Washington (CNN) North Carolina state Sen. Dan Bishop defeated Democrat Dan McCready in the North Carolina 9th District's special congressional election, giving Republicans a narrow victory in the GOP-leaning district where President Donald Trump won by 12 points in 2016.

The race drew national attention as a potential 2020 bellwether, in a district that stretched from the Charlotte suburbs to the military town of Fayetteville. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both made eleventh hour trips to the district on Monday in an effort to bolster Bishop.

The "do-over" special election came after the state board of elections refused to certify the 2018 House race results in the district after fraud allegations, ordering a new election.

Trump was not on the ballot, but Bishop's narrow victory in a race widely viewed as a referendum on the White House will provide a small measure of comfort to Republicans in 2020.

Republicans normally would have been expected to dominate in a district that Trump won, but data released to the public ahead of the Tuesday vote showed a close race, underscoring GOP troubles in the suburbs during the Trump era. The President's approval rating in a number of recent of polls is approaching lows not seen since 2017.

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