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 The 9th congressional district of North Carolina is a congressional district in south-central North Carolina. The district's current boundaries were redrawn in February 2016 after a U.S. District Court overturned the existing boundaries because ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Mark Harris, an evangelical minister, defeated incumbent Republican Congressman

Robert Pittenger The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

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 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on Janua ...

. The

North Carolina State Board of Elections The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) is an agency of the Government of North Carolina, North Carolina state government charged with the administration of the elections process, as well as campaign finance, and lobbying disclosure an ...

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 Ballot collecting, also known as "ballot harvesting", is the gathering and submitting of completed absentee or mail-in voter ballots by third-party individuals, volunteers or workers, rather than submission by voters themselves directly to bal ...

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 North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. It comprises Union, Anson,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and Robeson counties; the southeast portion of Mecklenburg County; and parts of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

and Bladen counties. The district has been held by the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

since 1963.

, a

, 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 Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

and campaign operative

McCrae Dowless Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. (January 3, 1956 – April 24, 2022) was an American political operative and convicted fraudster from the state of North Carolina. Dowless' actions were at the center of a fraud investigation following the 2018 North Caro ...

, when Johnson won 221 of the 226

Bladen County Bladen County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

...

absentee vote An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online v ...

s 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. The

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises funds, and organizes races in ...

(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.

Republican primary

Robert_Pittenger,_Official_Portrait,_113th_Congress

Candidates

* Clarence Goins, banker * Mark Harris, Baptist evangelical minister and former pastor *

, incumbent Harris resigned from his church in June 2017 in order to devote his full attention to the 2018 campaign.

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

and

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The United States secretary of housing and urban development (or HUD secretary) is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the president's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the presidential line of succe ...

Ben Carson Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...

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 Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas fro ...

during the

2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that were se ...

, though Pittenger had endorsed

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the ...

Results

Overall

By county

Red represents counties won by Harris. Green represents counties won by Pittenger.

General election

Through September 30, McCready reported raising $4.3 million while Harris had raised $1.6 million.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and Second Lady Karen Pence traveled to the district to campaign for Harris, while Representative

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

campaigned for McCready. Harris was endorsed by

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

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 WBTV (channel 3) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located off Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte, and its transmitter i ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

and October 17 at

Spirit Square Spirit Square, also called Spirit Square Center for the Arts, is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Its McGlohon Theater in the former First Baptist Church on North Tryon Street, named for Loonis McGlohon, is now part of North Carolina Blumen ...

.
Complete video of debate
October 10, 2018

Polling

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

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 The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin House, located in Raleigh. Governor Roy Cooper is a North Carolina Democrat. Since the 2010 passage o ...

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 ballot An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online vo ...

s. 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. Dowless worked for McVicker again in the 2018 Republican primary and the general election for Sheriff. On November 30, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

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 NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

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. In

Robeson County Robeson County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of North Carolina and is its largest county by land area. Its county seat is and largest city is Lumberton. The county was formed in 1787 from part of Bladen County and named in ...

, 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 Bladen County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

...

, 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 ''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, i ...

'' 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. The interim director of Bladen County's Board of Elections denied her office paid Jessica Dowless, but a public records request revealed that to be untrue. 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 ''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, i ...

'', Brianna Sacks and Otillia Steadman, December 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2019. In December 2018, the Republican-controlled

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets in the North Caroli ...

passed a bill into law that would require new primary elections if a new election were called, overriding a

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

by Democratic

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Roy Cooper Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 200 ...

. While the investigation continued, McCready prepared to run in a special election.

Election board hearings

Prior to the election, in October 2018, a state court had ruled that North Carolina's nine-member State Board of Elections was unconstitutional due to changes made by the state legislature in 2017. The court allowed the election board to continue operating during the election and subsequent fraud investigation. On December 28, in an unexpected decision, the court dissolved the election board, before it had certified election results, accusing the board of ignoring court instructions. This left the state without certified election results and without an elections board until January 31, 2019, when a new, five-member board was to be seated under a new law taking effect. Office nameplate during interregnum for NC-9 2018-19

Office nameplate during interregnum for NC-9 2018-19

The court's dissolution of the election board prompted responses from all quarters. Republican candidate Harris filed an emergency petition requesting that the board certify the results with him as the winner, but only two of nine board members requested an emergency session, and no action was taken before the board dissolved. Democratic candidate McCready publicly called for the fraud investigation to continue. Cooper attempted to name an interim elections board to serve until January 31, but was overridden by the state's Republican-controlled legislature. Meanwhile, incoming United States House of Representatives Majority Leader

Steny Hoyer Steny Hamilton Hoyer (born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for since 1981 and as House Majority Leader since 2019. A Democrat, Hoyer was first elected in a special election on May 19, 19 ...

