State Sen. Dan Bishop will face Democrat Dan McCready in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District do-over race. | Chuck Burton/AP Photo Elections ‘Bathroom bill’ author wins GOP nomination in North Carolina redo race

Dan Bishop, a state senator and author of North Carolina's controversial “bathroom bill,” beat back nine other Republican candidates Tuesday to clinch the GOP nomination for this year's redo election in the state's 9th Congressional District.

Bishop secured 48 percent of the vote, easily defeating Stony Rushing, the second-place candidate — and clearing the threshold needed to avoid a nasty runoff that would have further hurt the GOP’s chances of keeping a seat the party has held for decades.


With Bishop's outright victory on Tuesday, he will face Democrat Dan McCready in the general election on Sept. 10. If no candidate had earned more than 30 percent of the vote, the party could have faced a runoff on that date — delaying the general election until November and allowing McCready to expand on his significant cash advantage.

Republicans have expressed anxiety about the do-over election, which was called after state officials found the previous Republican candidate’s campaign consultant likely engaged in illegal ballot harvesting in 2018. Dodging a runoff is sure to provide some relief for national Republicans, who were hoping to avoid an extended internal battle that would continue to boost McCready, who was unopposed in Tuesday's primary.

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“Dan McCready went through two elections without telling anyone where he stood on anything," Bishop said in a statement. "That ends tomorrow. Voters deserve a clear choice in this race, and we are going to give them one.”

Republicans immediately signaled they plan to tie McCready to national Democrats. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, called McCready a "socialist rubber-stamp" in a statement emailed to reporters immediately after The Associated Press declared Bishop the winner.

Bishop is using the same strategy in his campaign, running an ad with McCready as a clown blowup doll alongside liberal Democrats like freshmen Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

But Democrats consider Bishop a weak candidate and plan to use his long history in state politics against him, focusing primarily on his health care record instead of his role in writing the bathroom bill, which was widely considered discriminatory against transgender people prior to its partial repeal in 2017.

“As a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, clean energy entrepreneur and a job-creator, Dan McCready is ready to get to work serving North Carolina in Congress,” said Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Rampant Republican election fraud robbed thousands of North Carolinians of the right to vote that Dan McCready fought to defend in uniform."

McCready hinted at his playbook in a statement after Bishop claimed victory. "I’m still fighting for everyone in our district who deserves lower health care costs, great public schools and a secure Medicare," McCready said, accusing Bishop of harboring an "agenda to continue to destroy thousands of jobs, keep medication unaffordable and undermine public school teachers."

The district, which went for President Donald Trump by more than 11 points, was much closer in the 2018 midterm election. McCready finished 905 votes behind Mark Harris, the GOP nominee. But Harris' apparent victory was thrown out by the state board of elections earlier this year, and Democrats believe the election scandal will only boost McCready further in the re-run election.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will help McCready with field infrastructure and voter outreach, but will hold off on a big TV push.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC connected to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), is closely watching the race, according to a CLF spokesperson. And the group has already started putting a political team in place for the general election.

“No amount of money or help from Nancy Pelosi will allow Dan McCready to avoid answering for Democrats’ embrace of socialist policies like the radical Green New Deal and eliminating private health insurance," CLF President Dan Conston said in a statement. "North Carolina voters already rejected McCready once and they’ll do it again in September. ”

