Like many representatives in 2010, Bob Etheridge is an erstwhile safe Democrat who hasn’t faced serious competition in the past. A seven-term congressman from Raleigh’s southern and eastern suburbs and farm country, Etheridge is a former tobacco farmer and state legislator with moderate social views and New Deal rural politics. It’s seemingly a perfect fit for a Southern district not quite ready to cast its lot with the GOP.

But the Second Congressional District could be outgrowing its native son. Republican challenger Renee Ellmers, a Michigan native who moved to the North Carolina with her husband and children, appeals more to the state’s service and technology future than its tobacco farming past.