The 2018 midterms have finally officially come to a close. In a special election on Tuesday night, North Carolina voters chose Republican Dan Bishop to represent the state's 9th District.
Bishop is a 55-year-old lawyer. His campaign was endorsed by the National Rifle Association. He's widely known for sponsoring the so-called "bathroom bill," which requires transgender people to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificate. During his campaign, Bishop cast Democrat Dan McCready as a far-left Democrat.
The 9th District has been represented by a Republican since the early 1960's.
In last year's midterm election, McCready lost by just 905 votes to Republican Mark Harris. Tuesday's special election was called because of controversy surrounding the legitimacy of that vote. Several voters alleged Harris campaign officials had collected and finished their absentee ballots, which is illegal. State officials investigated and weighed possible legal action.
After a hearing, the state's Board of Elections ordered a new election, stating that the public's confidence had been undermined. But Harris declined to run again. He said he was dealing with an "extremely serious" health condition requiring surgery and could not run another campaign.
Tuesday's election could foreshadow what will happen in 2020. Special elections are said to be a test of voters' attitudes between regular elections — though they've had a mixed record on actually forecasting future election results.
