NC State Senator Dan Bishop (R) celebrates his victory in NC’s 9th Congressional district race – 9/10/19. The race was widely viewed as a 2020 bellwether. Screen grab via his Twitter page.

Republican State Senator Dan Bishop has been declared by multiple media outlets to be the winner of North Carolina’s 9th Congressional district race against Democrat Dan McCready:

AP calls it for Bishop. 2 point win for the GOP in #NC09. — Geoffrey Skelley (@geoffreyvs) September 11, 2019

This celebratory video was posted on Bishop’s Twitter feed moments later:

WE DID IT #NC09!!!! Thank you North Carolina!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hMohQZGl4w — Dan Bishop (@jdanbishop) September 11, 2019

Trump is, of course, taking a share of the credit. Heh:

Dan Bishop was down 17 points 3 weeks ago. He then asked me for help, we changed his strategy together, and he ran a great race. Big Rally last night. Now it looks like he is going to win. @CNN & @MSNBC are moving their big studio equipment and talent out. Stay tuned! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2019

As of this writing, Bishop is ahead by about 4,000 votes with all but two precincts reporting. Via Politico:

McCready has conceded:

In advance of today’s contest, the race had been widely portrayed as a bellwether race for 2020 by the mainstream media and Democratic political analysts. Will be interesting to see how they spin it now that the Republican has won.

McCready also had a big money advantage over Bishop, but in the end he came up short.

Here’s a roundup of news/commentary/reactions on the race from pollsters, Democrats, Republicans, (disappointed) journalists, etc:

Republican @jdanbishop Wins the North Carolina Special Congressional Election.. THIS CNN Political panel is thrilled … 😂⬇️😂⬇️ #MOOD #NC09 pic.twitter.com/zjrBnDd1lQ — Stephanie Hamill (@STEPHMHAMILL) September 11, 2019

If Democrats want to understand how they lost to Trump despite gaining tons of ground in places like Charlotte & the Triangle, they need to visit Robeson County, NC right away. — Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) September 11, 2019

A key ingredient to Dan Bishop's (R) #NC09 win was Robeson County, in the eastern part of the district. This was an Obama -> Trump county that McCready won by 15% in 2018. It nearly flipped tonight, with the Lumbee Indian precincts (in the west) moving most heavily GOP. #ncpol pic.twitter.com/17Ci590wgk — J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) September 11, 2019

But even as McCready improved in the burbs tonight, he performed worse in many of the rural precincts and even in decent-sized towns like Lumberton. The Dems' rural and non-college difficulties continue. — Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) September 11, 2019

The “Stacey Abrams won” wing of the Democratic party has some thoughts:

Bishop was heavily outspent by McCready but moral victory or something. #ncpol #nc09 pic.twitter.com/NiAskV0a0p — Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) September 11, 2019

But here’s the reality of what the situation on the ground here has been like:

It was. Bishop had to overcome the #NC09 absentee ballot harvesting scandal that sunk Harris.

Plus, HB2. Plus any anti-Trump sentiment.

So, yeah – it was a big win.

Consider what you'd be tweeting right now had he lost.#NCpol https://t.co/Agu9UpXmXj — Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner) September 11, 2019

NC 11th Congressional district Rep. Mark Meadows (R) weighs in:

Huge night for North Carolina. Massive win for @realDonaldTrump and conservative values. @DrGregMurphy1 and @jdanbishop CONGRATULATIONS on outstanding races and job well done—now let’s get to work! #NC09 #NC03 #NCpol — Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) September 11, 2019

Bishop is already on it:

Bishop calls on D’s in US House to approve more funding to build the border wall w/ Mexico #ncpol #nc09 — Nick Ochsner (@NickOchsnerWBTV) September 11, 2019

Just a reminder: This race is the last race of the 2018 election cycle. Bishop will have to turn around in a few months and begin campaigning again for the seat for the 2020 election cycle:

The 2018 #NC09 election will be decided tonight The 2020 #NC09 election will start in less than 3 months Filing for 2020 races opens December 2 #ncpol pic.twitter.com/OOWhUMurKh — Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 10, 2019

Enjoy these next few weeks of no political ads while you can, my fellow North Carolinians. 😉

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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –