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Cal Cunningham launches campaign in three Republican counties

NORTH CAROLINA — Hours after a decisive victory on Super Tuesday, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham went home to a barbecue restaurant in Davidson County.

“As a person who wants to represent all 10.7 million North Carolinians, the way to do that is start is by listening,” he said.

Cunningham launched his campaign in three counties that went Republican in 2016 that he is hoping to turn blue. His campaign said he wants to reach voters in places that may have been ignored in years past. “It’s about engaging people who may not vote for me, but I am going to build bridges,” he said.

“It’s about engaging people who may not vote for me, but I am going to build bridges,” he said.

Cunningham’s tour started in Davidson County, which is a county Richard Burr won with 72% of the vote in 2016. He then visited Rowan and Cabarrus counties where Burr won with 65% and 58% respectively.

As Cunningham toured the trio of counties, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis was hammering him with digital ads.

"I intend to support the ticket this fall. The ticket will come together, and I intend to support it," the digital ad shows Cunningham saying.

The ad tied Cunningham’s pledged the support of whoever wins the Democratic nomination for president to proposals like “Medicare for All” and government health care for people in the country without documentation.

“Cal Cunningham spent his primary racing to the left and assuring liberals that he will support whichever radical candidate the Democrats nominate for president,” said Andrew Romeo, Tillis’ campaign spokesman. “Our campaign will spend the general election assuring all North Carolinians how dangerous Cal Cunningham’s allegiance to the platform of the national Democratic Party is for this state.”

Click here to watch the ad.

Cunningham said he is against Medicare for All and prefers expanding Obamacare with a public option for coverage. He told Channel 9 he is opposed to undocumented immigrants being eligible for the public option, which is a position that puts him in odds with several Democratic presidential candidates.

He cited trade and immigration as issues he would like to work with Republicans on.

“Immigration reform should be about expanding our economy, and I think there are very real and bipartisan ways to do that,” he said.

US Reps. Price, McHenry, Adams win North Carolina primaries

Three North Carolina members of Congress with challengers from their own party this year all won primaries on Tuesday.

Rep. David Price defeated Daniel Lockwood in the Democratic Party’s 4th Congressional District primary and will face Tuesday’s Republican primary winner. Price first went to Congress in 1987 and has served continuously except for two years in the mid-1990s.

Rep. Patrick McHenry won his Republican primary in the 10th District over David L. Johnson and Ralf Walters and will face Democrat David Parker in the fall. McHenry was first elected to Congress in 2004, rising to the post of chief deputy whip when Republicans recently held the U.S. House majority.

Democratic Rep. Alma Adams defeated Keith E. Credle in her 12th District primary and will take on Republican Bill Brewster in the fall. Adams is seeking her fourth full term in Congress. She had been in the state House for 20 years before her 2014 congressional election.

UPDATES:

10 p.m.: After his win on Super Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper spoke to a crowd in Raleigh.

He talked about the values he learned from his mother.

“A deep faith in God. A duty to serve. A charge to help others,” Cooper said. “But I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would be up here leading the state that I love.”

9:51 p.m.: Cal Cunningham took to the podium after his victory: “We are one step closer to replacing Tillis’ partisanship with our patriotism."

9:15 p.m.: Dan Forest addressed his supporters after winning the Republican primary for North Carolina governor.

“This is probably going to be the number one Governor race in the country,” he said at the N.C. GOP headquarters in Raleigh.

8:35 p.m.: Cal Cunningham wins Democratic Senate primary in North Carolina, AP reports

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8:25 p.m.: The race for governor in North Carolina -- Roy Cooper will win the Democratic primary and Dan Forest will win the Republican primary, ABC News projects

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8:20 P.M. ABC News projects that Sen. Thom Tillis will win the Republican Senate Primary race in North Carolina, based on analysis of the vote in so far

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8:10 p.m.: All polls in North Carolina have closed

7:31 p.m.: Former Vice President Joe Biden has won the Democratic primary in North Carolina, ABC News projects. A focus on electability and broad support from black voters boosted Biden, while those between the ages of 18-29 and those who support a shift to more liberal policies than Barack Obama’s backed Bernie Sanders, per preliminary exit poll results.

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7 p.m.

NCSBE votes to extend voting until 8:10 p.m. Tuesday at Miller Park Recreation (Precinct 702) in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County. That means there won’t be results for that precinct until at least 8:10 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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