Pictured: Mark Harris
Representative Robert Pittenger (R-NC, 9th), lost his primary Tuesday night, becoming the first incumbent in either party to be ousted this election cycle. Pastor Mark Harris (R) beat the congressman by 3 percentage points; In 2016, he lost to Pittenger by a mere 134 votes.
Harris is a former senior pastor of Charlotte’s First Baptist Church and the former president of the North Carolina Baptist Convention.
Harris portrayed Pittenger as a member of the “Washington swamp” and criticized his vote for the $1.3 trillion spending bill signed in March 2018.
Now, Harris will face Democrat Dan McCready in North Carolina’s 9th District, which includes Charlotte’s southeastern suburbs. McCready, a 34-year-old Marine veteran, easily won the Democratic nomination and shares similarities with Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA, 18th), whose special election victory flipped a House seat in March 2018.
