A rare primary against Phil Berger could be an ‘earthquake moment’ in NC politics | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Phil Berger faces rare primary challenge from longtime sheriff Sam Page in 2026.
- Early campaigning and sharp rhetoric signal unusually intense legislative contest.
- A Berger loss could alter North Carolina power dynamics after 14 years of leadership.
One of the most important — and closely-watched — races of 2026 may be a race you haven’t heard anything about. It’s one that less than 100,000 North Carolinians will actually vote on, but its outcome will affect everyone in the state.
Senate leader Phil Berger, arguably the most powerful politician in North Carolina, is facing a rare primary challenge from Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page in N.C. Senate District 26. And if recent polls are to be believed, Berger has an uphill battle ahead of him.
The primary, which isn’t until March, has started early and gotten ugly. Berger started rolling out endorsements from politicians like U.S. Sen. Ted Budd two months ago. He’s boasting about how much money his campaign has already raised. His campaign has a “war room” account on X that launches missives at Page on a near-daily basis. (The account bills itself as “the unofficial fan page and rapid response defender of NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and his reelection campaign.”) That’s the kind of thing you’d expect to see for national campaigns, but not so much for the state legislature.
It’s unusual, of course, because it’s the first time Berger has faced a serious primary threat in more than two decades. But it also seems a bit unusual that a primary for a state legislative seat would become such an expensive and bare-knuckled affair — or that it would begin nearly a year before the actual election occurs. There have been some fierce primaries on the Democratic side, such as in 2022, when Gov. Roy Cooper endorsed the primary opponent of state Sen. Kirk deViere, or in 2024, when two Democrats that had occasionally sided with Republicans lost to primary challengers. But none have been quite as intense as this.
“It’s not that we’ve never seen primary challenges, even recently in North Carolina, but with this much on the line and this early and this nasty, it just feels like kind of the next level,” Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, said.
Starting the fight this early might seem a little silly. By the time polls actually open, voters aren’t going to remember which congressman endorsed Berger in May 2025, or that Page deleted a social media post about school choice in June. But the fact that voters won’t remember those details doesn’t mean they don’t matter, Cooper said. What happens now allows candidates to shape public perception of themselves and their opponent in a positive or negative way. And as Election Day nears, voters may already feel a certain way about the candidates, even if they don’t remember exactly why.
What makes this race particularly unique, though, is the candidates involved. If it were anyone else, the fight might not be nearly this intense. Berger, obviously, wields immense power. But Page, too, is well-known in the district, having served as sheriff since 1998. He’s also cultivated a national profile for himself by aligning closely with Donald Trump. As Cooper put it: “This isn’t David and Goliath. This is David and David going against each other.”
For the first time in a long, long time, Berger is campaigning like it’s a race he could actually lose. He’s legislating like it’s a race he could actually lose, too. Berger is the lead sponsor on seven bills this session, the most he’s introduced since becoming Senate leader 14 years ago, Axios Raleigh reported. He’s also been more publicly supportive of Trump’s agenda.
It’s a fascinating pivot, considering Republican legislators generally don’t have to campaign too hard for general elections, let alone primaries. The most powerful people in the legislature tend to be almost insulated by their own power, and they aren’t used to having to fight this hard to keep it. That’s the kind of thing that Page seems set on challenging — he thinks power in Raleigh is too concentrated and that Berger has lost touch with what matters to people back home.
The outcome of the race could have major consequences. A Page victory would prove that even the most powerful politician in North Carolina isn’t infallible. It would also mean unseating the man who has led the Senate since Republicans gained control of the legislature in the 2010 elections, and who has overseen the passage of every significant piece of legislation they’ve passed since. What would the Senate, and the legislature, look like without him?
“If Berger were to lose, that would be, I mean, a kind of an earthquake moment in North Carolina politics,” Cooper said. “And the vast majority of us don’t get any say.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A rare primary against Phil Berger could be an ‘earthquake moment’ in NC politics | Opinion."
