North Carolina Republicans looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Rep. Don Davis are trying to make the House race about China.
In the past week, Republicans have placed two ads highlighting Davis’ voting record on policy involving China. With a large military footprint in the district, Republicans say concern about China as a national security threat is growing among voters in eastern North Carolina.
Davis, meanwhile, not only rejects all his opponent’s attacks, but also their premise: Voters in his district aren’t casting a ballot on China policy, he told NOTUS.
"[Republicans] will do and say anything to misguide the voters on my record with China,” Davis said of the messages his Republican challenger, Laurie Buckhout, has campaigned on. “I’ve been strong on China and it seems like they’re willing to do whatever to win an election, but above that, to create a distraction from the issues that people in eastern North Carolina talk about all the time.”
Democrats can’t afford to lose many House races as they vie for the majority, and Davis’ seat is their best hope at holding on to a competitive seat in North Carolina. The largely rural district is also an area Democrats have renewed focus on this election cycle, especially as North Carolina looks increasingly in play.
In one of his Republican opponent’s claims, Davis has been accused of voting to use tax dollars to buy Chinese drones after voting against a fiscal 2024 Homeland Security appropriations bill, which included a measure prohibiting the use of funds “to purchase, maintain, or continue to operate any unmanned aircraft systems that are manufactured in the People’s Republic of China.”
He co-sponsored the American Security Drone Act of 2023, which restricts the obtaining “of any covered unmanned aircraft system that is manufactured or assembled by a covered foreign entity.” This was included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which Davis voted for and was signed into law. His vote against the DHS appropriations bill was related to its cuts to funding for natural disaster and resiliency initiatives, cuts to TSA worker pay and cuts to funding for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s border-management requirements, Davis’ team told NOTUS.
“What I think they’re misrepresenting is that we actually voted for the provision that they’re claiming that I don’t support,” Davis said in response.
Republicans’ ads also say Davis backed a bill that could send China billions of dollars for manufacturing jobs that could’ve come to North Carolina, referring to his support of the Inflation Reduction Act. (The claim that the IRA shipped jobs to China has been reported as false.)
“Part of the problem with the Davis record is he seems as concerned with supporting big business in China as he is with supporting small business in the 1st Congressional District, and that’s not right,” Jonathan Felts, spokesman for Buckhout’s campaign, told NOTUS.
Felts said the acquisition of farmlands in the region by Chinese owned companies is another clear concern for North Carolinians. A map reported by NPR shows that over 6,000 acres of farmland in Davis’ congressional district are owned by Chinese-owned companies such as Smithfield Foods.
“The pattern of where they make these strategic investments and acquisitions lines up around farmland, lines up near military bases,” Matt Mercer, communications director for the North Carolina GOP, told NOTUS. “It’s very easy to draw the line that they’re doing this to keep tabs on our national security. And I think anyone who cares and loves our country is deeply concerned about a foreign adversary doing that.”
Though it is only a tiny portion of foreign-owned land in the country, purchases by Chinese-owned companies have caught the attention of federal lawmakers. In one example from 2023, the Fufeng Group, a Chinese firm, bought land just 12 miles away from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota in which they proposed building a corn mill. A spokesperson from the Department of the Air Force at the time told lawmakers that the rejected proposal “presents a significant threat to national security.”
A bill prohibiting the sale of agricultural land to China has not yet passed at the federal level, but there are still active efforts to pass such a law.
Davis voted in September to pass the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024. The law would require the Committee on Foreign Investments to determine whether a national-security review is necessary for agricultural land transactions that are referred by the Department of Agriculture. The law passed in the House and has been referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in the Senate.
Davis’ allies, including his 1st District predecessor, G.K. Butterfield, still say Republicans’ focus on this issue is a dead end.
“That’s a campaign of desperation,” Butterfield told NOTUS. “I know it when I see it. North Carolina voters are worried about pocketbook issues. They don’t give a damn about some Chinese company buying some land in eastern North Carolina.”
“I hope Laurie Buckhout keeps on doing these ads because they’re not resonating with anyone,” Butterfield added. “This issue will not result in one single vote loss from the Davis campaign.”
Davis, who leads Buckhout by over $500,000 in money raised this cycle, and who has more than $2 million more in cash on hand, says he won’t give much time to Republicans’ claims about his record on China.
“I’m a 1994 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and I serve on the House Armed Services Committee,” Davis said. “I’m aware of China’s threats to our national security ... I see this as an attempt to be a distraction, and I’m going to stay focused on the people.”
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Calen Razor is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.