作者：Arit John，美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
发布时间：2026年3月2日，美国东部时间上午7:00
当民主党呼吁“斗士”时，北卡罗来纳州众议员瓦莱丽·富西（Valerie Foushee）采取了更为低调的策略。她表示，自己的工作应当“用事实说话”。
“我不太在意聚光灯，更不在乎关注本身，”她称，“我最关心的是把工作做好。”
2022年，在原众议员戴维·普莱斯（David Price）退休后，富西击败了达勒姆县专员尼达·阿拉姆（Nida Allam）和其他六名民主党人，赢得了该选区的党内提名。此次重赛中，富西作为现任议员获得了数十名地方领袖以及现任和前任民主党州长乔希·斯坦（Josh Stein）与罗伊·库珀（Roy Cooper）的支持。
尽管有这些支持以及现任议员的优势地位，这场竞选仍被视为势均力敌。
周二北卡罗来纳州第4选区的初选，是民主党人将选派何种类型领袖前往华盛顿的首批全国性考验之一。选民将在一位低调的现任议员和一位推动彻底改革党内运作模式（从筹款方式到领导人信息传递）的年轻挑战者之间做出选择。
“我们需要国会议员不只是沉默，”阿拉姆表示，“我们需要国会议员、各级民选官员利用其平台和资源，揭露不公。”
两位候选人均自称为进步派，但在塑造这场竞选的关键问题上采取了不同立场。
阿拉姆主张废除美国移民海关执法局（ICE），而富西则未走得这么远——她支持一项削减该机构拘留或监控移民能力的法案。挑战者呼吁联邦层面暂停新建数据中心，包括选区正在考虑的一处设施（两位候选人对此均持反对态度）。现任议员则表示，这一权力应下放给地方社区，由社区自行决定是否暂停，直至联邦政府出台数据中心相关指南。
阿拉姆称以色列在加沙的战争是“种族灭绝”。富西虽未使用相同表述，但表示拒绝继续资助她所谓的“对加沙民众的无差别杀戮”，并支持立法禁止向以色列转移进攻性武器。（联合国一个委员会去年认定，在2023年10月7日哈马斯袭击之后，以色列在加沙地带的战争中犯下了种族灭绝罪，以色列对此予以否认。）
但阿拉姆最猛烈的批评集中在外部资金涌入竞选以支持富西。在两人首次对决中，富西受益于超级政治行动委员会（Super PAC）约300万美元的外部支出，这些资金来自与美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）和加密货币行业相关的团体。尽管富西此次拒绝了AIPAC的资金，但她仍获得了后期支出的推动，其中包括与人工智能公司 Anthropic 相关的超级政治行动委员会“就业与民主超级PAC”的支持。
这笔支出超过了阿拉姆的筹款优势，以及自由派团体（包括正义民主党、我们应得领袖和美国优先）支持她挑战时的投入。美国优先是一个旨在抵消AIPAC影响力的超级政治行动委员会。
阿拉姆还批评富西接受国防承包商和制药公司的企业政治行动委员会（PAC）捐款，认为候选人若接受这些资金，就无法倡导结束加沙战争或“全民医保”。富西回应称，资金来自在该选区创造就业机会的企业，并挑战对手指出其哪一次投票受捐款影响。
“看看我的投票记录，告诉我你能否认定……我受制于任何企业，并且这些投票不反映我所在选区的价值观，”她说。
现任议员予以反击
69岁的富西在该地区根基深厚。她在教堂山长大，就读于种族隔离时期的小学，近30年前开始其政治生涯，当时她在当地学区委员会任职，为有色人种学生发声。她成为首位担任橙县委员会主席的黑人女性（其家乡位于该县），之后先后在州议会众议院和参议院任职。
她的盟友对那些将她描绘为与特殊利益集团挂钩的广告感到不满，尤其是一段电视广告，其中韦克县民主党主席韦斯利·诺特（Wesley Knott）称富西“只为大人物工作”。
韦克县学区委员会主席泰勒·斯旺森（Tyler Swanson）表示，这段广告促使他和该地区50多名黑人领袖签署了一封支持富西的背书信。
“关于她的履历存在大量误导信息，这令人反感、沮丧且警觉，”斯旺森说，“这就是我站出来并联合黑人民选官员反击并扭转这一叙事的原因。”
富西反驳了将她与其他在国会任职数十年的年长现任议员归为一类的企图。尽管如此，她还是强调自己在国会的经验、过往民选职位、作为排名成员的小组委员会领导地位，以及为该选区争取到的资金，以此证明自己在华盛顿的工作成效。
“我只是想弄清楚‘进步’究竟意味着什么，你会认为一个从底层奋斗到这一职位、并担任领导职务的黑人女性，突然就该被替换吗？”她问道，“请帮我理解这一点，以及你所认为的进步议程是什么。”
厌倦现状
阿拉姆表示，这场竞选并非关乎年龄，而是反对特朗普政府以及企业和黑暗资金集团对政治的影响力。
“我认为自己是这一波厌倦现状的人群中的一员，”她告诉CNN，“我与该选区的居民并肩前行，亲身经历着他们的生活：既要偿还学生贷款，又要平衡养育两个孩子所需的 childcare（儿童托管）费用。”
阿拉姆在2015年经历了三位亲密朋友（均为穆斯林美国人）被邻居枪杀的事件（这起事件被许多人视为仇恨犯罪）后投身政治。不久后，她加入了参议员伯尼·桑德斯（Bernie Sanders）2016年的竞选团队，桑德斯为她的国会竞选背书，并于今年2月在达勒姆与她举行集会。此后，她当选为州民主党执行委员会成员，并在2020年赢得达勒姆县委员会席位，成为该州历史上首位当选任何政治职位的穆斯林女性。
她的故事与该选区许多居民相似——她出生于加拿大，父母是印度和巴基斯坦移民，儿时随家人迁居至此。达勒姆都会区的人口增长速度远超全国平均水平，部分得益于移民。经过2023年重新划界后新增的韦克县选区部分，包含大量亚裔美国人。
北卡罗来纳州艾佩克斯市议员、中国移民苏穆（Sue Mu）表示，尽管她尊重富西及其对该选区的贡献，但因阿拉姆能够与年轻选民建立联系而支持她。
“她年轻且充满激情，反映了当前北卡罗来纳州第4国会选区的多样性、活力和生活经历，”苏穆说。
在地方层面，阿拉姆获得的支持少于富西。她最突出的背书之一来自韦克县民主党主席诺特。尽管政党主席通常应保持中立，但诺特表示，他认为有必要介入，因为民主党在选民中的声誉大幅下滑。他称，民主党需要能够有效斗争的领袖，而这需要有明确的立场。
“尊重富西议员，但众议院的工作不仅是在法案投票时说‘是’或‘否’，更重要的是发声和沟通，”他说。
（配图：2025年12月18日，众议员瓦莱丽·富西出席国会山新闻发布会。Andrew Harnik/Getty Images）
