2019 North Carolina's 3rd congressional district special election


A special election was held on September 10th, 2019 to fill the vacancy in in the United States House of Representatives for the remainder of the 116th United States Congress. Walter B. Jones Jr., the incumbent representative, died on February 10, 2019.
Parties held primaries to decide their nominees. In order to win a party nomination outright, under current state law, a candidate must exceed 30% of the vote to avoid a runoff. There must be 30 days of absentee voting prior to each election, according to state law. Filing began on March 4 and ended March 8, as set by Governor Roy Cooper. Twenty-six candidates filed with the State Board of Elections by the filing deadline: 17 Republicans, 6 Democrats, 2 Libertarians, and 1 Constitution Party candidate. All candidates filed are affiliated with a political party. Five candidates advanced after the first primary elections: two Republicans, one Democrat, one Libertarian, and one Constitution Party candidate.
Cooper set the primary date of April 30, in which the Democrats selected Allen M. Thomas, Libertarians selected Tim Harris, and in the Constitution Party primary businessman Greg Holt won by default, but no Republican achieved 30% of the vote. Voting for the Republican primary runoff occurred on Tuesday, July 9, between two candidates that are both physicians, Greg Murphy and Joan Perry. Approximately 70 minutes after polls closed, Murphy was declared the winner by the Associated Press.
The general election was held on September 10, 2019. Murphy won the seat.
With the decision by the State Board of Elections to hold a new election to redo the 2018 U.S. House election in North Carolina's 9th district, this became one of two congressional district special elections in North Carolina in 2019, the other being the 9th district's special election held on the same day. This was the first time two U.S. House special elections were held in the same state on the same day since the May 3, 2008, elections in Louisiana's 1st district and 6th district.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

First round

Polling

Results

Runoff

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Results

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Declared

Constitution primary

Candidates

Nominee (by default)

During the early voting period for this election, Hurricane Dorian battered the eastern coast of the United States, necessitating early voting to be halted in several counties on the Outer Banks until the storm had passed. This also happened in the election for North Carolina's 9th congressional district.

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

;with generic Republican and generic Democrat
Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
of error		Generic
Republican		Generic
Democrat		Undecided
May 18–19, 2019400± 4.9%49%41%–

Fundraising

Results

Despite the clear victory, 61.7% is the lowest Republican vote share in this district since 2012.