Rep. Robert Pittenger (pictured), who was first elected in 2012, nearly lost to Mark Harris in 2016, squeaking by with 134-vote margin. | Chuck Burton/AP Photo North Carolina Rep. Pittenger loses primary

Rep. Robert Pittenger conceded the Republican nomination in North Carolina's 9th District to opponent Mark Harris on Tuesday night, becoming the first congressman defeated in a primary in 2018.

Harris, a pastor who also ran in the 2016 primary, had 48.5 percent of the vote to Pittenger's 46.2 percent with 99.5 percent of precincts reporting.


“I’ve called Mark Harris and I’ve conceded the race,” Pittenger said, after thanking his family and supporters. “I wish him the best.”

Pittenger, who was first elected in 2012, nearly lost to Harris in 2016, squeaking by with a 134-vote margin. At the time, Pittenger was under federal investigation for allegedly transferring money to his 2012 campaign from his real estate company – which Harris hammered the congressman for in 2016.

In 2018, Harris attacked Pittenger as part of the "Washington swamp." The challenger blasted Pittenger's vote for the omnibus spending bill in March, “which we hung around his neck because he voted to fund sanctuary cities and it gave no money for the president’s wall,” said Andy Yates, a spokesman for the Harris campaign.

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“People saw that Pittenger’s votes didn’t match his rhetoric,” Yates said. “This is a continuation of the populist wave that swept Trump into the White House.”

But winning the primary is only step one for Harris. Veteran and businessman Dan McCready won the Democratic nomination and is expected to wage a competitive general election campaign.

McCready starts the race with a significant financial edge over Harris, with more than $1 million in cash on hand, compared to Harris’s $89,000 in the bank.

Mark Harris, a pastor who also ran in the 2016 primary, had 48.5 percent of the vote to Rep. Robert Pittenger's 46.2 percent with 99.5 percent of precincts reporting. | John D. Simmons /The Charlotte Observer via AP Photo

Pittenger and Harris traded shots throughout the Republican primary over their support for President Donald Trump, a common strategy in GOP contests across the country. In TV ads, Harris called out Pittenger for “[claiming] Donald Trump endorsed him [in 2016], just plain untrue,” the ad’s narrator says. “This year, his ads say Mark Harris opposed Donald Trump – more lies from Robert Pittenger.”

Pittenger, in his own TV ads, cast himself as one of the president's "strongest supporters" before accusing Harris of "[working] to stop a Trump presidency," citing Harris' support for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

But North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said that Harris’ “made sure that this message was consistently conservative and he never wavered in his support for the president.”

“I know that Mark Harris has publicly said he’s willing to join the [House] Freedom Caucus, and I’m not suggesting that put him over the top, but I certainly admire someone who’s willing to say they are conservative and campaign like it,” Meadows said.

Pittenger’s loss surprised national and local Republicans alike, but early reactions to the three-term congressman’s loss pointed to an “anti-establishment GOP vote that came out big tonight,” said Brad Crone, a campaign consultant who’s worked with Democrats and Republicans in the state. “This clearly shows that the November election is going to be a barn burner, because there’s going to be big rifts in the Republican Party that are going to need time and attention to heal for the GOP to unify.”