North Carolina's 4th Congressional District (NC-CD4) is located in the central region of the state. The district includes all of Durham County and Orange County as well as northern Chatham County and a portion of

Wake County Wake County, officially the County of Wake, is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake Count ...

. With a

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated PVI or CPVI, is a measurement of how partisan a U.S. congressional district or U.S. state is. This partisanship is indicated as lean towards either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, com ...

rating of D+23 in 2025, it is one of the most Democratic districts in North Carolina. Until 2022 the district was represented by 11-term Congressman David Price, a former political science professor at Duke University, who was first elected in 1986, ousting one-term Republican incumbent Bill Cobey. Price was reelected in 1988, 1990, and 1992, but he was defeated in his bid for a fifth term in 1994 by Republican Fred Heineman, the Raleigh Police Chief, in a generally bad year for Democrats in North Carolina. Price came back to defeat Heineman in a rematch in 1996, and has been reelected each time since then by large margins, usually with more than 60% of the vote. In 2020, Price received 67% of the votes (332,421 votes) to defeat Republican challenger Robert Thomas, who received 33% (161,298 votes). Before court mandated redistricting in 2016, according to research by Christopher Ingraham of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', the district was the third-most gerrymandered Congressional district in North Carolina and seventh-most gerrymandered district in the United States. In contrast, its predecessor was the most regularly drawn of the state's 13 districts. NC-CD4 is currently represented by Congresswoman

Valerie Foushee Valerie Jean Foushee ( ; née Paige; born May 7, 1956) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 4th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the North ...

, who was elected to Congress in November 2022, becoming the first African American and first woman to represent the district. Born and raised in Orange County, N.C., Foushee previously served in the N.C. Senate, N.C. House, Orange County Board of Commissioners, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board. In Congress, Rep. Foushee serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and is the Vice Ranking Member of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials subcommittee and a member of the Highways and Transit subcommittee. She also serves on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and is the Ranking Member of the Investigations and Oversight subcommittee and a member of the Energy subcommittee.

History

From 2003 to 2013, the district contained most of the area commonly known as The Triangle. It included all of Durham and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

counties, part of

and a small section of Chatham County. The 4th district picked up the most Republican areas of Wake County, such as Apex, Cary, and much of North Raleigh in order to help make the neighboring

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

and

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districts more Democratic. For instance,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

defeated

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

in the Wake County portion of the district in 2008 by 51–48%, a difference of less than 8,000 votes in between the two candidates. In contrast, Obama won Wake County overall by a much greater margin of 56–43%, and Obama swept the 4th district as a whole by 63–36%. The Republican influence in the district's Wake County portion was more than canceled out by the two Democratic strongholds of Orange and Durham counties, where Obama received 72% and 76%, respectively, his two best counties in the entire state. The 4th district had a

Cook PVI The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated PVI or CPVI, is a measurement of how partisan a U.S. congressional district or U.S. state is. This partisanship is indicated as lean towards either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, comp ...

of D+8, which made it the most Democratic white-majority district in the entire South outside of

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

and

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

. The district became even more heavily Democratic as a result of 2012 redistricting, in which the more Republican areas of western and southern Wake County were removed, along with northern Orange County and most of its share of Durham County. They were replaced by heavily Democratic portions of Alamance, Cumberland, Harnett and Lee counties. Additionally, the district was pushed further into Raleigh. Like its predecessor, the district is one of the few Southern districts with a significant concentration of progressive-minded white voters—similar to areas around

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Charlotte,

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Memphis and

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. The presence of the

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

and

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, as well as large African-American populations in Durham and Raleigh help contribute to the liberal nature of the 4th district. Before court mandated redistricting in 2016, the district was just barely contiguous; the northern and southern portions were connected by a barely-discernible strip of land along the Lee/Harnett line. Court-mandated redistricting in 2019 again reconfigured the district, returning large portions of Durham County and removing large portions of

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

and

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, Wake, Chatham County, North Carolina, Chatham, and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh-Cary, NC M ...

. On February 23, 2022, the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

approved a new map which changed the 4th district boundaries to include Alamance and

Person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

while removing

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

and the parts of Chatham, Vance and Wake.

Counties and communities

For the 119th and successive Congresses (based on the districts drawn following a 2023 legislative session), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities. Chatham County (7) : Briar Chapel, Carolina Meadows, Cary (part; also

and 9th; shared with Durham and Wake counties), Fearrington Village, Governors Club, Governors Village, Pittsboro Durham County (6) : All six communities Orange County (5) : All five communities Wake County (5) :

Apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics) A-Bomb Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abyss Abyss is the name of two characters appearing in Ameri ...

, Cary (part; also

, 9th, and

; shared with Chatham and Durham counties), Fuquay-Varina (part; also

), Holly Springs (part; also

), Morrisville (part; also

; shared with Durham County)

Recent election results from statewide races

List of members representing the district

Past election results

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
{{coord, 36.19, -78.99, type:city_region:US-NC_source:USCensusBureau2023gazetteerfiles, display=title 04 Research Triangle