CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) – A North Carolina lawmaker who sponsored a controversial bill requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms matching the sex on their birth certificates won a special Republican primary election Tuesday night and will go on to face the Democratic contender for the vacant 9th Congressional District seat.
State Senator Dan Bishop, R-Mecklenberg, won the most votes in the do-over primary for the 9th District, which has been without representation in the U.S. House of Representatives for over four months.
Bishop’s win comes three months after the state elections board voted unanimously to void last year’s election results for the district due to evidence of a sweeping ballot fraud scheme allegedly carried out by an operative hired by Mark Harris, the apparent Republican winner of the 2018 race. Harris decided not to run in the new election, citing health concerns.
Five people were charged in connection to the alleged scheme in multiple rural counties in the 9th District, including Harris campaign operative McCrae Dowless, who was charged with obstruction of justice and illegal possession of absentee ballots in late February.
The special general election, which now pits Bishop against Democratic candidate Dan McCready, will be held Sept. 10.
Tom Emmer, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, congratulated Bishop in a statement on Tuesday.
“We look forward to partnering with Dan and his team to ensure socialist rubber-stamp Dan McCready is forced to finally take positions on his party's radical ideas such as infanticide, a socialist takeover of the entire economy with the Green New Deal and government-run socialized healthcare,” Emmer said.
Following Tuesday’s election McCready called on constituents to contribute to his campaign and reminded them of the alleged ballot fraud scheme that he blames on Republicans.
McCready is running unopposed in his party. His campaign is focused on expanding Medicare and condemning the 20017 federal tax overhaul.
Bishop defeated his closest Republican runner-up, Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing, 48% to 20% in the primary. There were 10 Republicans on the ballot.
Last month, Bishop’s campaign launched TV ads referring to prominent liberal figures, including McCready, as “clowns.”
“Dan McCready went through two elections without telling anyone where he stood on anything — that ends tomorrow,” Bishop told supporters after his win Tuesday night.
Bishop has been criticized for his sponsorship of the controversial 2016 legislation called House Bill 2, which required transgender people to use public bathrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate. It’s been referred to as the “bathroom bill.”
“From authoring HB2 to investing in a hate-speech fueled social media platform to attacking the free press, Dan Bishop is defined by his attempts to legislate and disseminate discrimination,” The North Carolina Democratic Party said in a statement on Tuesday. “Republicans’ top choice for a seat they attempted to steal is a second-rate candidate who has repeatedly embarrassed our state and who will be dogged not only by his efforts to legislate hate but his party’s rampant corruption.”
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