State Sen. Dan Bishop (R) defeated Dan McCready (D), Jeff Scott (L), and Allen Smith (G) in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District special election on September 10, 2019. Bishop received 50.8% of the vote to McCready’s 48.6% with 99% of precincts reporting, in addition to early voting results. The state board of elections called the special election following allegations of absentee ballot fraud in the 2018 race.

 

As of September 6, the special election had seen more than $10.7 million in satellite spending, the second-highest total for a U.S. House special election (Georgia’s 6th Congressional District special election in 2017 saw $27 million spent by satellite groups). McCready’s campaign raised $5 million to Bishop’s $2 million through August 21.

 

Throughout the race, Bishop highlighted his support for President Donald Trump (R), who endorsed and campaigned for Bishop, and sought to connect McCready to Democrats in Congress such as Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who Bishop called radical socialists. Bishop described himself as a “pro-life, pro-gun, pro-wall” conservative.

 

McCready emphasized his plan to lower prescription drug prices and criticized Bishop’s voting record on the issue. McCready said he would “always put country over party” and pursue bipartisan legislation on healthcare, taxes, and education. He was endorsed by former Vice President Joe Biden (D).

 

Trump won the 9th District by 12 percentage points in 2016. In the uncertified results of the 2018 House race, Republican candidate Mark Harris led McCready by 905 votes.