Bishop will now face Democrat Dan McCready in September special election
♦By Rich Shumate, ChickenFriedPolitics.com editor
CHARLOTTE (CFP) — State Senator Dan Bishop from Charlotte has easily won the Republican primary in North Carolina’s 9th U.S. House District and will now defend the seat against Democrat Dan McCready in a September special election.
Bishop took 48 percent in the May 14 vote, well above the 30 percent he needed to avoid a runoff.
State Senator Dan Bishop
Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing came in second at 20 percent, followed by former Mecklenburg County Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour at 16 percent.
McCready, who fell 900 votes short of winning the seat last November but got a second chance when the results of that election were tossed out, was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Bishop’s victory sets up what is likely to be an expensive special election contest against McCready that will garner national attention for a seat Democrats hope to flip.
In his victory speech, Bishop came out swinging against what he called “liberal crazy” ideas like “socialism, open borders, infanticide [and] 90 percent tax rates.”
“Dan McCready went through two elections without telling anyone where he stood on anything,” Bishop said. “Voters in the 9th District deserve a clear choice, and we’re going to give them one.”
The 9th District seat has been open since state elections officials refused to certify the results of last November’s election amid allegations of absentee ballot fraud by a contractor linked to the 2018 Republican nominee, Mark Harris.
After the State Board of Elections ordered a new vote, Harris — who had defeated McCready by just 900 votes in November — opted not to run, clearing the way for Republicans to pick a new candidate.
Bishop, 54, is a social conservative best known as one of the authors of North Carolina’s “bathroom bill,” a law passed in 2016 which required transgendered people to use the restroom assigned to their birth gender in public facilities. After a public outcry and organized boycotts of the state, the law was repealed in 2017.
His campaign has been endorsed by the North Carolina Values Coalition, a conservative group that supported the restroom restrictions.
McCready, 35, is a Marine Corps veteran and solar energy entrepreneur making his first bid for political office.
Since losing to Harris, McCready has raised more than $2 million and will start the general election campaign with a $1.6 million war chest.
The district stretches across south-central North Carolina from the Charlotte suburbs to near Fayetteville.
The special election will be held September 10.
Residents of the 9th District have been without representation in Congress since Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger left office in January.
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