（配图：2022年5月17日，尼达·阿拉姆在教堂山投票站外参加北卡罗来纳州第4国会选区民主党提名初选。Jonathan Drake/Reuters）
Democratic challengers say incumbents aren’t fighting hard enough. This North Carolina primary will test that
By Arit John, CNN
Published Mar 2, 2026, 7:00 AM ET
At a time when the Democratic Party is calling for fighters, Rep. Valerie Foushee of North Carolina takes a quieter approach. Her work, she said, should speak for itself.
“I don’t care a whole lot about the limelight. I care even less about attention,” she said. “What I care most about is getting the job done.”
In 2022, Foushee beat Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam and six other Democrats to win the party’s nomination for the district after former Rep. David Price retired. This time around, in a rematch with Allam, the incumbent has the backing of dozens of local leaders, as well as the current and former Democratic governors, Josh Stein and Roy Cooper.
Despite that support — and the power of incumbency — the race is seen as competitive.
Tuesday’s primary in North Carolina’s 4th District offers one of the first national tests of what kind of leaders Democrats want to send to Washington. Voters will choose between an incumbent who keeps a low profile and a younger challenger pushing to change everything about the party, from how it raises money to how its leaders get their message out.
“We need our members of Congress to not just be quiet,” Allam said. “We need our members of Congress, our elected officials at all levels, to be using their platform, using their resources, to call out injustices.”
Both candidates identify as progressives but take different approaches on the key issues shaping the race.
Allam wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee doesn’t go that far — she has backed a bill to defund the agency’s ability to detain or monitor immigrants. The challenger has called for a federal moratorium on new data centers, including a facility being considered for the district that both candidates oppose. The incumbent has said that power should be left to local communities, which should issue moratoriums until the federal government releases guidelines on data centers.
Allam calls Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide. Foushee has not used the same term, but said she refuses to continue funding what she called the “indiscriminate killing of people in Gaza” and backed legislation to stop the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel. (A UN commission found last year that Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip in its war following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, a finding Israel rejects.)
