Mark Harris, center of 2018 ballot scandal, announces new congressional campaign
Mark Harris, whose 2018 congressional campaign was at the center of a ballot-harvesting scandal ending in a new election and felony indictments for an operative who worked for him, announced his campaign for Congress on Tuesday.
Harris’s own son gave bombshell testimony at 2019 state hearings called to investigate election fraud, where Harris himself called for a new election.
Yet in his campaign announcement, Harris cast doubt on the decision to reverse his apparent win.
“After seeing first hand the manufactured scandal that resulted in the Democrat-controlled State Board of Elections not certifying our victory in 2018, I am one of the few people who truly understands the extremes Democrats will go to in order to advance their woke, leftist agenda,” he said in a statement.
Harris announced he will run in the 8th Congressional District, which currently includes Salisbury and Albemarle. However, the legislature still needs to draw new congressional maps, so districts for 2024 are still uncertain.
Republican Rep. Dan Bishop currently holds that seat, but has announced plans to run for North Carolina attorney general.
After Harris appeared to win the general election for the 9th Congressional District in 2018, the State Board of Elections refused to certify the results, citing irregularities. What followed was a long saga of investigations that ended in a new election being called, in which Harris did not participate.
A political operative for the campaign, McCrae Dowless, was charged with several counts of obstructing justice and possession of absentee ballots. Lorrin Freeman, the district attorney for Wake County, said Dowless’ actions “served to undermine the integrity of the absentee ballot process and the public’s confidence in the outcome of the electoral process.”
Dowless died last year while awaiting trial.
This story was originally published September 12, 2023 at 10:23 AM.
