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.