Republican Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has conceded defeat to North Carolina Democrat Richard Ojeda in the race for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
Hudson surrendered in a statement obtained by Politico and the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday afternoon, saying he “respects” the people’s vote and that he personally called Ojeda to congratulate him.
Ojeda, a retired Army major and former West Virginia senator who launched a brief presidential run for 2020, was leading Hudson by about 2 percentage points, according to NBC News and The Associated Press.
With his win, Ojeda becomes the first Democrat to hold the district since 1963.
Ojeda hailed his victory as achieving the impossible in a speech Tuesday night, while trashing his opponent as “one of the most powerful and corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C.”
“A man with political connections, the billionaire donors, and the entire Washington establishment standing beside him,” he said of Hudson, who has been in Congress since 2013.
“I spent 24 years in the Army, and I’ve been in some hard fights. This is the one I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Ojeda.