Trump and the national Republican Party are spending millions and Trump is going to the state to save a House seat that has been held by Republicans since 1963.
Marine veteran and clean energy entrepreneur Democrat Dan McCready is running in a special election in North Carolina’s 9th District after the 2018 election was thrown out due to Republican cheating. Recent polling shows McCready leading his Republican opponent Dan Bishop 46%-42%. Republicans hold 34 seats that Trump carried by 11.9% or more, but this is the only one where they have spent $5.4 million and had Trump personally rush in on Election Eve to try to save the seat.
Republicans are desperate to keep this seat because a loss in a place like NC-09 is sure to set off another wave of House Republican retirements. There is a great deal of speculation about what this special election could forecast about 2020, but the more immediate problem for Republicans is that they are rushing for the exits in an effort to get out before Trump sinks in 2020. Republicans have made this special election about Trump in an effort to get out their vote.
If Democrats win the seat, it will be viewed as a referendum on this president, and turn the Republican retirement exodus into a stampede ahead of 2020.
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NC-09 is one of those special House elections that on paper, Democrats shouldn’t be competitive in.
The fact that this election is coin flip is already a win for the Democratic Party heading into 2020, and if McCready takes the seat, a bigger and stronger blue wave may show its first flex ahead of the presidential election.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
