The timeline for completing the recount will be determined by election officials in the coming days.
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. โ Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page holds a razor-thin lead over North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger in Tuesday’s Republican primary for Senate District 26 โ a margin so narrow it will trigger an automatic recount under state law.
With all precincts reporting, Page leads Berger by just two total votes. Any margin less than 1% of the total vote requires gives a candidate the right to demand a recount.
The result leaves the state’s most powerful Republican lawmaker on the edge of one of the most stunning political upsets in recent North Carolina history.
Berger, who has represented the district since 2001 and has served as Senate President Pro Tempore since 2011, has never faced a challenge this close in more than two decades in office. His influence over North Carolina’s legislative agenda โ from the state budget to tax policy to judicial appointments โ has made him the unquestioned leader of state Republican politics for years.
That he is trailing heading into a recount, even narrowly, is an extraordinary development. A final Page victory would send shockwaves through the General Assembly and raise immediate questions about the future of Senate Republican leadership in Raleigh.
Page campaigned on his nearly three decades of law enforcement experience and fiscal caution, warning that the state’s aggressive tax-cutting trajectory could leave North Carolina without revenue to sustain core services. His narrow lead tonight suggests those arguments resonated with enough Republican primary voters to push one of the state’s most entrenched incumbents to the brink.
What happens next
Under North Carolina law, when the margin between candidates falls within one percent of the total votes cast, a candidate can demand a recount. The request must be made by the county board of elections by 5 p.m. on the first business day after the canvass. The Rockingham County Board of Elections and Guilford County Board of Elections, which together cover Senate District 26, will conduct the recount before a winner is certified.
The timeline for completing the recount will be determined by election officials in the coming days.
The winner of the primary will advance to the November general election to face Democrat Steve Luking.
