Doctor, Doctor: Greg Murphy Gets Boost From Primary Runoff Rival to Beat Democrat in NC-03

ELIZABETH CITY – The special election to fill the seat of the late Congressman Walter Jones Jr is two weeks away and early voting is underway. Republican candidate and State House member Dr. Greg Murphy comfortably emerged from a large primary field and a tense runoff election against fellow physician Dr. Joan Perry. Despite the runoff battle, though, Perry is helping push Murphy down the final stretch over a the former Greenville mayor with the Democrat machine at his back.

From the Daily Advance:

“I am very happy to have Dr. Joan Perry’s support. We realize that we must have a Republican Congressman in the 3rd District. We simply cannot have someone who is of the party of Pelosi (referring to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco),” Murphy said Sunday night at a campaign event organized by the Pasquotank Republican Party in Elizabeth City that also featured Perry.

Perry said she and Murphy talked about the issues, the importance of energizing voters and doing what’s necessary to defeat Thomas.

“I’m supporting Greg because we are Republicans and hold many of the same conservative beliefs, especially pertaining to the issue of life and also fiscal responsibility. Our country is facing critical times and Republican values must be represented in Washington,” she said. […]”

While both congressional districts facing special elections in North Carolina have had Republican representation for quite some time, the Third District is more solidly Republican stronghold than is the Ninth District. Still, the expedited and off-date nature of a special election means awareness and turnout are low, thus voter mobilization is increasingly impactful. Historically, Democrats have had robust voter mobilization efforts, so to speak, and that makes this election more at risk for Republicans than otherwise.

That doesn’t seem lost on the Murphy camp, who’s recruiting reinforcements with the benefit of leveraging the experience of the Walter Jones network.

Read more about the Third District race here.