CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — After a bruising GOP primary, the party nomination for the 9th District seat will be settled in a runoff that will likely determine its next congressman.
Former Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph is facing Robert Pittenger, a former state senator. They were the top two vote getters in the crowded May 8 Republican primary. The runoff is being held because none of the candidates in the GOP primary landed at least 40 percent of the vote.
The winner will face Democrat Jennifer Roberts, a Mecklenburg County Commissioner. Libertarian candidate Curtis Campbell also will be on the Nov. 6 ballot.
But the winner of the July 17 GOP runoff will be the favorite heading in the fall. The district, which covers portions of Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties, is overwhelmingly Republican and has been in the party’s hands since 1963.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte is retiring after holding the seat for 18 years. She had endorsed Pendergraph.
The contentious runoff has been spiced with a flurry of negative radio ads and mailers that some local Republicans complain has been a turnoff.
In one ad, Pittenger called Pendergraph a “human chameleon” who tells voters “what they want to hear, but then acts like a liberal Democrat when they’re not watching.” Pendergraph has countered that Pittenger is spending millions to peddle “sleaze” in an attempt to “destroy my good name and reputation with one lie after another.” In other ads, Pendergraph portrays Pittenger as a millionaire who, like other “self-funded” millionaires in Congress,” is “trying to buy influence.”
“Pittenger throws away more money than the rest of us earn. It’s pocket change for him,” one ad said.
Pittenger’s campaign touts his business experience; he built a real estate investment company.
When the May 8 primary votes were counted, Pittenger had snared about 33 percent, while Pendergraph captured 25 percent.
The Charlotte area, which includes Mecklenburg County, is the fastest growing region in the country and a major financial center, home to Bank of America Corp. But the area took a major hit in the banking meltdown in 2008, and thousands of people lost their jobs.
Both candidates agree the economy is the most pressing issue. They also are in unison other issues, including reducing the massive government deficit and streamlining or eliminating regulations that make it hard for businesses to expand and create new jobs.
Pendergraph attracted national attention with his local work against illegal immigration. He was an early supporter of a program that allowed him to put county inmates into deportation proceedings.
