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Candidate Filing To Open In New Ninth District Race

WFAE
Candidate filing in the 9th district special election begins Monday.

Filing begins at 8 a.m. Monday for the new election in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. 

The State Board of Elections last month ordered a new election in the 9th district after investigators found evidence of election fraud in last November’s general election.

The investigation centered around Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless, who led an aggressive absentee mail ballot operation on behalf of Republican Mark Harris.

[Related Content: How The 9th District's 'Greek Tragedy' Unfolded]

Last month, a grand jury indicted Dowless and four other people on charges stemming from their activities during the 2018 primary and the 2016 general election.

Candidates have from Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. to file with the state elections board for the new race in the 9th district.

Harris isn’t running again, but several Republicans are expected to join the contest. Democrat Dan McCready, who trailed Harris by about 900 votes in the never-certified November election, is also making a fresh bid for the seat.

The new primary is set for May 14, with the general election scheduled for Sept. 10.  If a primary runoff is needed, it would be held on the September date, with the general election then not coming until Nov. 5.

Candidates for the congressional seat must pay a filing fee of $1,740 – unless they also ran in last year’s primary.

For more information, read our explainer about the 9th Congressional District race

Mark Rumsey grew up in Kansas and got his first radio job at age 17 in the town of Abilene, where he announced easy-listening music played from vinyl record albums.