President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr. — along with oodles of money — are being deployed to North Carolina to boost the Republican’s chances in the 9th District special election next month.
According to a Politico report, national Republicans are intensely worried that the race, currently neck-and-neck in a district Trump won by 11 points, will be seen as a harbinger for Democratic success to come.
Dan Bishop, the Republican candidate, has gone fully Trumpian, calling Democrat Dan McCready a “socialist” and embracing the President’s message on immigration.
Early vote totals show Republicans lagging behind. Per Politico, Democrats have cast 54 percent of the vote to Republicans’ 41 percent. At this point before the 2018 race, Republicans were leading 46 percent to 42 percent. The official election day is September 10.
In the original election in the district, Republican Mark Harris seemed to beat McCready by just over 900 votes. However, rumors soon emerged about a sketchy absentee ballot plot helmed by McCrae Dowless, an operative for Harris’ campaign. The state board of elections refused to certify the race and ultimately called for a special election.
Dowless and a handful of employees have since been indicted by a grand jury on charges related to the scheme.
