The lawmaker who led Republican efforts to keep the House loses his re-election bid

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, lost his re-election bid on Tuesday, NBC News projected.

Hudson fell short to Democrat Richard Ojeda in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. Ojeda bested Hudson by about 2 points in the close contest.

Republicans have held this district since 1963.

National Republican Congressional Committee is the official party organization tasked with winning or maintaining the House majority.

Hudson is the second party campaign chairman to lose a re-election in the last two midterm cycles. In 2022, then Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, lost his re-election bid in New York’s 17th District.

Hudson’s defeat came after Republicans largely stopped investing in North Carolina’s high-profile Senate contest with weeks to go in the race after Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper built a seemingly insurmountable advantage over Republican Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked candidate who was previously Republican National Committee chairman and head of the North Carolina state GOP.

As of 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Cooper, whom NBC News projected as the victor in the contest, led Whatley by nearly 20 points in the race, boosting multiple down-ballot Democrats in the state.