GOP lawmaker likely to face recount in tight primary

Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.) will likely face a recount in a GOP primary, after failing to decisively put away two challengers in a newly drawn district.

The second-term lawmaker barely edged out Baptist pastor Mark Harris, by 142 votes with all precincts reporting, according to a projection by the Associated Press. The AP had still not officially called the race for Pittenger late Tuesday night.

Under North Carolina law, candidates can demand a recount if the margin of victory is within 1 percent.

{mosads}Harris told supporters Tuesday night he wouldn’t concede, according to the Charlotte Observer. His campaign manager, Mark Knoop, said Harris would call for a recount.

“We intend to walk through that process until we know every citizen had an opportunity to have their vote heard,” Harris said.

Pittenger did not express an objection to Harris’s demand for a recount.

“This is America. It’s his privilege,” Pittenger told the Charlotte Observer.

Between having to introduce himself to many new voters who weren’t in his previous district and a looming FBI investigation, Pittenger proved to be vulnerable to a primary challenge this year.

The FBI is probing whether Pittenger had an improper role with his former real estate company, which he transferred to his wife after first winning election to the House in 2012.

Pittenger, Harris and former Union County Commissioner Todd Johnson split the vote almost evenly on Tuesday, with each winning close to 30 percent.

The advantage of incumbency helped fuel Pittenger’s fundraising advantage. According to the most recent Federal Election Commission reports through mid-May, Pittenger raised more than $500,000, compared to Harris’s $132,000 and Johnson’s $76,395.

Pittenger also rolled out endorsements from top GOP figures including Donald Trump, the National Rifle Association and former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

As public backlash raged over his state’s law requiring people to use the bathroom corresponding with their biological sex, Pittenger attached an amendment to a spending bill last month that would prevent the Obama administration from withholding federal dollars in retaliation.

The Justice Department has filed a civil rights lawsuit against North Carolina over the bathroom law. The Obama administration also issued a directive last month urging all public schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their choice. While the directive does not have the force of law, it implicitly carries the threat of withholding federal funds if schools don’t comply.

Pittenger has said he will offer the same amendment to future spending bills that come up for consideration on the House floor this year. 

Earlier Tuesday, fellow North Carolina Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers became the first GOP incumbent lawmaker to lose a primary this year. Multiple conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity ran ads and launched get-out-the-vote campaigns against her to boost her primary opponent, Rep. George Holding. 

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), who is under federal investigation for allegations of corruption and money laundering, was the first incumbent lawmaker to lose a primary in 2016.

North Carolina’s congressional districts were redrawn after a court concluded that the previous boundaries were gerrymandered to limit the representation of African-American populations. House primaries were subsequently rescheduled for June 7 so that candidates could adjust to the new district lines.  

Like Pittenger, Ellmers ran in a district in which many of the voters weren’t previously her constituents. More than half of the newly drawn district’s voters had been in Holding’s original district, which limited any advantages Ellmers had as an incumbent member of Congress.