted in 2024.

White
82%
85%
Black
13%
11%
Hispanic
2.7%
2.1%
Asian
0.5%
0.5%
American Indian
0.1%
0.1%
Other
1.5%
1.0%
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 28% to 30%.

Precinct detail

49 precincts.

About this seat

SD-44 is rated Likely R from its 2024 partisan baseline of R+39.6. 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 1.8 points of vote share here since 2018, moving the seat’s two-way margin 3.6 points their way.

Campaign money

Follow the money ›
Powell (D) $3K cash$73K cash Alexander (R)
Alexander holds 23.6x the cash on hand. Raised this cycle: Powell $5K / Alexander $103K.
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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