Article snippet: North Carolina voters sent Rep.-elect Dan Bishop (R) to Washington on Tuesday night, closing out the final election of the 2018 cycle with a Republican victory that was simultaneously relieving and pyrrhic. Bishop, a state senator who represented parts of North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, beat businessman and war veteran Dan McCready (D) by 2 percentage points. But as Republicans and Democrats digested the results from a district that spans from the Charlotte suburbs to the rural Cotton Belt late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, both sides had reasons for concern. Republicans showed signs that their support in once rock-solid suburbs is still eroding, while Democrats wondered what they had to do to get some of their core voters to the polls. Two competing fundamentals stand out: A win is a win, and the House Republican Conference will be one member larger, and one seat closer to reclaiming the majority, when Bishop takes the oath. On the other hand, how many other once-safe districts will be at risk if Republicans only won a district that voted for MORE by 12 points by about 4,000 votes? The election results show Bishop’s campaign scored its most significant wins in Union County, a stalwart rural Republican hub east of Charlotte where he led McCready by about 12,500 votes. But the most significant results came in the eastern, more rural counties in the 9th District. McCready won Cumberland County, where President Trump held a rally on Monday, by 1,0... Link to the full article to read more