Republican Who Linked His Opponent to Omar Wins Close NC-9 Race

Trump, who has sent several tweets in support of Bishop and Murphy, held a rally in Fayetteville on Monday night in an attempt to push them over the finish line. Trump cast the special election, and the 2020 presidential election, as a fight for the status quo, describing Democrats as the “America-hating left.”

Tuesday’s results will do little to quell doubts over the political punch of Trump’s repeated attempts to paint progressive congresswomen like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota as the face of the Democratic Party, in a bid to sway moderate voters to the right and energize his base.

McCready’s near-miss could also signal that, for all that base might enjoy them, Trump’s attacks on lawmakers like Omar are a turn-off to moderates. The President held a now infamous rally earlier this summer in North Carolina, where the crowd in Greenville chanted, “Send her back!” as he railed against Omar, who was born in Somalia.

Gregory Krieg and Kate Sullivan, “Republican Dan Bishop projected to narrowly win closely watched North Carolina special congressional election“, CNN, 9/11/19
Republican North Carolina state Sen. Dan Bishop has much to smile about tonight after defeating Democrat Dan McCready in NC-9’s special congressional election.

Republican Challenger Attempts to Link Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) to Omar (D-MN)

Despite being lieutenant governor, polls showed she had little name recognition. Ten months after becoming senator, she had to run for election last November. And in a surprisingly easy win, she beat state Sen. Karin Housley by 11 percentage points. Now, she is up for re-election in 2020, and last week at the fair, a well-known name announced he was running against her.

Former Congressman Jason Lewis is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump and has strong name recognition. At his announcement he unveiled one of his strategies

NC Democratic Candidate Criticized for a Six-Month Delay in Returning a Contribution from Omar

Terry: How much was the contribution?

Thompson: It was a $2,000 donation on Nov. 6. And, so, he tweeted about giving it back on April 17.

Terry: Why did Dan Bishop not mention that McCready gave the money back during the rally?

Thompson: When we talked to a spokesperson for Bishop, they said that it shouldn’t really matter, and McCready shouldn’t have taken a cent from her in the first place because of her documented history of “anti-Semitic remarks.”

Terry: So, how did you rate these remarks then by Dan Bishop?

Thompson: Since McCready did get a donation from Omar but he gave it back, we decided that that was a substantial enough detail that was left out to make this statement half true.

Marshall Terry, “Fact Check: Did McCready Campaign Accept Money From Rep. Omar?“, WFAE, 7/31/2019

Sen. Klobuchar Won’t Say If She’d Invite Rep. Omar to Speak at DNC If She’s the Nominee

Minnesota Democratic Senator and presidential candidate declines to say if she would invite Representative Ilhan Omar to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2020 if she should become the party’s nominee, saying that she would only commit to inviting former President Obama.

C-Span, “Sen. Klobuchar Won’t Say If She’d Invite Rep. Omar to Speak at DNC If She’s the Nominee“, July 22, 2019

Republican Ad in NC Links Democratic Opponent to Ilhan Omar

In NC-9, Republican Dan Bishop is running this ad linking his Democratic opponent Dan McCready to Ilhan Omar. Democrats who link their Republican opponents to Trump should not complain when Republicans in turn link Dems to Ilhan Omar. The solution is for Dems to stop supporting Ilhan Omar. One way to do that would be for Nancy Pelosi to take away Omar’s assignment to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

NC Republican Uses Omar to Hammer Democratic Opponent

But dynamics change when such a contest is the only game in town, and this race feels destined to become nationalized in some way. McCready won’t have the benefit of a blue wave at his back, and Republicans are eager to link him to the more progressive elements of the party. They see this as a testing ground for their 2020 message