Trump-Backed Candidates Win in North Carolina

Two congressional candidates backed by President Donald Trump won special elections on Tuesday night. Republican Dan Bishop beat Democrat Dan McCready in the 9th district. Republican Greg Murphy defeated Democrat Allen Thomas to win the state’s 3rd district.

During a Trump rally in Fayetteville on Monday, Murphy said: “We are here to serve you. We are here to help our president. And we are here to keep America great.”

Bishop earned notoriety for his sponsorship of the transphobic “bathroom bill,” H.B. 2, which sought to ban gender-neutral bathrooms. The law was repealed in 2017, but that did not stop it from adding to harmful stigma.

Bishop also extremely hates abortion. Sir, if you don’t want an abortion, you don’t have to have one!

Murphy ran for a seat that was open following the death of Rep. Walter Jones Jr. In the 9th district, findings of ballot fraud necessitated another try.

Thomas, a Democrat, said: “We ran a positive, first-class campaign that focused on truth and fundamentals and disregarding partisanship, and made it all about the future of Eastern North Carolina. That’s the same message that I would carry if we started this race over again tomorrow.”

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Cheri Bustos said: “There are 34 Republican-held districts that are more favorable to Democrats than North Carolina’s Ninth. Tonight’s razor-thin result in this ruby-red district solidifies the fact that Democrats are pushing further into Republican strongholds and are in a commanding position to protect and expand our House Majority in 2020.”

Trump called Murphy to congratulate him on the win, according to the Associated Press. Murphy apparently said the president said he “looks forward to us working together to help the region.”

In fact, Trump seemed invested in the campaigns and oddly… lucid about it all? I didn’t know he had an attention span for these kinds of endeavors.