After Republican State Senator Dan Bishop won Tuesday night’s hotly contested special election for North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, the spin from the mainstream media and Democrats was both predictable and hilarious.

The race had been billed as a bellwether race for 2020 for months in advance of election day. If Democrat Dan McCready won, it would be a repudiation of President Trump. If Bishop won, it would … mean nothing.

In the aftermath of Bishop’s victory, journalists and liberal commentators switched gears by saying the race contained a mixture of good news and bad news “for both sides.” Also, they asserted Bishop’s win was also a repudiation of Trump or something because the Republican candidate didn’t win the solidly red district by overwhelming numbers.

Like I said: Predictable and hilarious.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) gave what was perhaps the most bizarre spin on what happened when she spoke about McCready’s loss on Thursday, telling reporters McCready “won the campaign” but lost the election:

“I’m very proud of Dan MCready. He’s a great patriot, he’s an independent voice for the district he would have represented,” Pelosi said in press conference on Thursday.

The California Democrat said because MCready performed better than past Democratic candidates in previous elections, “he won the campaign. He didn’t win the election, he won the campaign.”

Watch:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "I'm very proud of Dan McCready… He won the campaign. He didn't win the election, but he won the campaign." pic.twitter.com/qumDyrjOMu

— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2019

As Bonchie noted the day after the election, the election was actually not good news at all for Democrats.

I speak from firsthand experience when I tell you the atmosphere in this state, in the district, was that McCready was going to win in spite of polls showing a close race. Bishop was the underdog. He was outspent. He had much less time to campaign for the seat than McCready. Bishop was hammered by Democrats and local (liberal) newspaper editorial boards for his support of Trump.

Democrats were mad as hell over the tainted results of the November 2018 race that led to fraud indictments against an ABM ballot harvester affiliated with the original Republican candidate Mark Harris (who denied knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing).

There was a lot going against Bishop, even in a district that had been in Republican hands since the mid-60s.

He won it anyway, and in the process flipped two counties that had gone for McCready in 2018.

This election does not mean that 2020 will be a cakewalk by any stretch for Republicans in 2020. It means there is a lot of work to be done between now and then in Congressional districts across the country. The fight is on.

But spinning McCready’s loss as a “campaign win” is about as pathetic as it gets for Pelosi. Stacey Abrams must be proud.

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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –