Dem Dan McCready raises $500,000 amid disputed NC race

Democrat Dan McCready raised $500,000 in the last five weeks of 2018 amid a disputed House race in North Carolina marred by allegations of absentee ballot fraud.

McCready, a veteran and businessman, trails Republican Mark Harris in the state’s 9th District race by 905 votes. He’s continued to raise money since the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) decided not to certify the race in late November.

His campaign will report the half-million dollar haul when year-end reports, which cover money raised and spent between Nov. 26 and Dec. 31, are due next Thursday at midnight.

{mosads}Throughout the 2018 campaign, McCready was a prolific fundraiser who consistently outraised Harris. The 9th District, which includes Charlotte suburbs and more rural parts along the South Carolina border, has long been a GOP stronghold.

As the elections board continues to investigate fraud claims, the unresolved race has been left in limbo since that board was dissolved last month. New members will be appointed next Thursday and are expected to set a new date for a public evidentiary hearing about the findings from the investigation.

In that evidentiary hearing, the board could decide whether to seat Harris or call for a new election. But the U.S. House of Representatives has the ultimate authority on seating members of Congress.

Harris recently filed an emergency petition in court to certify him as the winner of the race, but Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway ruled against Harris at Tuesday’s hearing and threw the issue back to the state elections board.

Harris and the North Carolina GOP have been pushing for certification, arguing that they haven’t seen any evidence that there’s enough votes in question to change the margin of victory.

But at the Tuesday hearing, senior Deputy Attorney General Amar Majmundar, who was representing the state elections board, said there is evidence that shows that the 905-vote margin is in question.