2016 United States Senate election in North Carolina

The 2016 United States Senate election in North Carolina was held November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of North Carolina, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Primary elections were held March 15.

Incumbent Republican Senator Richard Burr won re-election to a third term in office against Democratic former state representative Deborah Ross and Libertarian Sean Haugh.

Republican primary
There had been speculation that Burr might retire, but he said in September 2014 that he was "planning" on running and reaffirmed this in January 2015. If Burr had retired, the seat was expected to draw significant interest, with potential Republican candidates including U.S. representatives George Holding, Mark Meadows, and Robert Pittenger, Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, State Senator Phil Berger, and former Ambassador to Denmark James P. Cain.

Declared

 * Greg Brannon, physician, Tea Party activist and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014
 * Richard Burr, incumbent U.S. Senator
 * Larry Holmquist, businessman and Tea Party activist
 * Paul Wright, former Superior Court judge, candidate for governor in 2012 and nominee for NC-04 in 2014

Declined

 * Mark Meadows, U.S. Representative (running for re-election)

Declared

 * Kevin Griffin, businessman
 * Ernest Reeves, retired U.S. Army captain, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and candidate for Mayor of Greenville in 2015
 * Chris Rey, Mayor of Spring Lake
 * Deborah Ross, former state representative

Declined

 * Dan Blue, Minority Leader of the North Carolina Senate and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002
 * Roy Cooper, North Carolina Attorney General (running for Governor)
 * Janet Cowell, North Carolina State Treasurer
 * Cal Cunningham, former state senator and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010
 * Joel Ford, state senator
 * Anthony Foxx, United States Secretary of Transportation and former Mayor of Charlotte
 * Kay Hagan, former U.S. Senator
 * Duane Hall, state representative
 * Larry Hall, Minority Leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives
 * Jeff Jackson, state senator
 * Allen Joines, Mayor of Winston-Salem (running for re-election)
 * Grier Martin, state representative
 * Nancy McFarlane, Independent Mayor of Raleigh
 * Mike McIntyre, former U.S. Representative
 * Charles Meeker, former mayor of Raleigh (running for Labor Commissioner)
 * Brad Miller, former U.S. Representative
 * Thomas W. Ross, outgoing president of the University of North Carolina system
 * Heath Shuler, former U.S. Representative
 * Josh Stein, state senator (running for Attorney General)
 * Allen M. Thomas, mayor of Greenville
 * Beth Wood, state auditor (running for re-election)

Declared

 * Sean Haugh, pizza delivery man and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2014

Candidates

 * Richard Burr (R), incumbent U.S. Senator
 * Sean Haugh (L), pizza delivery man and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2014
 * Deborah Ross (D), former state representative

Polling

 * With Burr


 * With Berger

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Bladen (largest town: Elizabethtown)
 * Martin (largest town: Williamston)
 * Robeson (largest city: Lumberton)
 * Union (largest city: Indian Trail)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

 * Guilford (largest municipality: Greensboro)
 * Forsyth (largest town: Winston-Salem)
 * Pitt (largest town: Greenville)
 * Wake (largest town: Raleigh)