Republicans did not seriously contest this election given the strong Democratic tilt of the district, which has not elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives since Reconstruction nor been represented by a moderate to conservative Representative since 1992 when Walter B. Jones, Sr. (D), the father of former 3rd District Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr. (R) died.
Party primaries
Each party held a nominating convention to choose their nominee for the special election. Democrats nominated Superior Court Judge and former State Supreme Court Associate Justice G. K. Butterfield,[1] while Republicans chose security consultant Greg Dority.[2] Butterfield overwhelmingly won the election to fill out the rest of Ballance's unexpired term.[3] On the same day, he and Dority both won their respective parties' primaries and would face each other again in the November general election, which Butterfield would win.[4]