Congressional District 6: Walker (R) vs. Watts (D)

Rating: Likely Republican

Voter Registration by Race: 72% White, 22% Black, 4% Hispanic, 2% Other

Voter Registration by Party: 37% Democratic, 34% Republican, 28% Unaffiliated

2016 Presidential Election Result: 56% Trump, 41% Clinton, 2% Other

Situated between North Carolina’s Triad and Triangle metropolitan areas, CD-06 covers much of the state’s central Piedmont region. CD-06 is integral to the state’s current Republican gerrymander, splitting the Democratic vote in Greensboro (Guilford County) with the neighboring CD-13 and pairing its portion of the city with nearby Republican counties in order to diminish Democratic influence. Outside of Guilford, CD-06 includes a diverse group of Republican-leaning areas, covering four historically Democratic rural counties that now favor the GOP (Rockingham, Caswell, Person, Lee), an exurban county that contains the Democratic-leaning Burlington but is otherwise solidly Republican (Alamance), the Piedmont region’s utmost Republican stronghold (Randolph), and one Democratic-leaning county home to suburbs of Chapel Hill and Durham (Chatham). Of course, CD-06 stays clear of Chapel Hill and Durham themselves, instead wrapping around Orange and Durham counties to avoid Democratic voters. The conglomeration of counties in CD-06 has come to vote solidly Republican in recent years – the district supported a number of Democratic statewide candidates in 2008 but has since become loyal to the GOP in statewide races (Democrats maintain a slight voter registration advantage). In 2016, CD-06 supported Donald Trump by a margin of nearly fifteen points, indicative of a sizeable Republican trend evident in most of North Carolina’s predominantly rural districts.

2018 Candidates	Total Raised (2017-2018)	Total Spent (2017-2018)	Cash on Hand (June 2018)	Debts Owed (June 2018)
Mark Walker (R)	$978,823.02	$450,399.78	$754,006.41	$0.00
Ryan Watts (D)	$206,274.27	$124,986.29	$81,662.98	$375.00

 

Greensboro pastor Mark Walker was first elected to represent CD-06 in 2014, winning an upset in the Republican primary against Phil Berger Jr. (son of the NC Senate President pro tempore) to succeed retiring GOP Congressman Howard Coble. Walker, who was selected to lead the House’s conservative Republican Study Committee in 2017, has proven popular among his district’s general electorate, having won 59% of the vote against little-known Democratic opponents in both 2014 and 2016. This year, he faces Democrat Ryan Watts, a 28-year-old Burlington business consultant who swept the district’s Democratic primary with over 77% of the vote. Watts has built a spirited ground game and maintains an active social media presence, although his cash on hand amounts to only around one-tenth of his opponent’s as of June 2018. In a district drawn to favor the GOP, the well-heeled, popular Walker is likely to win a third term.