Union County commissioner ready to run for NC-09 seat after receiving endorsement from Mark Harris

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Tuesday night Stony Rushing became one of the first candidates to announce he would be running in the upcoming special election for North Carolina’s Ninth District Congressional Election.

Rushing, a Union County commissioner and owner of a local firing range, said he was present in Raleigh for the North Carolina State Board of Elections lengthy hearing regarding allegations of election fraud in the race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready. Rushing supported Harris during the proceedings.

“He’s a great man, really great fella. He didn’t deserve to be treated like he was treated at the State Board of Elections,” Rushing told WBTV in an interview Tuesday.

Rushing said he and Harris had discussed an endorsement, but he didn’t realize it would officially happen until Harris published a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon. The post explained that Harris would not be running in the special election due to health reasons. Harris then asked voters to consider supporting Rushing. The commissioner is very appreciative of Harris’ endorsement.

“It’s a great thing. I believe it’s a great thing. Because when people start to find out the truth about what happened down there, people are gonna understand what wrong has been done in this district,” said Rushing.

As an example of a ‘wrong’, Rushing pointed to the head of the Bladen County Improvement Association Pact, an organization partially-funded by the North Carolina Democratic Party, claiming he had been tipped off prior to the 2018 primary elections that an absentee ballot investigation was coming.

“I believe that the State Board of Elections has conducted an investigation instead of an election and they didn’t tell but one side,” stated Rushing.

If Rushing is chosen to be the Republican candidate in the special election, it’s very likely he’ll square off with McCready. The Democrat is already raising funds for a new race.

“This is a really important race now. This is much bigger than any one race or any one person. This is really about what does it mean to live in a Democracy,” McCready told reporters shortly after it was announced there would be a new election.

Tuesday, Republican David Blackwelder announced his candidacy for the the North Carolina Congressional 9th District.

It remains to be seen what other politicians will compete for a chance to represent the Republican Party in the special election.

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