Richard Hudson

Richard Lane Hudson Jr. (born November 4, 1971) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 9th congressional district since 2013 (previously numbered the 8th district). A member of the Republican Party, his district covers a large part of the southern Piedmont area from Concord to Spring Lake.

Hudson was born in Franklin, Virginia, but has lived in the Charlotte area since childhood. He graduated from Myers Park High School in 1990. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and graduated Omicron Delta Kappa in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history. He also served as student body president and president of the College Republicans and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order social fraternity.

Active in politics for many years, Hudson served as district director for 8th District Congressman Robin Hayes from 1999 to 2005. At various times, he served on the staffs of Republicans Virginia Foxx, John Carter and Mike Conaway. He also served as communications director for the North Carolina Republican Party in the mid-1990s. In 1996 he worked on Richard Vinroot's campaign for governor, and in 2008 as campaign manager for Pat McCrory's run for governor. Hudson was the president of Cabarrus Marketing Group, a small business consulting and marketing company he started in 2011 and dissolved upon his election to Congress.

Hudson ran for Congress in North Carolina's 8th congressional district. He won the July 17 Republican primary runoff with 64% of the vote against Scott Keadle and faced Democratic incumbent Larry Kissell in November. The district had been made significantly more Republican in redistricting, losing most of its share of Charlotte and picking up several heavily Republican areas northeast of the city.

At a primary campaign event in April 2012, Hudson told a Tea Party group, "there's no question President Obama is hiding something on his citizenship." He later apologized for his comments and said he accepted that Obama was born in the United States.

Hudson spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, on August 28, 2012. He was elected with 54% of the vote to Kissell's 46% and took office in January 2013.

Hudson was opposed by Antonio Blue in the general election and won 64.9% to 35.1%.

In 2016, Hudson was challenged by Tim D'Annunzio in the primary election. He won with 64.6% of the vote to D'Annunzio's 35.4%. In the general election, Hudson defeated Democrat Thomas Mills 58.8%–41.2%.

In 2015, Hudson cosponsored a resolution to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. He voted against the pro-gay Respect for Marriage Act in both July and December 2022. In early 2026, he urged fellow Republican politicians to continue to campaign on opposing same-sex marriage, noting, "...some of these other issues are very important to key pieces of our base; it’s important to pay attention to those."

Hudson favors repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted to repeal it.

Hudson supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying, "At a time of grave security threats, President Trump is right to pause the flow of refugees from countries where terrorism is rampant until we can properly vet them and implement additional screening for individuals traveling to and from these countries."

Hudson supports Israel's right to defend itself. In 2023, he voted with an overwhelming bipartisan majority to provide Israel with whatever support is necessary in the "barbaric war" in Gaza started by Hamas and other organization following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.

Hudson supported President Trump's proposal from 2025 to send U.S. troops to take control of Gaza and remove the Gazans from the territory.

Hudson's wife, Renee, was chief of staff for Kellyanne Conway. Hudson attends Crossroads Church (Concord, North Carolina), which is a Global Methodist Church congregation.