In the last undecided race of the 2018 mid term elections for the U.S. House, Republican Dan Bishop was the winner in North Carolina's Ninth Congressional District on Tuesday night, as Republicans overcame a wave of financial help for Democrat Dan McCready, keeping the seat in GOP hands.
Republicans had originally won this seat in 2018 with a different candidate, Mark Harris - who won over McCready by just under a thousand votes. But that result was tossed out after substantial evidence of GOP absentee ballot election fraud was uncovered after the elections.
Republicans also won a second special election in North Carolina on Tuesday night, as Greg Murphy won a comfortable victory in the Third district, replacing Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), who died in February.
The Bishop win was a relief for national Republicans, especially after a late visit by both the President and Vice President on Monday.
BREAKING: RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — GOP's Dan Bishop wins North Carolina congressional seat with boost from Trump after ballot fraud forced do-over election.
— Stephen Ohlemacher (@stephenatap) September 11, 2019
I just got a call from President @realDonaldTrump. He wants to make sure everyone gets out to VOTE in the three hours we have left! #ncpol #NC09 pic.twitter.com/iqbun23wsX
— Dan Bishop (@jdanbishop) September 10, 2019
But while the GOP won this district - which stretched from the east side of Charleston over to I-95 along the border with South Carolina - there were still warning signs overall for the GOP in terms of the fight for Congress.
While Bishop won, he did not come close to the margin of victory by President Trump in that same district in 2016, as the President won by 11.6 percent.
That's the type of special election results in Congress which we saw in 2017 and then in the 2018 mid-terms, where increased Democratic enthusiasm and turn out was enough to knock out GOP incumbents - but not enough for a dramatic drubbing at the polls.
Big picture: Political environment for Rs not any better — or worse — than in 2018 midterms. That’s not good for Rs, but the bottom hasn’t fallen out either.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) September 11, 2019
Cox Media Group