Back to Politics & Government
-
President Donald Trump, left, gives his support to Dan Bishop, right, a Republican running for the special North Carolina 9th District U.S. Congressional race as he speaks at a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
-
Dan McCready, a Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 9th District, talks to Johnny Ivey while campaigning on Hay Street on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, in Fayetteville, N.C. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP)
-
Tanya Archie-Younge, 56 and her husband, Jesse Younge, 62, cast their ballots at Precinct #25 at the West Charlotte Recreation Center Tuesday, September 10, 2019. Voters across Charlotte and the region went to the polls to vote in local Democrat and Republican primaries, while others, in the now infamous 9th District, voted to send either Dan McCready or Dan Bishop to represent them in Congress. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
Precinct #74, at Alexander Graham Middle School, experienced a flurry of voters Tuesday, September 10, 2019 as they cast their ballots in the party primaries and in the 9th District race between Dan Bishop and Dan McCready. Voters across Charlotte and the region went to the polls to vote in local Democrat and Republican primaries, while others, in the now infamous 9th District, voted to send either Dan McCready or Dan Bishop to represent them in Congress on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
Tiger Outterson hangs on to five-month-old Cruise Outterson while Jessica Outterson prepares to vote with the help of William MacDonald Precinct #74 equipment supervisor at Alexander Graham Middle School in south Charlotte, N.C., where voters could cast their ballots in the party primaries and also could vote on the 9th District race between Dan Bishop and Dan McCready. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
A voters enters Precinct #25 at the West Charlotte Recreation Center, Tuesday, September 10, 2019 as they cast their ballots in the party primaries and in the 9th District race between Dan Bishop and Dan McCready. Voters across Charlotte and the region went to the polls to vote in local Democrat and Republican primaries, while others, in the now infamous 9th District, voted to send either Dan McCready or Dan Bishop to represent them in Congress. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
President Donald Trump, left, gives his support to Dan Bishop, right, a Republican running for the special North Carolina 9th District U.S. Congressional race as he speaks at a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
-
Dan McCready, a Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 9th District, talks to Johnny Ivey while campaigning on Hay Street on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, in Fayetteville, N.C. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP)
-
Tanya Archie-Younge, 56 and her husband, Jesse Younge, 62, cast their ballots at Precinct #25 at the West Charlotte Recreation Center Tuesday, September 10, 2019. Voters across Charlotte and the region went to the polls to vote in local Democrat and Republican primaries, while others, in the now infamous 9th District, voted to send either Dan McCready or Dan Bishop to represent them in Congress. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
Precinct #74, at Alexander Graham Middle School, experienced a flurry of voters Tuesday, September 10, 2019 as they cast their ballots in the party primaries and in the 9th District race between Dan Bishop and Dan McCready. Voters across Charlotte and the region went to the polls to vote in local Democrat and Republican primaries, while others, in the now infamous 9th District, voted to send either Dan McCready or Dan Bishop to represent them in Congress on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
Tiger Outterson hangs on to five-month-old Cruise Outterson while Jessica Outterson prepares to vote with the help of William MacDonald Precinct #74 equipment supervisor at Alexander Graham Middle School in south Charlotte, N.C., where voters could cast their ballots in the party primaries and also could vote on the 9th District race between Dan Bishop and Dan McCready. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
-
A voters enters Precinct #25 at the West Charlotte Recreation Center, Tuesday, September 10, 2019 as they cast their ballots in the party primaries and in the 9th District race between Dan Bishop and Dan McCready. Voters across Charlotte and the region went to the polls to vote in local Democrat and Republican primaries, while others, in the now infamous 9th District, voted to send either Dan McCready or Dan Bishop to represent them in Congress. (John D. Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on the special election for a North Carolina congressional seat (all times local):
7:40 p.m.
North Carolina election officials are delaying the release of results in two congressional districts by 25 minutes.
The state elections board voted Tuesday evening to extend voting by 25 minutes in a single Mecklenburg County precinct where a gas leak disrupted balloting. The decision just minutes before voting ended at 7:30 p.m. forced the delay in releasing initial results in the special elections in the 9th and 3rd congressional districts.
The precinct is in a Republican-leaning suburb of Charlotte in the 9th Congressional District.