, a Democrat, announced that the House of Representatives will not seat Harris under any circumstances until the fraud investigation is completed. On January 2, 2019, the staff of the dissolved election board announced that they would continue the investigation, but delayed a January 11 hearing until a new election board is seated on January 31. The same day, Harris announced he would seek court intervention to have him immediately certified as the winner with the goal of being seated in the

on January 3. On January 3, the 116th Congress was sworn in with North Carolina's 9th Congressional seat vacant. On the same day, Harris was interviewed by investigators from the North Carolina Board of Elections. In early January, by refusing to provide the names of Republican candidates for the state elections board, as requested by Cooper, and urging Republicans not to accept seats on the board, North Carolina Republicans blocked the board's intent and ability to hold a scheduled hearing on January 11, 2019, meant for the purposes of investigating the possibility of fraud in the November 9 District election, leaving the District seat in Congress vacant. Republican party officials refused to send Cooper the names of their party's candidates to fill vacancies on the board. Responding to their obstructionism, Cooper said:

All North Carolinians deserve to have confidence in a system of voting that ensures honest and fair elections. If politicians and the people they hire are manipulating the system to steal elections, all of us should pull together to get to the bottom of it and stop it — regardless of whether the candidate who finished ahead in a tainted election is a Republican or a Democrat.

On January 22, 2019, Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway refused Harris's request to order him seated. On January 31, the new board, composed of three Democratic and two Republican members, voted to schedule a February hearing on the allegations of election irregularities. On February 4, the new board set the hearing for February 18. On February 18, 2019, the regulator reported that it had found evidence of "a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme" that may have involved more than 1,000 ballots or ballot request forms. That day, Lisa Britt, the daughter of Dowless's ex-wife, admitted to tampering with ballots on the direction of Dowless – including filling in blank votes to favor Republican candidates and falsifying voter and witness signatures. On February 20, Harris's son, John Harris, a federal prosecutor in North Carolina, testified to the election board that he had repeatedly warned his father not to hire Dowless because Dowless appeared to have previously engaged in illegal tactics to win votes. John Harris also testified that he had expressed similar concerns to his father's chief campaign strategist, Andy Yates. Email records were shown of his discussion of the issue with his father. His father had maintained that he had not been warned of problems with Dowless's reputation and had testified to that effect. On February 21, Harris admitted that he had made inaccurate statements in his testimony, blaming a recent sepsis infection that had affected his memory and caused him to have two strokes. He said that he had concluded that "public confidence in the 9th District has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted." The board unanimously voted to set a new election, with the date to be determined in a later hearing. The board also called for new elections for two local county offices in Bladen County.

Aftermath

Freeman announced that she would call upon a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a p ...

to investigate the fraud allegations to determine whether or not to file criminal charges. On February 26, Harris, citing ill health, declared that he would not compete in the new congressional election. Dowless was indicted on felony charges on February 27, consisting of three counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, and two counts of possession of absentee ballots. Four others were also charged in relation to the absentee ballot collection. In March 2019, the

Public Integrity Section The Public Integrity Section (PIN) is a section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice charged with combating political corruption at all levels of government through the prosecution of corrupt federal, state, and local electe ...

of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

began to issue

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

s for a

federal grand jury Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought ...

investigation related to the case. Documents were requested for a grand jury proceeding to be held April 16–18, 2019. In July 2019, the Wake County district attorney also announced charges against Lisa Britt, Ginger S. Eason, Woody D. Hester, James Singletary, Jessica Dowless and Kelly Hendrix, and additional charges against Leslie McCrae Dowless. On April 25, 2022, Dowless died of

Lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

References

{{North Carolina elections North Carolina 09 Annulled elections 2018 09 United States House of Representatives 09 Election 2018 Election 2018 North Carolina 2018 North Carolina's 9th congressional district election

Background

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Overall

By county

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Overall

By county

General election

Polling

Results

Refusal of certification

Election board hearings

Aftermath

See also

References