After election fraud delay, GOP keeps House seat in North Carolina

Republicans also won a second special election in North Carolina on Tuesday night, as Greg Murphy won a comfortable victory in the Third district, replacing Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), who died in February.

The Bishop win was a relief for national Republicans, especially after a late visit by both the President and Vice President on Monday - as the President basked in the glow of GOP victory at the White House.

But while the GOP won this district - which stretched from the east side of Charlotte over to I-95 along the border with South Carolina - there were still warning signs overall for the GOP in terms of the fight for Congress.

While Bishop won, he did not come close to the margin of victory by President Trump in that same district in 2016, as the President won by 11.6 percent.

That's the type of special election results in Congress which we saw in 2017 and then in the 2018 mid-terms, where increased Democratic enthusiasm and turn out was enough to knock out GOP incumbents - but not enough for a dramatic drubbing at the polls.

While Democrats did better in the suburbs, Republicans were able to offset that with better turnout in rural areas - that will be the basic battle in 2020 as President Trump runs for re-election.

The pair of GOP victories in North Carolina will leave the House at 235 Democrats, 199 Republicans, and 1 Independent.