Rep. Allen Buansi will represent Chapel Hill and Carrboro in the North Carolina House of Representatives for another two years.
With all precincts reporting in the two towns, Buansi held a 86.3% vote advantage over Republican candidate Jeffrey Hoagland in the race for NC House District 56. The win, which will be certified later by the state Board of Elections, is Buansi’s second at the state government level after he earned election to the same seat in 2022. He also was appointed to the role early after winning the primary election and facing an unopposed general contest.
A Chapel Hill native, Buansi served on the Chapel Hill Town Council before making the jump to the General Assembly. He is a civil rights lawyer, and saw one of his first pieces of primary-sponsored legislation passed in the last session: a measure to add a Venus flytrap license plate design to North Carolina’s rolodex of plate options.
In an interview with Chapelboro Tuesday night, Buansi credited his campaign team for their work over the election cycle and thanked “not only the voters, but also the folks who were willing to chip in their time, energy and resources to the campaign.
“It’s really humbling to see the kind of support I’ve been able to garner over the past couple of years,” the District 56 representative said. “To be elected [on] the first go-around was extremely humbling, and to be re-elected now is extremely humbling again.”
In the conversation, Buansi said he looks forward to bringing the experience from his first term and appointment period to the state House once again. And that experience, he said, is alongside the community’s values of values of inclusivity and equal opportunity to the state government.
“I certainly will continue to bring those kinds of values that I’ve been inculcated with in Chapel Hill to the General Assembly,” Buansi said. “I will never back down from the need to make sure we fully fund our public schools, making sure every child has an opportunity to pursue their dream and get ahead. I’ll never back down from the need for quality healthcare access for everyone in this state, including in our more rural areas.”
“I’m still committed,” he added, “to making sure I put our people first, and making sure I keep an open door to everyone in our community and beyond in North Carolina.”
Buansi also said among his “consistent priorities” are fighting climate change, improving housing shortages, and expanding broadband access — elements he describes as achieving an overall vision of “an affordable, accessible and inclusive North Carolina.” He pointed to the Democrats’ opportunity to break the Republican-held supermajority in both chambers as critical for making progress on those goals, and the unofficial results tentatively show the Democratic Party having earned one net positive seat in the legislature to re-gain the governor’s veto power.
Orange County’s other seat in the North Carolina House, District 50, was unopposed in this election cycle. Democrat Renée Price earned a second two-year term after drawing no challengers during either the primary or general races. Price shared a statement with Chapelboro about continuing her work in the General Assembly and experience while still campaigning to voters this fall:
“While I ran unopposed, I am very grateful and thankful to everyone who voted for me in the 2024 election. Thank you! Your vote of confidence resonates deeply within me, and please know that I will persist in representing our shared concerns, values and ideals in the North Carolina House of Representatives.“Canvassing, lit dropping and working at the polls during these past several weeks gave me the opportunity to meet and speak with many more people in Orange and Caswell Counties. Each conversation gives me added encouragement, despite the odds, to work to sustain the fight for our rights, freedom and justice.“Being a Democrat, I am extremely delighted that Josh Stein is our Governor-Elect, and I look forward to collaborating with him in this new capacity. Also, we broke the supermajority in the House, and I am excited about coordinating with our newly elected and re-elected Dem Caucus members…as well as all members of the House.”
For more election results across North Carolina and the nation, click here.
Featured image via Allen Buansi for NC.
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