Valerie Foushee
Valerie Foushee, a Democrat who has represented North Carolina's 4th congressional district since 2023, seeks re-election in 2026 against Republican Max Ganorkar after defeating Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam in the Democratic primary.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Valerie Foushee.
- Born
- May 7, 1956
- Birthplace
- Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Education
- Chapel Hill High School (1974)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Bachelor of Arts in political science and African-American studies, 2008)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Valerie Foushee was born Valerie Jean Paige on May 7, 1956, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and graduated from Chapel Hill High School in 1974. While she was a student there, her cousin James L. Cates Jr. was killed in an act of racial violence on November 21, 1970, after a dance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She later attended that university and earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and African-American studies in 2008, at the age of 53.
Career
Valerie Foushee worked as a secretary for the Chapel Hill Police Department from 1987 to 2008.
She was elected to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education in 1997 and served until 2004, chairing it from 2001 to 2003, and then sat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners from 2004 to 2012, chairing that board from 2008 to 2010.
Foushee was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2012, and in 2013 local Democrats selected her to fill the North Carolina Senate vacancy created by Eleanor Kinnaird's resignation.
Foushee won the 2022 Democratic primary for the 4th congressional district against Nida Allam and defeated Republican Courtney Geels on November 8, 2022, with 67% of the vote, becoming the first African American and the first woman to represent the district.
She was sworn in on January 7, 2023, and was re-elected in 2024. In January 2025 her House Democratic colleagues elected her regional whip for Region 7.
In the 119th Congress she serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, where she is ranking member of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.
2026 race
The 4th district includes all of Durham and Orange counties and portions of northern Chatham and eastern Wake counties, and Valerie Foushee, the Democratic incumbent, was re-elected there in 2024 with 71.9% of the vote.
In a rematch of the 2022 primary, she won the 2026 Democratic nomination with 61,776 votes (49.2%) to 60,605 (48.2%) for Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, with HR professional Mary Patterson taking 2.6%.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, Foushee faces Republican Max Ganorkar, a home building contractor and perennial candidate, and Libertarian Guy Meilleur, an arborist.