Buncombe NC House, Senate: Mayfield and 3 Democrats win; State Sen. Daniel beats Ager

ASHEVILLE - Three Asheville-area Democrats won Buncombe County State House of Representative seats and Democratic State Senator Julie Mayfield won reelection during the Nov. 5 election, according to preliminary results released by the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Meanwhile, Republican Warren Daniel is leading Democrat John Ager in the race for State Senate District 46, which spans parts of Buncombe, McDowell and Burke counties with some precincts yet to report.

Democratic State Senator Julie Mayfield won against Republican Kristie Sluder in the race for North Carolina State Senate District 49. Mayfield won over 67% of the vote with more than 73,000 ballots in her favor.

As a former Asheville city council member, Mayfield was elected to state senate in 2020 and won reelection in 2022. She has previously said her priorities were leading North Carolina into a "clean energy future" through mandated carbon reduction, such as in the bipartisan House Bill 951 that she helped pass. She is in favor of reinstating federal abortion rights and has previously said that local living wage laws should be allowed and private school vouchers ended.

Sluder, a family, crisis and recovery counselor, had previously run for U.S. House in an eight-way primary featuring then incumbent Madison Cawthorn and current congressman Chuck Edwards. She had previously told the Citizen times that her motivation for running was to address safety in Asheville.

In an interview with the Citizen Times, Mayfield thanked Sluder for running and outlined three major policy points she wants to address in her next term: housing, the corporate practice of medicine and second chance legislation.

In recent years, Mayfield has been a frequent critic of HCA, the company that purchased Mission Health in 2019. Since the purchase of the former nonprofit hospital, Mission has seen a rise in emergency room wait times, nurses protest working conditions and numerous lawsuits and investigations by media organizations and the state of North Carolina alike.

She said she hopes to be a "senator for everybody."

"I don't care how you vote. I represent you. My job is to help you," Mayfield told the Citizen Times.

House seats: Prather, Turner, Ager win

Two candidates for state house had opponents, while Brian Turner, Democratic candidate for North Carolina House district 116, ran unopposed. That district is mostly comprised of the city of Asheville, Woodfin and Biltmore Forest.

Lindsey Prather narrowly beat Ruth Smith, winning 51% to 49%, maintaining her seat in the 115th district, which was recently redrawn to include the western, northern and northeast parts of Buncombe County.

In a victory speech at the Buncombe County Democratic Party watch party at Highland Brewing, Prather told supporters: "You can outwork a gerrymander." Prather's district had dramatically changed between 2022 and 2024, with the newly drawn district only including four precincts from the previously drawn district.

Prather told the Citizen Times that her top priority in for her next term is storm recovery, as Asheville is still recovering from the destructive Tropical Storm Helene.

"We haven't gone nearly far enough in the disaster relief bills that we've passed so far," Prather told the Citizen Times.

In her response to questions from the Citizen Times earlier this year, Prather highlighted funding education and giving teachers more compensation as two policies she champions.

Former naval aviator and foreign area officer, Democrat Eric Ager beat Republican Sherry Higgins with nearly 60% of the vote in the 114th district, which was recently redrawn to cover the eastern and south central parts of Buncombe County. He won 31,975 votes to 21,742 for Higgins.

Warren Daniel leads in district 46

Republican State Senator Warren Daniel beat Democrat John Ager in the race for State Senate District 46. Daniel had over 65% of the vote with a ballot count of 68,392 to Ager's count of 36,322.

Daniel has been a North Carolina state senator for seven terms. Ager has previously served two terms as a representative in the North Carolina house. Daniel, with an "A" NRA rating, has helped pass rules to ease the use of deadly force for home and vehicle defense. He is endorsed by the anti-abortion and anti-stem cell research group N.C. Right to Life.

This story will be updated.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected]. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe NC House Senate races: 4 Democrats win State Sen. Daniel wins