North Carolina Republicans to Pick Candidate for Congress in Fraud-Tainted District

North Carolina Republicans have controlled the state’s Ninth Congressional District since 1963. In November, the long streak appeared unbroken, and the party celebrated, relieved by a narrow 905-vote victory over the Democratic candidate.

But on Tuesday, Republican voters will return to the polls to pick someone to represent the party in a do-over election after last year’s seeming success collapsed in the wake of fraud accusations.

Some Republicans expect that Tuesday’s vote — part of a protracted process to resolve the final unsettled race of the midterms — will help them begin to escape the taint of wrongdoing that came to symbolize last year’s campaign for Congress in the Ninth District.

Republican after Republican qualified for this year’s race, which polling suggests is close, including State Senator Dan Bishop, who played a substantial role in North Carolina’s caustic battle a few years ago over bathroom access for transgender people, and Stony Rushing, the Union County commissioner who has won the support of Mark Harris, the Republican candidate whose campaign supported the illicit effort that prompted the new election.