Mark Harris, a Baptist pastor with a long history of social conservatism, won the GOP primary in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District on Tuesday night, ousting Rep. Robert Pittenger. Pittenger is the first congressional incumbent of either party to lose a primary this cycle. The district, which Trump won by 12 percentage points in 2016, stretches through the central part of North Carolina’s southern border. He lost by just 134 votes in 2016 in the closest congressional primary of the election cycle. In 2012, Harris led Vote for Marriage NC, which successfully pushed a state constitutional amendment defining marriage in North Carolina as between one man and one woman.

Source: Huffington Post May 09, 2018 02:26 UTC