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Another Republican from North Carolina took to the stage on the Midterm Republican National Convention on Thursday afternoon in a push for support in her campaign for Congress.
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Laurie Buckhout, 65, a Republican from Edenton, was in Dallas to highlight President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act.
Buckhout is running against two-term incumbent Rep. Don Davis, 55, a Democrat from Snow Hill, in the 1st Congressional District, the largest district in North Carolina.
Buckhout introduced herself as a veteran of nearly 30 years in the U.S. Army.
“In combat, I was responsible for the lives of over 800 soldiers,” Buckhout said. “In that job, you do not get to make excuses. You promise to lead, and you either lead or people get hurt or worse. I led.”
Buckhout added that Republicans made a promise to cut taxes for working families and kept their promises by preventing waitresses from paying taxes on tips or nurses from being taxed on overtime pay.
“We call them the working family tax cuts because that’s exactly who they’re for,” Buckhout said. “Bigger refunds. Lower bills. More money staying where it belongs: in the pocket of the people who earned them.”
Just moments before Buckhout spoke, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Police Sgt. Sam Elias, a father of six, joined her on stage to talk about how being exempt from taxes on overtime pay has been beneficial.
“President Trump and the Republicans have put working Americans like me at the center of the conversation today,” Elias said.
Buckhout also used the moment to attack her campaign opponent, who grew up in the current-iteration of the district and also served in the U.S. Army.
She said that Davis voted against the bill and American’s paychecks.
Davis did vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a massive piece of legislation that fulfilled many of the promises Trump made during his 2024 campaign, including no taxes on tips. But he made clear he voted against the bill because of the impact that it would have on Medicaid recipients in North Carolina.
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That same concern caused Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, to publicly feud with the president and end his reelection campaign. Tillis said it could cost 600,000 people their Medicaid coverage and put rural hospitals at risk.
The 1st Congressional District is in the state’s northeastern counties and has pockets of low income residents.
Following the vote, Davis and other members of the delegation pushed for $213 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the Rural Health Transformation Program to expand access to rural healthcare access.
“Laurie Buckhout has her facts wrong and her values backwards,” said Hannah Spengler, senior adviser to Davis’ campaign. “Congressman Davis led members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation in fighting for these rural health dollars, backing an application that had bipartisan support across our delegation. Yes, he opposed the underlying bill because of the damage it would do to health care in eastern North Carolina. But once it became law, he did his job and fought to make sure North Carolina got every federal dollar available to help our rural communities.”
Spengler added that Buckhout “can’t even get her timeline” correct.
“Apparently, Laurie Buckhout thinks that if you oppose a bill, you should sit on your hands and let hundreds of millions of dollars sit on the table,” Spengler said. “Congressman Davis believes his job is to fight for eastern North Carolina every single day, regardless of who gets the political credit.”
Davis succeeded long-term Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who retired after the district was racially gerrymandered to dilute the Black vote. Both Davis and Butterfield are Black.
Republicans redistricted the 1st and 3rd Congressional districts for this election cycle, taking Davis’ district from a toss-up to one that leans Republican, on paper. Though the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia ranks the district a toss-up because the political climate is good for Democrats going into the midterms.
Buckhout is in her second race against Davis.
After serving in the Army, Buckhout, who grew up in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia, began her own electronic warfare and cyberspace operations consulting company that she later sold for $9 million.
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In 2025, she served as Trump’s assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy.
This story was originally published September 10, 2026 at 5:47 PM.