On March 3, 2026, a primary election for the 26th district of the North Carolina Senate was held. The primary saw a battle between the current leader of the state Senate, Phil Berger, and the Rockingham County Sheriff, Sam Page. While Berger is widely viewed as being one of the most powerful North Carolina politicians, unofficial results detail that Page leads by a margin of 2 votes, with him having 13,077 votes compared to Berger's 13,075. On March 24th, Berger conceded the race.
Since 2011, Berger has been the leader of the North Carolina Senate. Page has been, since 1998, the sheriff of Rockingham County. The two candidates sought the Republican spot on the ballot for the 26th district, which has been represented by Berger since 2023, and by him, before then, from 2001 until 2019.
Berger received the endorsement of President Donald Trump, though both candidates attempted to align themselves with him. Page has described himself as a "passionate supporter" of Trump, and his campaign website states that he "stands with Donald Trump". Berger, while campaigning for the election, spent $10 million.
The unofficial returns for the primary election are as follows:
Of the two counties in the 26th district, Rockingham County and Guilford County, unofficial results detail that Page leads in Rockingham with 9,009 votes to Berger's 4,500, while in Guilford, Berger leads with 8,575 votes to Page's 4,068.
After the election was held, Page declared at his election party that he had won, while Berger announced that he would wait until further results were reported. In the two counties, a total of 189 provisional votes remain to be counted in the race, with 137 in Rockingham, and 52 in Guilford. The remaining provisional and absentee ballots will be counted and reviewed by March 6, while ballots mailed from overseas, with a deadline of being received by March 12, will be counted on March 13.