But Allam’s biggest criticism has been outside money pouring into the race to boost Foushee. In their first matchup, Foushee benefited from roughly $3 million in outside spending from super PACs aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the cryptocurrency industry. Though Foushee has rejected AIPAC funding in this race, she’s being boosted by a late surge in spending, including from the Jobs and Democracy PAC, a super PAC aligned with the AI company Anthropic.
That spending has eclipsed Allam’s fundraising advantage and the money spent backing her challenge from liberal groups including Justice Democrats, Leaders We Deserve and American Priorities, a super PAC aiming to counter AIPAC’s influence.
Allam has also criticized Foushee’s corporate PAC donations from defense contractors and pharmaceutical companies, arguing that a candidate can’t advocate for ending the war in Gaza or “Medicare for All” while accepting those contributions. Foushee said the money comes from companies that create jobs in the district and challenged her opponent to point to a vote that was colored by her contributions.
“Look at my voting record and tell me if you can determine that … I am beholden to any corporation and that those votes are not representative of the values of my district,” she said.
An incumbent pushes back
Foushee, 69, has deep roots in the region. She attended segregated elementary schools growing up in Chapel Hill and began her political career nearly 30 years ago on her local school board to advocate for students of color. She became the first Black woman to chair the Orange County Board of Commissioners, where her hometown is located, then served in the state House and Senate.
Her allies have bristled at ads portraying her as tied to special interests, particularly a TV spot featuring Wake County Democratic Party Chair Wesley Knott in which he says Foushee “only works for the big guys.”
Rep. Valerie Foushee attends a news conference on Capitol Hill on December 18, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Tyler Swanson, the chair of the Wake County school board, said the ad motivated him and more than 50 Black leaders in the district to sign an endorsement letter backing Foushee.
“There’s a lot of misinformation that is around her record that is off-putting, and that is disheartening, and that is alarming,” Swanson said. “That is why I stood up and organized with Black electeds to push back and change this narrative.”
Foushee has pushed back on efforts to lump her in with other older incumbents who’ve spent decades in Congress while she has been in office for three years. Still, she pointed to her experience in Congress and her past elected positions, her subcommittee leadership position as a ranking member, and the funding she’s delivered to the district as evidence of her effectiveness in Washington.
“I’m just trying to figure out what it really means to be progressive, that you would decide that a Black female who has worked her way up to this point, and being put in leadership positions, all of a sudden it’s time for her to go?” she said. “Please help that make sense to me and what you believe is a progressive agenda.”
Tired of the status quo
Allam said this race isn’t about age but about pushing back on the Trump administration and the influence that corporations and dark money groups have on politics.
“I view myself as part of this wave of people who are sick and tired of the status quo,” she told CNN. “I’m right there alongside the residents of this district, living through their lived experiences of balancing paying off student debt, balancing the fact that I have two children that we have to put through child care.”
Allam got involved in politics after three of her close friends, all Muslim Americans, were shot and killed in 2015 by a neighbor in an incident viewed by many as a hate crime. Soon after she joined the 2016 political campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed her congressional bids and rallied with her in Durham in February. From there, she was elected to the state Democratic Party’s executive council and, in 2020, won a seat on the Durham County Board of Commissioners, becoming the first Muslim woman elected to any political position in the state’s history.
Nida Allam, who is vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination for Congress in North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, outside a polling station during primary elections in Chapel Hill on May 17, 2022.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters
Her story is similar to many in the district — she was born in Canada to Indian and Pakistani immigrants and moved to the region as a child. The Durham metro area has experienced population growth far outpacing the national average, fueled in part by immigration. The Wake County part of the seat, which was added after redistricting in 2023, includes a sizable Asian American population.
Sue Mu, a council member in Apex, North Carolina, and an immigrant from China, said that though she respects Foushee and her contributions to the district, she endorsed Allam due to her ability to connect with younger voters.
“She’s young and full of passion, and she reflects the diversity, energy and lived experience of North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District today,” Mu said.
Locally, Allam has received less support than Foushee. One of her most prominent endorsements has come from Knott, the Wake County Democratic Party chair. While party chairs are traditionally neutral, Knott said it was important to get involved because his party’s reputation has plummeted with voters. Democrats need leaders who can fight effectively, he said, which requires having a platform.
“With all due respect to Rep. Foushee, the job is getting attention and communicating as much as it is voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on things that come to the floor of the House,” he said.