page_title: 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina
section_title: District 2
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in North Carolina / District 2
caption_attribution_description: English: Official portrait of Rep. Renee Ellmers
context_page_description: Elections were held on November 2, 2010 to determine North Carolina's 13 members of the United States House of Representatives. Representatives were elected for two-year-terms to serve in the 112th United States Congress from January 3, 2011 until January 3, 2013. Primary elections were held on May 4, 2010 and primary runoff elections were held on June 22, 2010.
  Of the 13 elections, the races in the 2nd, 8th and 11th districts were rated as competitive by Sabato's Crystal Ball, while the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 11th districts were rated as competitive by CQ Politics and The Rothenberg Political Report, and the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 11th districts were rated as competitive by The Cook Political Report. Of North Carolina's 13 incumbents, 12 were re-elected while one unsuccessfully sought re-election.
  In total, seven Democrats and six Republicans were elected. A total of 2,662,529 votes were cast, of which 1,440,913 were for Republican candidates, 1,204,635 were for Democratic candidates, 16,562 were for Libertarian candidates and 439 were for write-in candidates. As of 2016, this is the last time that Democrats won a majority of North Carolina's congressional districts.
context_section_description: The 2nd district included Sanford and parts of Fayetteville and Raleigh. The district's population was 58 percent white, 29 percent black and 11 percent Hispanic (see Race and ethnicity in the United States Census); 80 percent were high school graduates and 18 percent had received a bachelor's degree or higher. Its median income was $42,945. In the 2008 presidential election the district gave 52 percent of its vote to Democratic nominee Barack Obama and 47 percent to Republican nominee John McCain. In 2010 the district had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+2.
  Democrat Bob Etheridge, who took office in 1997, was the incumbent. Etheridge was re-elected in 2008 with 67 percent of the vote. In 2010 Etheridge's opponent in the general election was Republican nominee Renee Ellmers, a nurse. Libertarian Party nominee Tom Rose also ran. Etheridge was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Frank Deatrich, a retired businessman; and Todd Gailas, an auto dealer, also sought the Republican nomination.
  In June 2010 Etheridge was involved in an incident in which he grabbed a camera belonging to a pair of self-described students, one of whose wrists he then grabbed, before placing the student in a hug. One of the students had asked whether Etheridge supported "the Obama agenda", to which Etheridge replied "who are you?" The incident went viral on the internet and cable television, and led to a spike in financial contributions to Ellmers's campaign. Etheridge later issued an apology for grabbing the young man.
  Etheridge raised $1,414,630 and spent $1,904,688. Ellmers raised $1,118,736 and spent $886,608. Gailas raised $2,140 and spent $959.
  In a poll of 400 registered voters, conducted by SurveyUSA (SUSA) for the Civitas Institute (CI) in June 2010, Ellmers led with 39 percent to Etheridge's 38 percent, while 12 percent supported Rose and 11 percent were undecided. A poll of 400 registered voters, conducted by SUSA for CI in October 2010, found Ellmers leading with 46 percent to Etheridge's 41 percent while Rose had the support of 6 percent and 7 percent were undecided.
  Sabato's Crystal Ball rated the race as "likely Democrat", citing Etheridge's fundraising advantage over Ellmers. In October 2010 The Cook Political Report rated the race as "lean Democratic" and CQ Politics rated the race as "likely Democratic". In November 2010 The Rothenberg Political Report rated the race as "Toss-up/Tilt Democrat". Prior to the election FiveThirtyEight's forecast gave Ellmers a 55 percent chance of winning and projected that she would receive 47 percent of the vote to Etheridge's 46 percent, while Rose would receive 6 percent.
  On election day Ellmers was elected with 50 percent of the vote to Etheridge's 49 percent, while Rose received 2 percent. On November 4, 2010, Etheridge had yet to concede despite the Associated Press declaring Ellmers the winner. On November 12 Etheridge confirmed he would seek a recount, after which he conceded on November 19. Ellmers was again re-elected in 2012 and 2014. Etheridge unsuccessfully ran for Governor of North Carolina in 2012. In 2013 Etheridge was appointed to lead North Carolina's Farm Service Agency.
caption: Renee Ellmers, who was elected as the U.S. Representative for the 2nd district
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