The 2018 election in North Carolina's 9th congressional district was held on November 6, 2018, to elect a member for North Carolina's 9th congressional district to the United States House of Representatives.
Republican Mark Harris, an evangelical minister, defeated incumbent Republican Congressman Robert Pittenger in the primary and then faced Democrat Dan McCready, a veteran and businessman, in the general election. Initial tallies put Harris 905 votes ahead, but the state election board refused to certify the results, pending a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud in handling of absentee ballots. The seat was unrepresented at the start of the 116th Congress.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections held an evidentiary hearing in February 2019.New NC elections board sets date for 9th District hearing, WRAL, February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2019. On February 21, the board unanimously voted to call a new election because of fraud by Republican operatives. Several Republican campaign operatives have been indicted for their role in an illegal ballot harvesting and ballot tampering operation. In addition to illegal collection and handling of ballots, ballot tampering was admitted in witness testimony, including filling in blank votes to favor Republican candidates. The state legislature passed a law requiring new party primaries.
Background
The ninth district is in south-central North Carolina. It comprises Union, Anson, Richmond, Scotland, and Robeson counties; the southeast portion of Mecklenburg County; and parts of Cumberland and Bladen counties. The district had been held by the Republican Party since 1963.
Robert Pittenger, a Republican, was elected to represent the district in 2012. In the 2016 election, Pittenger was challenged for the Republican nomination by Mark Harris and Todd Johnson. Pittenger won the nomination, defeating Harris by 134 votes. Questions were raised about the role of convicted perjurer and campaign operative McCrae Dowless, when Johnson won 221 of the 226 Bladen County absentee votes cast in the race. Pittenger was re-elected in 2016 over Democratic Party nominee Christian Cano by over 54,000 votes.
Democratic primary Candidates Christian Cano, former hotel consultant, Democratic nominee in the 2016 election Dan McCready, entrepreneur and U.S. Marine Iraq war veteran, registered as an independent prior to 2016.A former Marine, Dan McCready finds his latest mission in a bid for Congress, The Charlotte Observer, Jim Morrill, October 11, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) supported McCready during the primary election. He was among the first 11 candidates added to the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program.
Results Overall
By county
McCready won every county by varying margins. Blue represents counties won by McCready.
County Cano McCready Total Votes % Votes % Votes Anson 416 20.1% 1,656 79.9% 2,072 Bladen 263 14.0% 1,622 86.1% 1,885 Cumberland 873 23.6% 2,830 76.4% 3,703 Mecklenburg 1,384 12.6% 9,627 87.4% 11,011 Richmond 567 20.9% 2,142 79.1% 2,709 Robeson 2,939 16.9% 14,502 83.2% 17,441 Scotland 726 23.6% 2,357 76.5% 3,082 Union 754 18.3% 3,362 81.7% 4,116 Totals 7,922 17.2% 38,098 82.8% 46,020
Republican primary
Candidates Clarence Goins, banker Mark Harris, Baptist evangelical minister and former pastor Robert Pittenger, incumbent
Harris resigned from his church in June 2017 in order to devote his full attention to the 2018 campaign. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson campaigned for Pittenger during the primary election campaign. Harris criticized Pittenger as a part of the "Washington swamp" for voting in favor of the March 2018 omnibus spending bill. Pittenger defended his conservative voting record and pointed out the increase in military spending in the omnibus bill. He attempted to paint Harris as anti-Trump due to his support of Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, though Pittenger had endorsed Marco Rubio.
Results Overall
By county
Red represents counties won by Harris. Green represents counties won by Pittenger.
County Goins Harris Pittenger Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes Anson 21 3.4% 339 54.3% 264 42.3% 624 Bladen 60 2.9% 1,427 69.3% 572 27.8% 2,059 Cumberland 633 23.9% 846 32.0% 1,168 44.1% 2,647 Mecklenburg 475 3.8% 5,610 44.9% 6,417 51.3% 12,502 Richmond 38 2.4% 590 36.9% 970 60.7% 1,598 Robeson 271 16.1% 597 35.4% 820 48.6% 1,688 Scotland 43 5.4% 384 48.2% 369 46.4% 796 Union 326 2.4% 7,509 54.7% 5,894 42.9% 13,729 Totals 1,867 5.2% 17,302 48.5% 16,474 46.2% 35,643
General election Through September 30, McCready reported raising $4.3 million while Harris had raised $1.6 million. President Donald Trump and Second Lady Karen Pence traveled to the district to campaign for Harris, while Representative John Lewis campaigned for McCready. Harris was endorsed by Donald Trump, President of the United States, and Libertarian Jeff Scott was endorsed by Christian Cano, 2016 Democratic primary candidate for North Carolina's 9th congressional district.
