Early voting for the congressional GOP runoff election ends Saturday.
One thousand one hundred and eleven people have cast or mailed in ballots early, said Cabarrus Election Director Linda Grist.
Runoffs include the hotly-contested GOP race between Harold Johnson and Tim D'Annunzio. Democrats Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham will also square off for the U.S. Senate nomination Tuesday in a runoff election. The GOP's 12th district nominee will also be determined. Greg Dority and and Scott Cumble are both seeking that seat.
Early voting ends at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Board of Elections office in downtown Concord.
The final week of campaigning has Johnson and D'Annunzio in last-ditch efforts to get out their supporters. D'Annunzio has events scheduled at the Fayetteville SwampDogs and clay shooting with We The People Sandhills in Ellerbe this Saturday. Meanwhile, Johnson will be making calls to voters at his Concord campaign office, a campaign aide said.
House Republicans hosted a fundraiser for Johnson in Washington Thursday, a move that solidifies established Republicans' belief that Johnson is the best chance to defeat incumbent Democrat Larry Kissell in November.
This week also brought a dose of reality to both campaigns, as Public Policy Polling released numbers of the runoff election and the potential for the race in November.
The PPP polls showed that D'Annunzio was 10 points behind Johnson, 49 percent to 39 percent. PPP also predicted Kissell would win against either Johnson or D'Annunzio, but that the November race would be closer if Kissell ran against Johnson.
Whoever wins Tuesday will face Kissell and libertarian candidate Thomas Hill of Concord in November.
D'Annunzio released the results of a push poll where his in-house pollsters asked 500 likely GOP voters if Johnson living outside the 8th District and using lies and smear tactics against D'Annunzio would chage their vote.
Forty-four percent said they would vote for D'Annunzio versus the 41 percent Johnson received in D'Annunzio's poll.
Despite those results, D'Annunzio admitted to The Charlotte Observer on Thursday that he needed 'a miracle' to defeat opponent Harold Johnson in next week's runoff election.
During an interview with 1110 AM WBT Radio's Keith Larson on Wednesday, D'Annunzio accused the Charlotte radio host of planting callers who said they weren't supporting him in the runoff.
D'Annunzio also accused Larson of being the announcer in Johnson radio ads. Larson denied the accusation and called the Raeford businessman "a delusional deranged human being."
D'Annunzio told Larson, "there is a special place in hell for people like you."
The radio interview was a culmination of a month of contentious mud-slinging between the candidates.
In Hoke County divorce records released in May, D'Annunzio's wife said in 1995 that he had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona. A doctor's evaluation the following month said D'Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple of times as a teenager.
A judge wrote in a child support ruling a few years later that D'Annunzio was a self-described "religious zealot" who believed the government was the "Antichrist." The judge said he was willfully failing to make child support payments.
State GOP chairman Tom Fetzer also said D'Annunzio is "unfit for public office for any level."
D'Annunzio defended himself by filing defamation lawsuits against Fetzer and Johnson for using what D'Annunzio says are lies and innuendo to discredit him and his campaign.
D'Annunzio led Johnson in the district on May 4, but did not get the requisite 40 percent of the vote to win the GOP nomination outright. Johnson defeated D'Annunzio in Cabarrus County, 38 percent to 34 percent.
D'Annunzio also has poured more than $1.3 million of his own money into his campaign, using the money for various campaign stunts around the district. He spent $25,000 to be the main sponsor of NASCAR Nationwide driver Mike Bliss' race car during the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He also flew a plane around Concord with a giant "VOTE TIM" banner trailing behind.
In comparison, Johnson has loaned his campaign about $290,000, according to federal election reports.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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