Republican Dan Bishop is seeking to extend the GOP’s 56-year hold on the district. He’s running against Democrat Dan McCready and two other candidates.
___
7:30 p.m.
Polls have closed in North Carolina where voters are filling two vacant congressional seats — one because of an absentee-ballot scandal and the other because a U.S. House member died in office.
Voters in roughly one-quarter of the state’s counties had the chance to cast ballots Tuesday for the 3rd or 9th congressional districts. Many already voted early in-person or by mail.
Millions of campaign dollars have been spent in the south-central 9th district race between Republican Dan Bishop and Democrat Dan McCready. The election do-over was ordered after evidence of ballot fraud last fall that appeared to benefit McCready’s then-GOP opponent.
In the coastal 3rd District, Democrat Allen Thomas and Republican Greg Murphy are top competitors in the race to succeed the late Rep. Walter Jones Jr.
___
7 p.m.
North Carolina election officials are not acting on a request by the state Republican Party to extend hours at a single precinct in the special election for the country’s last undecided congressional seat.
The Republican Party on Tuesday asked that the voting site stay open an extra hour and 45 minutes because they said some 9th Congressional District voters were showing up at the old voting location in Union County, a Republican-heavy area east of Charlotte.
The State Board of Elections met and discussed the GOP request, but took no action.
Union County is seen as critical in the election prospects of Republican Dan Bishop, who is seeking to extend the GOP’s 56-year hold on North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. He’s running against Democrat Dan McCready and two other candidates.
Polls close at 7:30 p.m.
___
2:40 p.m.
One voter says he’s fed up with the Republican Party and frightened by President Donald Trump. Another voter says she doesn’t want to see the country become a socialist nation.
Those are just two of the diverging viewpoints at the polls in North Carolina on Tuesday for a special congressional election.
Retiree Susie Sisk of Mint Hill told The Associated Press that she’s voting for Republican state Sen. Dan Bishop. Sisk said Bishop is for the Second Amendment, against illegal immigration and won’t raise taxes.
Bishop is in a close battle with Democrat Dan McCready for a vacant seat in the 9th District.
Another Mint Hill retiree, Bob Southern, said he voted for McCready because he’s fed up with the Republican Party’s agenda and President Trump.
The election’s results could foreshadow the 2020 presidential race.
___
2:15 p.m.
North Carolina Republicans claim election officials in one county provided the wrong address for a voting precinct ahead of a hotly contested special congressional election.
But state election officials say voters were notified of the address change weeks ago.
Polls opened Tuesday for the special election in the Ninth Congressional District. Democrat Dan McCready is in a tossup battle against conservative state Sen. Dan Bishop for a vacant seat.
North Carolina GOP Executive Director Jonathan Sink said in a statement that the Union County Board of Elections failed to update a precinct address in its polling district list and on its website for “at least six weeks.”
But state election officials said in a statement that the county mailed notices of the change to all registered voters on July 29.
___
1:35 p.m.
Democratic presidential contenders are expressing support for a North Carolina congressional candidate in a hotly contested special election that could serve as a bellwether for 2020.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg tweeted support Tuesday for Democrat Dan McCready.
McCready is a former Marine with a Harvard business degree. He’s is in a tossup battle against conservative state Sen. Dan Bishop for a vacant seat in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
Polls opened Tuesday morning in the GOP-friendly district in and around Charlotte.
Biden tweeted that McCready will “fight to protect North Carolinian’s health care & take on prescription drug companies.” Buttigieg tweeted to voters that McReady “needs your help.”
President Donald Trump stumped for Bishop on Monday.
____
7:45 a.m.
Republicans are hoping an eleventh-hour pep talk from President Donald Trump will help them win Tuesday’s special congressional election in North Carolina. The race could shed light on Republicans’ chances of retaking the U.S. House and Trump’s reelection prospects in 2020.
At a rally in Fayetteville on Monday night, Trump campaigned for conservative state Sen. Dan Bishop. Opposing Bishop is moderate Democrat Dan McCready, a former Marine who narrowly trailed in an election for the seat last year that was invalidated after evidence of election fraud surfaced.
Trump carried the district by 11 points in 2016. Both sides see the race as too close to call.
More than half the district’s votes likely will come from Charlotte’s suburbs. When Democrats retook the House in 2018, many of their pickups were in suburbs.
