North Carolina congressional do-over watched for clues to 2020

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will travel to North Carolina next month to rally voters on the eve of a do-over of a 2018 congressional race that both parties expect to be close, with implications for Trump’s re-election bid and lawmakers campaigns in 2020.

Normally there would be little suspense over who would win the special election in the state’s 9th congressional district on Sept. 10. The area has elected Republicans to U.S. Congress for decades, and Trump won the presidential vote there in 2016 by nearly 12 percentage points.

But both political parties say they expect the House contest to be close after Democratic candidate Dan McCready lost by a slim margin last year before state officials ruled that the election was tainted by an absentee-ballot fraud scheme that benefited his Republican opponent, Mark Harris.

After a re-run was ordered, millions of dollars in campaign spending have poured into the district as both parties look for a victory to help set the tone for their prospects in 2020.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-north-carolina/north-carolina-congressional-do-over-watched-for-clues-to-2020-idUSKCN1VJ2BL