NC elections board votes to disqualify Republican U.S. Senate candidate
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- State board rules on residency challenge against Republican Senate candidate Margot Dupre.
- Complaint alleges she lives in Florida and listed a UPS store as her NC address.
- Dupre defends herself at Wednesday’s meeting after a previous hearing was delayed.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections disqualified a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate on Wednesday, finding that she did not meet the residency requirement to run for office.
The candidate, Margot Dupre, was one of seven Republicans running for the seat being vacated by Sen. Thom Tillis. A fellow Republican, Jerry Reinoehl, filed a complaint against Dupre last month, alleging that she actually lives in Florida.
In a 3-1 vote, the board upheld Reinoehl’s challenge, finding that Dupre hadn’t met the requirements to run for Senate.
Speaking to reporters, Dupre said she planned to appeal the board’s decision in court.
Republican primary ballots have already been printed with Dupre’s name on them, but her candidacy is now disqualified. She can, however, still run as an unaffiliated or write-in candidate in the general election.
Reinoehl’s complaint revolved around the fact that the address listed on Dupre’s North Carolina voter registration is not actually a home, but rather a UPS store in a Charlotte strip mall. He also provided evidence that she had voted in Florida in 2024 and Idaho in 2025.
“It saddens me challenging the candidacy of a fellow Republican to one of the most important and prestigious elected offices in our republic,” Reinoehl said at Wednesday’s hearing. “I saw something and said something.”
‘Glamper’ cited as residence
Dupre denied Reinoehl’s claims, saying she had been living in North Carolina for months and used the UPS address because she had been travelling the state on her campaign.
“I have a ‘glamper’ — a very expensive camper that I travel the state with, and that was my home,” she said.
In addition to photos of her camper, Dupre provided board members with receipts from hotel stays and emails she’d exchanged with a North Carolina real estate agent to prove her residency.
She did, however, tell the board that she owns property in Florida, houses her horses there and has currently parked her camper there.
“I am an American citizen,” she said. “I have chosen North Carolina as my home. There’s nothing illegal here.”
Ultimately, the board decided that Dupre had not established residence.
“The candidate could have gotten a rental property or some other way of definitively showing roots in the state,” board member Bob Rucho, a Republican, said. “Therefore we wouldn’t need to be here today discussing this issue.”
Siobhan Millen, one of the board’s two Democrats, was the only member to vote in Dupre’s favor. She said the law makes it difficult for people who live a nomadic lifestyle.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say they have no voting residence because they’re nomadic,” Millen said.
The elections board held an initial hearing on Dupre’s candidacy last week, but she refused to answer questions, saying she needed more time to find a lawyer. At Wednesday’s hearing, she represented herself, saying he had been unable to find an attorney.
Michael Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee, is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. If he wins the primary, he’ll likely face off against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in November.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "NC elections board votes to disqualify Republican U.S. Senate candidate."