Harris and McCready debated on October 10 on WBTV in Charlotte and October 17 at Spirit Square. Complete video of debate, October 10, 2018
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error MarkHarris (R) DanMcCready (D) JeffScott (L) UndecidedNYT Upshot/Siena CollegeNYT Upshot/Siena College October 26–30, 2018 505 ± 5.0% 45% 44% 3% 7%NYT Upshot/Siena CollegeNYT Upshot/Siena College October 1–5, 2018 502 ± 4.9% 47% 42% – 11%SurveyUSASurveyUSA October 2–4, 2018 556 ± 4.7% 41% 45% 3% 12%SurveyUSASurveyUSA July 5–8, 2018 600 ± 4.6% 36% 43% 3% 19%ALG Research (D-McCready)ALG Research (D-McCready) March 8–13, 2018 500 ± 4.4% 43% 44% – 13%
Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error RobertPittenger (R) DanMcCready (D) UndecidedPublic Policy Polling (D-House Majority PAC)Public Policy Polling (D-House Majority PAC) April 16–17, 2018 662 ± 3.8% 42% 37% 21%
Results
When all precincts had reported their unofficial counts on Election Day, the race remained too close to call. The next night, trailing by about 2,000 votes, McCready conceded defeat to Harris. After all the votes were tallied, Harris had a 905-vote lead over McCready, making the election the closest race in the district in over six decades.
Refusal of certification The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted 9–0 on November 27 not to certify the election results. On November 30, the board voted 7–2 to hold a public hearing on December 27 regarding the tampering allegations. In early December, the North Carolina Democratic Party filed affidavits with the State Board of Elections claiming that Harris had used independent contractors to collect absentee ballots from voters.
The board opened an investigation around Dowless, a campaign operative with felony fraud and perjury convictions, who was hired by the Harris campaign. Dowless was suspected of electoral fraud in 2014, allegedly mishandling absentee ballots. Dowless had worked for Jim McVicker's campaign for Sheriff. McVicker won that race by a narrow margin and did not respond to inquiries about it in 2018.Man at center of North Carolina election fraud probe turned in hundreds of absentee ballot requests, CNN, Eric Bradner, Adam Levy, Drew Griffin and Curt Devine, December 5, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2019. Dowless worked for McVicker again in the 2018 Republican primary and the general election for Sheriff.Meet the four candidates for Bladen County sheriff, WECT, August 14, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
On November 30, the Associated Press retracted its call of the race. The election remained uncertified into December, as state election officials continued to investigate alleged fraud. McCready withdrew his concession on December 6, and NBC News withdrew its call of the race. Dowless was accused of paying workers to illegally collect absentee ballots from voters. Harris directed the hiring of Dowless, even though there had been warnings about and concerns raised in 2016 that Dowless used questionable tactics to deliver votes for Todd Johnson in his 2016 Republican congressional primary against Pittinger and Harris. Earlier, Dowless had worked for a Democrat competing in a 2012 state House primary, and ran as a Democrat himself, in a losing race for school board, in 2014. No questions had been raised in those races.The guru of Bladen County’ is at the center of NC's election troubles, The News & Observer, Dan Kane Ely Portillo, January 21, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
In Robeson County, the easternmost county in the 9th district, twice as many absentee ballots from African-American voters were not returned compared to white voters. In neighboring Bladen County, the return rates were the same for the two groups. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said it was possible over 1,000 ballots had been destroyed.
On December 5, 2018, BuzzFeed News detailed its independent investigative reporting of the alleged vote thefts, a practice that targeted southern rural elderly black voters in the 9th district congressional race. It termed the affair, "...the most serious federal election tampering case in years." Campaign workers, who included Jessica Dowless, whose husband is distantly related to Leslie McCrae Dowless, revealed that the vote tampering went on in a pervasively chaotic atmosphere. McCrae Dowless tracked votes on yellow pads and used cash to pay his employees, including some family members. Some of those workers were said to be under the obvious influence of drugs while on the job. One, said Jessica Dowless, "...was so fucking high the other day she passed out at the fucking computer." Another who picked up absentee ballots was a "pill head." She said McCrae's field workers "...would come to your house, they would get you to fill out an absentee ballot to be sent to your house. They would go back and pick it up and then seal it and then find two witnesses," to certify their validity, bringing them to the office and telling her to witness them, She said she told McCrae she didn't want to do that but "...we had no else," to accomplish the task. Such handling of ballots and completed applications by other than board and postal workers is legally prohibited. McCrae provided a car for one gatherer a week after she began working, lending a van to another. Jessica Dowless tabulated the number of ballots delivered to the county election board and said McCrae gave the Harris campaign updates on the operation's most recent totals. McCrae Dowless was employed by political consultants Red Dome, and received in excess of $428,000 from the Harris campaign. Jessica Dowless said she dropped off completed absentee ballot applications once, and records confirmed she had delivered 185 to the Board. McCrae personally delivered 592 applications before October 31. Buzzfeed contacted McCrae's stepdaughter Lisa Britt, who was later indicted for her alleged role in the case. She admitted to being paid in cash for her work. Although she denied physically gathering votes, her account was disputed by Jessica Dowless who also said that McCrae gathered ballots, a prohibited practice, but only from Democratic voters. Britt denied that Democrats were targeted, claiming they only facilitated voting by those without vehicles, though those ballots could have been returned by postal mail.Inside The North Carolina Republican Vote Machine: Cash, Pills — And Ballots, BuzzFeed News, Brianna Sacks and Otillia Steadman, December 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
In December 2018, the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill into law that would require new primary elections if a new election were called, overriding a veto by Democratic governor Roy Cooper.
While the investigation continued, McCready prepared to run in a special election.