ROCKINGHAM — As election results filtered in, state Sen. Dan Bishop took the lead to win the 9th Congressional District race.
Formerly a Democratic stronghold, voters in Richmond County chose Bishop, a Republican over the three other candidates: Dan McCready, Democratic Party; Jeff Scott, Libertarian Party; and Allen Smith, Green Party.
McCready led in early voting and absentee totals with 1,863 votes to Bishop’s 1,722.
But when the poll numbers started rolling in, it was Bishop who would come out on top by 437 votes: 4713 to 4276.
The Mineral Springs No. 2 precinct in Norman was the last to report.
Out of the county’s 16 precincts, 10 favored Bishop, four leaned towards McCready and two — Wolf Pitt No. 1 and No. 4 — were tied.
Only about half of the county’s 76 registered Libertarians cast their ballots for Scott, who garnered only 39 votes. Smith received a total of 22 votes.
Provisional ballots will be counted Saturday morning and elections officials were unsure Tuesday night how many there would be.
The first two counties to report all precincts were Scotland and Anson, which both went for McCready.
Bishop also narrowly won Cumberland County by 36 votes and 233 votes in Robeson County. However, voters overwhelmingly supported Bishop in Union County by more than 12,000 votes. He also took Bladen County with 59 percent of the vote.
Two precincts were still out as of this writing, with Bishop leading by nearly 2 percent.
An official statement hasn’t been released, but a tweet from Bishop simply read: “WE DID IT #NC09!!!! Thank you North Carolina!!!” followed by four U.S. flag emojis.
The N.C. State Board of Elections had to hold two emergency meetings Tuesday after receiving requests for extensions.
The board voted to extend voting in Mecklenburg County until 7:55 due to a gas leak.
An extinguished pilot light on a stove led to the evacuation of a polling location in Mint Hill.
The seat has been vacant since January when Congress was sworn in.
Filing for the two-year seat opens again in December.
In the other North Carolina special election, Republican Greg Murphy won the 3rd Congressional District over challengers from the Democratic, Libertarian and Constitution parties.
That contest was to fill the seat left vacant by the death of longtime Congressman Walter B. Jones.
All results are unofficial until canvassed by the local boards of elections and certified by the state board.
