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With 71 percent of precincts reporting unofficial returns Tuesday night, Jones had 60 percent of the vote in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. Challenger Joe McLaughlin had 40 percent of the vote and lost 14 out of 17 counties. Jones said in a phone interview from his home in Farmville, N.C., that he ran a positive campaign focused on his record.

“I think I know this district and the people have spoken,” he said. Jones, a seven-term congressman who famously pushed to bring “freedom fries” to the U.S. House cafeteria in a symbolic protest of French opposition to the Iraq war, had previously been considered a safe incumbent.

But his increasing stand against the war during the past two years has placed him at odds with the Republican Party in his district, home to the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune and other bases. Jones wrote to President Bush to oppose the 2007 boost in troop levels and was one of two GOP congressmen to vote against the administration’s terrorist surveillance program. Jones was also one of a handful of Republican congressmen to vote in favor of a timetable for troop withdrawals last year. He said the primary win shows that Republicans in the third district support a new plan in Iraq.

“I think more and more Republicans are starting to understand after five years that the Iraqis need to step up and take responsibility,” Jones said. Jones retained some strong military support in his district, particularly among retired Marines and other veterans. “We are close to the veterans and they knew it,” Jones said. McLaughlin, a former Army officer at Fort Bragg and county commissioner in the community that surrounds Camp Lejeune, could not be reached for comment.

Doug Raymond, McLaughlin’s campaign director, said Jones did a good job of avoiding the war and pushing out his positives. “The most important thing in politics is name recognition and money, and he had both of those,” Raymond said. Jones will face Democrat Craig Weber in November, a rematch of the 2006 general election. Freshman Rep.

Heath Shuler was one of the nine members of the 13-member delegation who didn’t face a primary opponent and will cruise uncontested to the November election. A former football star at the University of Tennessee, Shuler won western North Carolina’s 11th District by nearly 8 percentage points two years ago. Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower emerged from three Republican candidates to face Shuler as the GOP tries to unseat the only freshman in the state’s delegation to the U.S. House.

Mumpower narrowly defeated former Henderson County GOP chairman Spence Campbell, 48 percent to 42 percent with all precincts reporting. Highlands attorney John Armor had 10 percent in the unofficial results. A moderate who defends gun rights and opposes abortion, Shuler has been careful not to upset conservative voters in his district. He has broken with his party on several occasions, including last month when he voted against a Democratic budget that he didn’t think did enough to protect tax cuts targeted to the middle class.

Shuler, a Democratic superdelegate, said Monday that he plans to endorse the Democratic presidential candidate who wins the most votes in his district. Four other members of North Carolina’s House delegation faced primary challenges. Incumbents GOP Reps.

Sue Myrick of Charlotte and Patrick McHenry of Cherryville along with Democratic Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh, all won. McHenry will face Democrat Daniel Johnson for the 10th district.

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