Republican Wins Closely Watched US House Special Election

By VOA News

Republican Dan Bishop has won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after a narrow victory in a special election that was watched closely by the country’s major parties for potential signals ahead of next year’s national elections.

Bishop defeated Democratic candidate Dan McCready by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent.

In a sign of the importance of the election, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both visited North Carolina on the eve of the election to rally support for Bishop.

Trump celebrated the victory Tuesday, along with a Republican win in another special election in North Carolina.

McCready was the Democratic candidate during the 2018 election when he went up against then-Republican candidate Mark Harris. But the results of that vote were thrown out and a special election ordered after state officials ruled there was an absentee-ballot fraud scheme that benefited Harris.

Democrats made big gains in the 2018 election cycle and retook control of the House of Representatives. The entire House and about one-third of the U.S. Senate will be up for election when the nation also votes for president in 2020.