Daughtry, Knott to square off in Triangle-area congressional runoff

Attorney Kelly Daughtry and former prosecutor Brad Knott finished atop the 14-candidate GOP field in the 13th Congressional District.

Republican attorney Kelly Daughtry and former prosecutor Brad Knott will square off against each other in a May 14 runoff for the 13th Congressional District.

North Carolina’s most crowded congressional primary will run another 10 weeks.

In the 14-person Republican primary for the Triangle-area 13th Congressional District, attorney Kelly Daughtry placed first, but failed to secure the 30% share of the vote needed to claim her party’s nomination outright. Meanwhile, former prosecutor Brad Knott finished second. The two secured 27% and 19% of the vote, respectively.

Daughtry and Knott have taken similar approaches to their primary campaign, presenting themselves to voters as a law-and-order candidate who will bring a fresh face to Washington, D.C. and work to curb unlawful immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The two also bring with them sizable personal and familial financial resources. Daughtry has loaned her campaign $2.3 million, while Knott has given his campaign $380,000. A pro-Knott political action committee, the American Foundations Committee, poured in nearly $1.6 million into the race as well. The group has relatives of Knott as its biggest donors. The PAC spent almost $802,000 boosting Knott, and nearly $382,000 against both Daughtry and businessman Fred Von Canon, who finished in third place at 17%.

Businessman DeVan Barbour finished shortly behind at 15%. None of the other 10 candidates hit double-digits.