North Carolina Republican candidates Dan Bishop and Greg Murphy won the state’s special elections on Tuesday in the ninth and third Congressional Districts, respectively.
Bishop, a former North Carolina state senator, defeated Democrat Dan McCready with 50.7 percent of the vote to claim the ninth Congressional District seat. McCready received 48.7 percent. Bishop’s victory was by a margin of less than 4,000 votes.
The ninth district stretches from the suburbs of Charlotte east to Fayetteville, including rural counties along the border with South Carolina. Republicans have held the district since 1963. Republican Mark Harris first beat McCready in the 2018 midterm elections, but the race results were nullified by the state board of elections due to fraud allegations and a new election was ordered.
Republican Greg Murphy claimed 61.7 percent of the vote in the third district to replace the late Walter Jones, who died in office earlier this year. Democrat challenger Allen Thomas received 37.5 percent of the vote.
The heavily Republican third district stretches across the eastern portion of the state, including the Outer Banks.
