While the Democrats and Libertarians stood pat with one candidate chasing the 9th Congressional District seat, Republicans flooding board of elections offices across the district and came up with 10 challengers.

The election, which will start with a GOP primary on May 14, was made necessary by alleged vote stealing in Bladen and Robeson counties that skewed the outcome of the November 2018 win by Republican Mark Harris over Democrat Dan McCready by just 905 votes.

It’s also meant that our congressional district — which includes all of Scotland, Richmond, Robeson, Anson and Union counties; along with parts of Bladen, Mecklenburg and Cumberland counties — has been without representation in Washingbton for the past few months.

Last year’s Republican primary for the 9th District seat included incumbent Robert Pittenger and Harris, but neither chose to throw their hat into the ring again.

There are, however, a number of well-known and experienced candidates to consider — including two-term State Sen. Dan Bishop, who also served a term in the House; Fern Shubert, a former one-term state representative and three-term state senator; Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing, who is being endorsed by Harris; Matthew Ridenhour, a former Mecklenburg County commissioner; two-time 10th Congressional District candidate Albert Wiley; and Chris Anglin, who switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP last year.

So registered GOP voters are now faced with a smorgasbord of candidates to choose from in the primary, and we think the biggest challenge will be for voters to zero in on the very best candidate to send forward to the September election for the seat.

But we have a feeling a second primary will be needed, because with 10 candidates with support spread across the 9th District, it could be difficult for one to emerge from the May primary with more than 30 percent of the vote.

With only about seven weeks before the primary, we feel sure the candidates will build on their own name recognition throughout the district. But what we will be interested to see is exactly what each has to say about the circumstances that forced this new primary and election, as well as the important issues facing North Carolina and the nation — such as immigration and President Trump’s wall, education, supporting the military and veterans, jobs and more.

As voters prepare to learn about the candidates on the ballot, we hope each vote will be an informed one so the very best possible GOP candidate will be sent forward to vie for the seat along with McCready, Libertarian Jeff Scott and Green Party candidate Allen Smith.

It’s important the alleged vote fraud gets thoroughly fixed and those responsible are severely disciplined. But it’s also important that the 9th District gets quality representation.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.” (Jim Rohn)