{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nDr. Richard William Hudspeth (Democrat) ran for NC's 11th Congressional District (western NC) in the 2026 Democratic primary.\n\nHe campaigned on expanding rural healthcare access, lowering costs for families, and moving toward a national health system guaranteeing affordable care for all Americans.\n\n## Background and education\nHudspeth earned a bachelor's degree from Duke University and an M.D. from the UNC School of Medicine [1].\n\n## Career\nHudspeth practiced as a family physician in western North Carolina for more than two decades and later served as CEO of Blue Ridge Health, a federally qualified health center providing primary care across nine rural counties in Western North Carolina [1].\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [About Dr. Richard Hudspeth \u2014 Campaign Website](https://web.archive.org/web/20260306144434/https://richardhudspethforcongress.com/about/) (original site is offline as of July 2026; archived via Wayback Machine, captured 2026-03-06)\n- [2] [5 Democratic Candidates Debate NC-11 \u2014 WLOS](https://wlos.com/elections/district-11-democratic-candidates-border-security-immigration-north-carolina-jamie-ager-zelda-briarwood-richard-hudspeth-lee-whipple)\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"us_house_011","county":null,"county_count":0,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Us House Of Representatives District 11"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Richard","fullname":"Richard William Hudspeth","lastname":"Hudspeth","middlename":"William","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"us_house_011","contest_title":"Us House Of Representatives District 11","county":null,"county_count":0,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":null,"office_key":"us_house","office_title":"U.S. Representative","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":null,"cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"us_house_011","contest_title":"Us House Of Representatives District 11","county":null,"county_count":0,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":null,"office_key":"us_house","office_title":"U.S. Representative","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"DEM","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"us_house","office_title":"U.S. Representative","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"terms":[],"token":"b818949dccc1c795"}