Republican Dan Bishop squeaked by in the North Carolina 9th District special election Tuesday, winning by 2 points a district that President Donald Trump carried by 12 in 2016.
Bishop got 50.7 percent of the vote to Democrat Dan McCready’s 48.7.
Though the likes of President Donald Trump are already crowing over the victory, it does not allay Republicans’ fears for future elections.
According to the New York Times, McCready actually outperformed in the suburbs of Charlotte as compared to his 2018 race, a theme continued from Democrats’ domination in the midterms.
Though Bishop handily dominated the rural areas, the results show that Republicans’ — and, by extension, Trump’s — clout among suburbanites continues to slip.
Tuesday night concluded an election that has been raging, in some form, for two years after the first iteration of the election was tossed due to alleged absentee ballot fraud conducted by a Republican operative.
That operative, McCrae Dowless, who worked on the campaign of Republican Mark Harris, has since been indicted by a grand jury.
McCready had the name recognition and fundraising edge going into the new election for the seat, but outside groups poured in millions to push Bishop over the finish line.
