Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning defeated Republican Christian Castelli in the 2022 election for North Carolina's 6th Congressional District

• Rep. Kathy Manning defeated Republican Christian Castelli in North Carolina's 6th Congressional District.
• Redistricting made the Triad-area seat less Democratic.
• Manning, who out-fundraised and outspent Castelli, was expected to hold on to her seat.

Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning defeated Republican Christian Castelli in North Carolina's 6th Congressional District.

Polls closed in the state at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

North Carolina's 6th Congressional District candidates

Manning, first elected in 2020, won a second term in office. She serves on the Education and Labor Committee and is a representative to the New Democrat Coalition and a member of the Bipartisan Taskforce to Combat Antisemitism.

Prior to her election to Congress, Manning worked in nonprofit organizations to expand access to early childhood education, college scholarships, and workforce development. She was also the first woman to chair the Board of the Jewish Federations of North America, one of the largest charitable, faith-based organizations in the world.

One of Congress' wealthiest members, Manning ran into trouble last year when she was late disclosing several dozen personal stock trades in violation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012.

Castelli, who ran against Manning, is an Army Special Forces veteran with decades of military service. After earning his green beret in 1998, he completed 12 deployments to hostile zones throughout Africa, Europe, South America, and South Asia, including five tours in Afghanistan and almost three years in combat.

Upon being promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2008, he served as a senior military advisor at the Pentagon, and following this assignment, he served as the inspector general for the US Army Special Forces Command. Castelli was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service.

Castelli defeated Lee Haywood — the nominee from the 2020 race — and five other candidates in the GOP primary.

Voting history for North Carolina's 6th Congressional District

North Carolina's 6th Congressional District includes Guilford County, Rockingham County, and almost all of Caswell County.

Joe Biden enjoyed a 24 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before the once-in-a-decade redistricting process following the 2020 Census made it less Democratic. The redrawn Triad-area seat would have had Biden winning with only a 12.4 percentage point margin.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Manning raised $2.84 million, spent $2.35 million, and had $800,000 cash on hand as of October 19. Her challenger, Castelli, raised $662,000, spent $583,000, and had $79,000 cash still left to spend as of October 19.

Super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups played only minor roles in this race, together spending just $76,000 to advocate for or against the candidates as of November 3. In contrast, some US House races attracted millions of dollars worth of outside spending.

What experts said

The race between Manning and Castelli was rated as "likely Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "likely Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.