NO VACANCY: NC Officially Has Full Representation in Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As of just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening North Carolina’s Third and Ninth Congressional Districts officially ended their unexpected vacancies on Capitol Hill.

Dr. Greg Murphy, and now former N.C. House member from Greenville, now represents the coastal Third District for the remainder of the late Congressman Walter Jones’ term through 2020. Jones died in February and a special election was called to elect a new representative. Murphy, having won out in a primary field of 17 candidates, trounced his Democratic opponent Allen Thomas in the general election. Murphy is expected to join the Freedom Caucus.

Dan Bishop, an attorney and now former state senator from the Charlotte area, took his oath Tuesday evening as well.  The ceremony ends months of tumult in the Ninth District after electoral fraud allegations upended an apparent 2018 victory by Republican Mark Harris and thrust the district into investigations and eventual call for a redo. His win over two-time Democratic candidate Dan McCready was much closer and McCready has already hinted at challenging Bishop again in 2020. Bishop, a consummate conservative, could be on his way to the House Freedom Caucus as well.

Now that the dual special elections are behind us, voters, volunteers, and activists in these districts have all but a few months until 2020 elections are in full swing.