Major upset; Democrat Jefferson unseats Republican incumbent on night of historic upsets

A Democratic wave swept through the state and federal races on Tuesday, catching numerous incumbents in its wake. Republican Congressman Addison McDowell was one of those casualties as High Point Mayor and Democratic candidate Cyril Jefferson captured District 6 and turned it blue. After the dust settled, Jefferson had 140,000 votes to McDowell’s 133,737. His vote total represented 51.14 percent of votes cast in the race for a district that was recently redrawn by North Carolina Republicans. That district was heavily scrutinized by critics as having been gerrymandered to favor Republicans. On Wednesday, Jefferson was in the midst of a media blitz while taking several congratulatory phone calls from family, friends and supporters, as well as communicating with “some folks in D.C. in terms of the transition conversation.” Jefferson is the mayor of High Point, the 6th District’s largest city. He pointed to that experience as having helped secure his win on Tuesday.

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