[T]he 9th District election carries some real consequence, because in many ways, it is about neither of the Dans. It’s about Donald Trump, just as most races for Congress will be in the coming year. We are at a critical moment in this country with an erratic president who threatens both political and structural norms, including calling the Federal Reserve chief an “enemy” Friday. This 9th District election might be about one small corner of the U.S. House, but it is the first of many races in which we’ll be making a choice about our country’s path the next four years and beyond.

Quite simply, a vote for [Republican] Dan Bishop is a vote for Donald Trump. Bishop has embraced the Trump presidency. He vows to help the president build his wall at the southern border. He is far less likely than McCready to provide a check on the president — and far more likely to mirror his fellow Republicans’ silence at Trump’s reckless words and policies.

But perhaps as importantly, Bishop also has embraced Donald Trump’s style. In campaign ads, Bishop has called Democrats “clowns” and “crazy,” and he doesn’t object when his party’s campaign arm attacks his opponent with the childish label of “McGreedy.” This is not new for Bishop. He’s attacked LGBTQ advocates in the past, and he demeaned transgender people when he sneered that Charlotte’s non-discrimination ordinance was about “a cross-dresser’s liberty.”

Regardless of party or policy, such discourse should be beneath us, and such demonization threatens to irreparably divide us. But the president has normalized the kind of behavior our leaders once shunned. This election offers us another opportunity to declare that’s not who we want to be.