Republican Chances Up in NC-9 After Primary

Almost from the moment the U.S. House seat in North Carolina's 9th District was declared vacant because of election irregularities, its capture by Democrat Dan McCready in the resulting special election was considered almost a foregone conclusion.

But following the landslide victory in the Republican primary by conservative State Sen. Dan Bishop, few are making any big bets on Democrats taking the Charlotte-based 9th District in the special election Sept. 10.

Bishop is a solid supporter of President Trump and clearly cut from the swashbuckling mold of many of the conservatives elected to House in the Republican sweeps of 2010 and '14.

In surprise results, he rolled up 48 percent of the vote over eight opponents.

"Dan Bishop powered his way through the 'redo' Republican primary last night, easily defeating all comers," political analyst Marc Rotterman told Newsmax on Wednesday morning. "His campaign was disciplined and well managed."

Rotterman predicted the special election between Bishop and McCready "will be one most watched, expensive, and consequential races in 2019. It is also a test for President Trump's coattails in North Carolina."

Last fall, centrist Democrat McCready, businessman and decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran, lost to Republican Mark Harris by 905 votes in a district that had been in Republican hands without interruption since 1952.

But the House refused to seat Harris on grounds of voter fraud perpetuated by Harris' campaign, and the new special election was ordered.

In claiming the GOP nomination, Bishop made it clear he planned to link McCready to what he called "liberal crazy clowns in Washington" and their agenda of "socialism, open borders,  [and] infanticide."

State and national Democrats signaled they planned to make an issue of Bishop's sponsorship of sponsorship of HB2 — the law that required people to use the bathrooms of the gender on their birth certificate in public buildings.

Businesses, entertainers, and sports events subsequently boycotted the Tar Heel State and the so-called "bathroom bill" was eventually repealed.

"The race will go down to the wire with Bishop having a slight edge going into the stretch," Rotterman predicted.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.