Trump-backed Republican wins North Carolina special congressional election

Republican Dan Bishop won a special U.S. congressional election in North Carolina on Tuesday, turning back a vigorous Democratic challenge to save a longtime stronghold for President Donald Trump’s party.

With 99% of precincts reporting, Bishop, a 55-year-old state senator for whom Trump campaigned, led Democrat Dan McCready, a 36-year-old veteran of the Marines, 50.81% to 48.59%, the state board of elections said.

North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, a suburban-rural area in the southeastern part of the state, has been represented by Republicans in Congress since the 1960s and voted for Trump by about 12 percentage points in 2016.

But Democrats thought they had a chance to flip it and build on the majority they won in the House of Representatives last year. McCready lost by a slim margin in 2018 before state officials ruled the election was tainted by an absentee-ballot fraud scheme that benefited his Republican opponent, Mark Harris, and ordered a new vote. Harris did not run again.

Both parties poured millions of dollars into the election do-over, with the final contest of the 2018 congressional midterms being watched for signs of their prospects in 2020.

Trump, who flew to the district on Monday night to rally the Republican base for Bishop, moved immediately to take credit.

“Dan Bishop was down 17 points 3 weeks ago. He then asked me for help, we changed his strategy together, and he ran a great race,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The Trump campaign national press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said Trump’s endorsement “has the power to change the trajectory of political races ... Dan Bishop won this evening & Trump’s endorsement carried him to victory!”