David Rouzer

Biography & Campaign Analysis

Background

David Rouzer was born David Cheston Rouzer on February 16, 1972, at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Landstuhl, West Germany, where his father was based. He was raised in Durham, North Carolina, and attended Northern High School. At North Carolina State University he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, and in 1994 he earned a Bachelor of Arts in agricultural business management, agricultural economics, and chemistry.

Career

From 1996 to 2001, David Rouzer worked as a legislative aide and senior policy adviser for U.S. Senators Jesse Helms and Elizabeth Dole, and in 2000 he lost the Republican primary for North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture.

He was assistant to the dean at the North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences from 2001 to 2002 and an associate rural administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2005 to 2006, and he has owned The Rouzer Company and the Warehouse Distribution.

In 2008 he won the 12th district seat in the North Carolina Senate, defeating Kay Carroll 52% to 48%, and he was re-elected in 2010 with 70% of the vote.

After Republican-controlled redistricting, Rouzer ran for the 7th congressional district in 2012 against Democratic incumbent Mike McIntyre, lost by 655 votes in the official tabulation, and conceded after a recount in what was the closest House race in the country.

He ran again in 2014 after McIntyre retired, won with almost 60% of the vote, and was sworn in on January 3, 2015.

In the 119th Congress he serves on the Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and Transportation and Infrastructure, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

2026 race

The 7th district includes all of Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, and Pender counties, most of Cumberland County, and portions of eastern Robeson and northwestern Sampson counties. David Rouzer, the Republican incumbent, was re-elected there in 2024 with 58.6% of the vote.

He won the 2026 Republican primary with 43,577 votes (80.5%) against David Buzzard, a non-profit group manager and veteran.

In the general election on November 3, 2026, Rouzer faces Democrat Kimberly Hardy, an assistant professor, and Libertarian Maad Abu-Ghazalah, an entrepreneur and animal rescue advocate.