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At the close of Tuesday’s Primary, the battle lines are drawn to see who will represent North Carolina’s First Congressional District next year.

The unofficial results from the Democratic Primary show Don Davis cruising to an easy win while Sandy Smith won a bitter battle over Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson on the Republican side of the ballot.

Davis, a Pitt County resident currently in his sixth term in the North Carolina Senate, easily outdistanced former state senator and Northampton County School Board member Erica Smith of Henrico.

Davis collected 42,498 votes across the district, which includes all or parts of 18 counties. Smith finished second with 20,906 votes followed by Jason Albert Spriggs (2,115), and Julian C. Bishop Sr. (1,748).

Smith topped the voting in six counties, to include Northampton where she was named on 2,381 ballots compared to 1,151 for Davis. The remainder of the R-C area counties favored Davis: 1,165-877 in Hertford; 1,594-1,120 in Bertie; and 534-373 in Gates. He also won by wide margins (65 percent or more of the vote) in Warren, Franklin, Nash, Edgecombe, Wilson, Greene, and Pitt counties.

On the Republican side, Smith, a mother of four residing in Pitt County, topped the ballot in 12 counties en route to defeating Roberson, 13,571 – 11,563.

Smith was the leading vote-getter over Roberson in all four Roanoke-Chowan area counties: 183-153 in Bertie; 197-98 in Gates; 170-111 in Hertford; and 172-124 in Northampton.

Rounding out the field vying for the Republican nomination for the 1^st District seat were Billy Strickland (6,020), Brent Roberson (5,967), Brad Murphy (4,108), Will Aiken (1,274), Ernest Reeves (517), and Henry Williams II (201).

North Carolina’s First Congressional District has been represented by G.K. Butterfield since 2004. He announced his retirement earlier this year.