North Carolina Republican who lost key swing seat in 2022 will run for newly gerrymandered district

Bo Hines, who was the 2022 GOP nominee for North Carolina’s swingy 13th District in the Raleigh suburbs, has announced he'll run in the new 6th District currently held by Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning—a seat located multiple districts to the west of the one he sought to represent last year as shown on the map above (click here for a larger version).

Hines ran for Congress last year while he was still in law school, and he won the crowded primary with 32% of the vote, just above the 30% needed to avoid a runoff. But while his endorsement from Donald Trump and emulation of far-right Rep. Madison Cawthorn may have helped him win the nomination, he lost the general election to Democrat Wiley Nickel by a 52-48 margin in a district Joe Biden had won just 50-48.

However, Republicans recently enacted a new gerrymander that completely transformed the 6th District, which had been based in Greensboro and voted 56-43 for Biden. The new version removed most of Greensboro and replaced it with conservative rural areas, yielding a new district that would have voted 57-41 for Trump. Whoever wins the GOP primary, which already includes former 6th District Rep. Mark Walker and High Point Mayor Jay Wagner, will be heavily favored next fall.