By Matthew Langston
Sen. Dan Bishop, the Republican candidate in the special election for the 9th Congressional District, put out a press release on June 17 in which he labeled his Democratic opponent, Dan McCready, as “Dishonest Dan” and accused McCready of secretly harboring ambitions to run in North Carolina’s 2020 Senate election.
“Dan McCready had no problem lying to the press and voters about his intentions to run for U.S. Senate when he thought he could still get the support of his party bosses in Washington,” Bishop said in the press release. “The only reason he finally and begrudgingly ruled it out is when he found out they were going with someone else.”
This is not the first time Bishop, who previously attacked McCready on immigration in a series of press releases, has raised the issue of a potential Senate run by McCready.
A day after his victory in the Republican primary, which was held on May 14, Bishop showed up at McCready’s campaign headquarters and challenged McCready to answer three questions.
One of those questions was whether McCready would promise that he is not using his current congressional campaign as a “launchpad” for a future Senate bid.
At McCready’s press conference held later that day, reporters repeated Bishop’s questions, including the one about a potential Senate bid.
A reporter pushed McCready to give a yes or no answer on whether he would pledge not to run for the Senate in 2020.
McCready said, “My pledge is to stay 100% focused on this district.”
When asked again about running for the Senate, McCready said, “I’m not pledging to do a single thing after Sept. 10.” Sept. 10 is the date of the 9th District’s general election.
That same reporter later pressed McCready again on a potential Senate campaign.
McCready said, “I’m not interested in that, I’m not thinking about that, I’m focused on this race.”
While he said he was not interested in running for the Senate, McCready never explicitly ruled out the possibility at this press conference. That brings us back to Bishop’s latest press release.
As cited in the release, Charlotte’s WBT News first reported on June 14 that McCready had gone to Washington, D.C., twice in March to explore the possibility of a Senate run in 2020.
One of those visits was said to have included a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the first week of March.
For reference, the North Carolina State Board of Elections decided on February 21 that a new election was warranted in the 9th District after the previous election had been tainted by an illegal absentee ballot scheme meant to help Republican candidate Mark Harris. On March 4, the Board of Elections chose dates for the district’s primary and general election.
It is not surprising that Democrats might have tried to persuade McCready to run for the Senate. His name recognition and fundraising ability are both appealing aspects for what is likely to be an expensive and competitive race. McCready’s military service and youth are also positives, as he could be one of the youngest members of the Senate if he ran and won in 2020.
Schumer has previously met with a number of potential Senate recruits from North Carolina and other states in hopes they will run in 2020 and help the Democrats regain a majority in the chamber. These recruitment efforts have not always been successful, as some of these individuals have chosen not to run for the Senate.
It seems McCready is one of those individuals who has opted not to run for the Senate. WBT’s story includes a quote from McCready in response to the story in which he says, “I am not running for the Senate.”
While WBT’s reporting has not been independently verified, Bishop is continuing to use this story as a line of attack against McCready. In addition to his release, Bishop already made a Facebook post attacking McCready on the issue, which incorporates video of the McCready press conference.
