With 99% of the vote reporting, North Carolina’s Republican primary for State Senate District 26 has come down to just two votes, setting up what is almost certain to be a recount.
According to Decision Desk HQ, the latest tally stands at:
Sam Page 13,077
Phil Berger 13,075
The two-vote margin, out of more than 26,000 ballots cast, falls well within North Carolina’s 1% recount threshold.
The race pits Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page against longtime Senate leader Phil Berger, who has served as President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate since 2011 and has been one of the most influential Republicans in state politics for over a decade.
Page, who has served as sheriff since 1998 and spent more than four decades in law enforcement, ran as an outsider taking on what he repeatedly called the “Raleigh establishment.” A vocal supporter of Donald Trump, Page led “Sheriffs for Trump” in 2016 and served as the president’s North Carolina campaign chair in 2020.
On the campaign trail, Page focused heavily on law-and-order themes, calling for stronger penalties for violent offenders and pushing to restart North Carolina’s death penalty. He also proposed raising starting teacher pay to $50,000, expanding school choice with what he described as “commonsense guardrails,” and eliminating state taxes on overtime pay and tipped wages in line with Trump’s proposals at the federal level. Page further called for repealing a legislative public records exemption backed by Berger and supported term limits for legislative leadership.
Berger, first elected to the Senate in 2000, rose to Minority Leader in 2004 and helped engineer Republicans’ return to majority control in 2010, the first time the GOP had controlled the chamber in more than a century. Since becoming Senate President Pro Tempore, he has led efforts to cut income taxes, reduce regulations, expand school choice, enact voter ID, and pass a range of conservative social policies, including legislation affecting transgender participation in sports and restrictions on gender transition procedures for minors.
Berger has closely aligned himself with Trump’s national agenda, highlighting cooperation on immigration enforcement, tax cuts, energy production, and cultural issues. He also points to North Carolina’s economic growth, manufacturing recruitment, and tax reductions during his tenure as evidence of conservative governance delivering results.
Despite securing Trump’s endorsement, Berger found himself locked in a dead heat with Page. In a February Truth Social post, Trump praised Berger as a “Highly Respected Leader” while also describing Page as “GREAT,” underscoring the delicate balancing act in a race where both candidates emphasized their loyalty to the former president.
The winner of the primary will face Democratic nominee Steve Luking, a physician. Berger previously defeated Luking in 2024 by nearly 15 percentage points. The 26th district has been a safe Republican seat since 1981 and will likely go to the winner of the GOP primary.
The outcome now hinges on a recount and any outstanding provisional ballots. If the margin holds, it would mark a stunning upset of one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers by a local sheriff running on an anti-establishment message by a margin so slim it would be difficult to believe. For now, the contest stands as a reminder of just how narrow the margins can be, even for entrenched political leadership.
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