Bishop topped nine other GOP candidates seeking the 9th Congressional District nomination and won the nomination with over 47% of the vote. The Charlotte attorney raised the most in campaign contributions, seeded with $250,000 from his personal accounts.
With his primary win, Bishop faces Democrat Dan McCready in the Sept 10 general election. McCready was unopposed.The special primary and general elections were required after the state elections board in February determined last year’s contest tainted when Republican Mark Harris used a political operative who collected mail-in ballots. Harris, who narrowly led after November’s votes were counted, opted not to run again.
Bishop thanked his supporters Tuesday night and accused Democrats of advocating ideas outside the mainstream.
“People are astonished and amazed and dismayed at what they see coming out of Washington these days from liberal crazy clowns. Socialism. Open borders. Infanticide. 90% tax rates. Having prison inmates vote. It goes on and on,” Bishop said. “And of course, most of all, an incessant drive to impeach the president.”
The election could draw a heavy infusion of political cash over the next four months, foreshadowed by spending in this primary. The political action committee for the anti-tax Club for Growth endorsed Bishop and spent more than $135,000 attacking top rivals Stony Rushing and Leigh Brown. The National Association of Realtors’ PAC spent more than $1 million to benefit Brown.
McCready had almost $1.6 million in cash on hand as of May 2, according to Federal Election Commission reports, and after two years of campaigning has built up his name recognition. Despite that, he’ll be swimming upstream in a congressional district that has been in GOP hands since 1963 and which Trump won by 12 percentage points in 2016.
The district stretches from suburban Charlotte to suburban Fayetteville along the South Carolina border.
