ELIZABETHTOWN — State Sen. Dan Bishop has won the special election in North Carolina’s 9th District.
The election, called for because of voting irregularities in Bladen County that led to 11 people being arrested, still needs to be verified by the state Board of Elections. That process didn’t happen last November when Democrat Dan McCready was 905 votes shy of Republican Mark Harris.
With all 210 precincts reporting, Bishop unofficially tallied 96,081 votes to 92,144 for McCready, getting 50.7 percent of the vote to McCready’s 48.7 percent. In November, Harris had picked up 139,246 votes to McCready’s 138,341 — or 49.25 percent to 48.93 percent.
The canvass is Monday at 11 a.m.
Harris did not run in this election.
There are about 506,000 eligible voters in the district that stretches from the eastern side of Mecklenburg County to the southern boundary of Cumberland County and the northern part of Bladen County. Included in between are all of Union, Anson, Richmond, Scotland and Robeson counties.
Bishop wasn’t a candidate in the 2018 election cycle; Harris, a Baptist preacher from Charlotte, had defeated incumbent Robert Pittenger in the 2018 spring primary. The seat, in Republican hands since 1963, has been vacant since Congress convened in January.
“The voters said no to radical, liberal polices pushed by today’s Democratic Party,” Bishop said in a victory speech.
McCready’s concession speech squarely hit Bladen County’s political black eye.
“The people of North Carolina stood up and we faced down the full force of election fraud and voter suppression,” he said. “When the people in power sought to silence the voices of the voters, stole their ballots, forged signatures from them, filled in vote choices for them — we fought back and we won.”
The win was one of two for Republicans in North Carolina. In the 3rd District, where the seat occupied by the late Walter B. Jones Jr. was up for election, Dr. Greg Murphy captured almost 62 percent of the vote to beat Allen Thomas.
The wins leave the House with 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans and one independent. The GOP needs 19 seats in 2020 to take back control of the chamber.
In Bladen County, Bishop narrowly won the early votes over McCready 1,060 to 1,007. With all 12 precincts reporting, he had 59 percent of the vote, getting 3,494 to McCready’s 2,363.
The race also included Jeff Scott of the Libertarian Party and Allen Smith of the Green Party. Neither got even one-half of 1 percent of the vote throughout District 9.
McCready, 36, was labeled a centrist Democrat. He is a financier of solar energy projects.
Bishop, 55, is known as the architect of the bathroom bill, legislation dictating which public bathrooms transgender people can use. He’s a conservative who has aligned with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Campaign spending was heavier from the right. Outside groups contributed $6.4 million toward Bishop, $2.9 million toward McCready, and the Democratic candidate spent $4.5 million to the Republican hopeful’s $1.8 million.
The state board’s investigation resulted in no verification of the race, an evidentiary hearing that ended with even Harris saying he had doubt in the outcome. Eleven people have been arrested, led by the accused architect of an absentee ballot harvesting scheme, Bladenboro’s McCrae Dowless.
Harris hired Dowless, a two-time convicted felon who has worked as a political operative for both Democrats and Republicans. Also arrested were Lisa Britt, Ginger Eason, Woody Hester, James Singletary, Jessica Dowless, Kelly Hendrix, Caitlyn Croom, Tonia Marie Gordon, Matthew Monroe Mathis and Rebecca D. Thompson. All face charges related to illegal activities with an election.
There have been no convictions.
Voters at the White Lake Fire Department were among 5,890 in Bladen County to cast ballots.
Voters at the Bladenboro Historical Society building were among 5,890 in Bladen County to cast ballots.
State Sen. Dan Bishop, greeting supporters Tuesday in Monroe, won the 9th District special election Tuesday.
With his wife, Laura by his side, Democrat Dan McCready greets supporters after losing a special election for United States Congress in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District to Republican state Sen. Dan Bishop.
North Carolina 9th District Republican congressional candidate Dan Bishop celebrates his victory in Monroe on Tuesday night. Bishop defeated Dan McCready by a wider margin with fewer voters turning out than had the Rev. Mark Harris in the November election that the state board failed to verify.