County commissioner joins Republicans looking to unseat Rep. Don Davis in NC's 1st District

Danielle Battaglia, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Oct 6, 2025

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RALEIGH, N.C. — A third Republican on Monday announced his desire to unseat Democratic Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.

Eric Rouse, 53, of Kinston, N.C., a small business owner and vice chairman of the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners, announced his congressional campaign first to McClatchy.

He will face state Sen. Bobby Hanig and Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson in the Republican primary on March 3.

“I’m running for Congress because I will fight in support of President Trump and the America First Agenda,” Rouse told McClatchy in a news release. “I will support an agenda where the top priority is protecting and promoting more and better American jobs for American workers.”

Rouse’s Trump-first messaging is similar to his 2019 campaign during a special election held after the death of Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican. Jones represented North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, where Lenoir County was located before redistricting.

The 1st Congressional District

Now the 1st Congressional District encompasses the 20 most northeastern counties in the state, including Lenoir.

Out of North Carolina’s 14 congressional districts, the 1st is the only truly competitive area of the state, where voters could elect either a Republican or Democrat. That’s backed up by The Cook Political Report classification of the district as a Democratic Toss Up. However, the 1st was drawn by lawmakers to tinge red.

Davis, of Snow Hill, represents the district. He’s a moderate Democrat, unafraid to vote with Republicans. He’s filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to run for reelection in 2026.

Davis is in his second term after succeeding long-serving Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat who retired when he became frustrated by lawmakers’ attempts to manipulate the districts. His had been a Democratic stronghold since 1899, but Republicans are desperate to claim it as their own.

Last month, while responding to allegations that Senate leader Phil Berger exchanged redistricting the state’s congressional map for an endorsement from Trump, Berger said that he hadn’t spoken to Trump, but was willing to redraw the map.

Republicans control the U.S. House by just six seats, with three vacancies caused by deaths and resignations. Midterm elections are known for being harder on the party of the sitting president, leaving Republicans looking for ways to keep control of both chambers, including mid-decade redistricting.

The National Republican Congressional Committee named Davis to their target list for the 2026 election, to flip his seat red. It’s widely believed that if North Carolina lawmakers redistrict, Davis’ seat would be their target.

Who is Rouse?

Rouse created and operates six small businesses that include modular construction and directional drilling. His campaign team stressed he also holds a federal firearm license and a commercial driver’s license, which allows him to deliver large equipment himself.

Rouse earned industrial electronic technology and business management degrees from East Carolina University.

“I’ve worked hard and am blessed to operate several successful small businesses,” Rouse said. “Like President Trump, I know firsthand the challenges of being a job creator and what it’s like to sign the front of the paycheck. For too long, the economic challenges of the district have been ignored. I want to go to Washington to fight for more and better jobs right here in NC-01.”

Alliances

In a news release first released to McClatchy, Rouse already slung mud at his opponents for their perceived disloyalty to Trump.

In 2023, Hanig appeared on a list of 19 North Carolina lawmakers who endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president.

Hanig said that at the time of that endorsement he didn’t believe Trump would run for president, despite Trump having announced his candidacy seven months earlier. Hanig told McClatchy last month that he is a Trump loyalist.

Robertson has been criticized for comments he made about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and “the chaos of the last Trump presidency,” while talking about the race between Trump and then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

“At some levels, it feels like I’m voting for somebody who wants to either be a dictator or somebody who wants to create a socialist state,” Roberson said. “And I’m not in either place.”

Roberson called his phrasing unfortunate in an interview with McClatchy last month, and said Trump is a disruptor he supports.

But it was Roberson’s initial comment that Rouse latched on to in his own campaign announcement.

“Our state and our district have seen first-hand the economic devastation of so-called free-trade deals,” Rouse said. “But now we’ve got a president fighting for American jobs, and we need a Congressman who will join that fight. What we don’t need is a Congressman who thinks President Trump is a dictator.”

Rouse wasn’t immediately available for an interview on his run for office.

Filing for the 2026 election takes place in December, which means additional candidates could enter the race.

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