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A Democratic primary is shaping up for the congressional seat held by 5th district Republican Virginia Foxx.

Elisabeth Motsinger, a Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board member and a Democrat, has filed paperwork to run for the seat. She plans to announce her candidacy Tuesday, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Treva Johnson, the Wilkes County Democratic Party chair, announced her candidacy last year.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary will find it a difficult race in a GOP-leaning district. Foxx also had $1.3 million in campaign treasury at the end of September.

Treva Johnson, the Wilkes County Democratic chair, is announcing her candidacy against Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx today.

Johnson will make the announcement at the Forsyth County Democratic Fish Fry at the Armory on Silas Creek Parkway at 5 p.m.

Johnson, who is from Roaring River, is state director of Omni Visions, a state-wide agency providing foster care.

Foxx represents the 5th district that has been a Republican stronghold under Foxx and before her under Rep. Richard Burr. But the new redistricting plan makes it somewhat less Republican-leaning in an effort to hurt Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler in an adjoining district.

Treva Johnson, the chairman of the Wilkes County Democratic Party, is exploring a possible challenge against Republican 5th District Rep. Virginia Foxx next year.

Johnson, 40 of Roaring Gap, is state director of Omni Visions, an agency that handles foster care and other social services. She said she would make a decision in the coming weeks about whether to make her first run for political office.

“Frankly, I am sick and tired of the games being played in Washington and I believe that most people in our region agree with me,” Johnson said. “So I am exploring the possibility of putting my name before the voters to go to Washington to apply new blood and effort to turning this deadlocked system around.”

The 5th district is Republican leaning, but was made less so under the redistricting plan drawn up by the GOP legislature.  The district includes Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin and parts of Forsyth, Iredell, and Rockingham Counties.