Democrat Dan McCready announced Thursday that he’s withdrawing his concession in North Carolina’s 9th District amid an investigation into elections fraud claims.
McCready trails Republican Mark Harris by 905 votes and conceded the race shortly after the Nov. 6 election in the race to replace Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.).
But in the weeks since the midterm elections, the state’s Board of Elections voted not to certify the election results as it continues to investigate allegations of electoral fraud and other voting irregularities related to absentee ballots.
The probe is centered on an unusually high number of absentee ballots in Bladen County, and canvassers who collected ballots from a number of voters.
“Over the last week, we have seen the criminal activity come to light, and we have seen that my opponent Mark Harris has bankrolled this criminal activity,” McCready said today.
“And so as of today, I’m withdrawing my concession of Mark Harris and furthermore, I call on Mark Harris to tell the American people exactly what he knew and when he knew it.”
Elections officials and Democrats have been careful not to allege any specific wrongdoing so far.
But the allegations suggest some kind of scheme, undertaken by people supporting the GOP campaign, to influence the results of an election ultimately decided by less than 1,000 votes.
Democrats already have gained 40 seats in the House this election year, the highest number since the Watergate era.