The Democratic primary for the 2026 election isn’t scheduled until March, but the first punch has already been thrown in the contest for the state’s 12th Senate District covering Lee, Harnett and part of Sampson County.
Democrat Tanya White Anderson, a Linden resident who made an unsuccessful bid for the seat in 2024, has challenged the residency of Jheri Hardaway, whose campaign Facebook page describes her as an educator and journalist and whose filing paperwork and voter registration show a Dunn address.
White’s complaint to the Harnett County Board of Elections claims Hardaway lives in Morrisville based on the way her address is listed in VoteBuilder, organizing software used by the Democratic Party. The complaint also mentions Hardaway receiving traffic citations in 2024 and 2025, and claims she gave a North Carolina Driver’s License showing the Morrisville address.
The North Carolina Constitution requires legislative candidates to live in the district they’re seeking to represent for at least one year prior to the election – meaning that as long as Hardaway has lived at the Dunn address since early November of this year, she’d be eligible. According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Hardaway voted in Harnett County in the 2022 general election, the 2023 municipal election, the 2024 primary, and the 2024 general election. She voted in Wake County in 2008, 2012, and 2020.
The Harnett County Board of Elections scheduled a hearing on the challenge for 2 p.m. January 2 at the Harnett County Resource Center and Library.
Republican Jim Burgin has represented Senate District 12 since 2018 and is running for a fifth term in 2026. He faces a primary challenge of his own from former Harnett County Commissioner Tim McNeill. The Civitas Partisan Index rates Senate District 12 as R+9, or “likely Republican.”