By Ramishah Maruf
Democrat Dan McCready appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to discuss his campaign for the 9th Congressional District seat on Monday, the eve of election day in North Carolina’s special election.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski said the show reached out to McCready’s Republican opponent in the closely watched race, Dan Bishop. But Bishop’s campaign did not respond.
In the interview, McCready discussed his lengthy campaign, local issues and the broader context of the race with hosts Joe Scarborough and Brzezinski. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump hosted a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, later in the day to support Bishop.
McCready opened the interview in disbelief that election day is Tuesday – a long stretch since he announced his campaign for the House seat in May 2017, which was 27 months ago. In the initial race last November, which was tossed out because of voter fraud, he lost by 905 votes to Republican Mark Harris.
McCready said the election results will be close, as the 9th Congressional District is not one where a Democrat should be competitive. He is correct. Republicans have held the district since 1963 and Trump carried the district by 12 percentage points against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
As of Aug. 30, McCready held a slight lead over Bishop, according to a poll by Inside Elections. The results showed McCready at 46 percent and Bishop at 42 percent, with a 4.19 percent margin of error.
When asked about last year’s election against Mark Harris, McCready claimed it was the largest case of election fraud in modern-day American history. Although there were claims of voter fraud in Florida and Arizona’s midterm elections, allegations against the Harris campaign involved evidence of an intentional effort to change the results of the election.
“Your right to vote is your most sacred right in this country; it’s your voice,” McCready said. “[Harris’ campaign] stole that from people. And [Tuesday] is the people’s chance to get justice.”
McCready is correct. A News & Observer report found that unreturned ballots were at higher percentages for African Americans, at 40 percent, and Native Americans, at 60 percent. The figure for white voters was 17 percent.
The elderly were also targeted. An 87-year-old woman was quoted in the Washington Post, saying a woman was pushing her and other older people to vote.
Kim Strach, the since-ousted North Carolina election board’s executive director, said at the time that Leslie McCrae Dowless hired employees to take absentee ballots, forge voter signatures and fill out vote choices for people, as McCready claimed on the show.
As a result, the North Carolina elections board set a new election date, and Harris announced he would not run for re-election. Bishop then won the crowded primary for the Republican slot in the race.
During the show, McCready claimed the biggest area where people were struggling in the district was healthcare.
At the national level, healthcare remains one of the top issues for voters. However, a recent Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll released to The Hill showed that immigration became the top national issue, just surpassing healthcare. Bishop supports Trump’s border wall and a crackdown on illegal immigration.
McCready claimed to the hosts that he held 25 town halls over the last two months, with separate town halls on healthcare and education in all eight counties. A news release provided to UNC FactCheck showed that McCready did hold events on the two issues in all eight counties, although the press release did not list a total of 25 town-hall sessions.
McCready also claimed the areas east of Charlotte are suffering economically due to Trump’s tax cuts. This claim could not be confirmed by UNC FactCheck as of Monday evening.
