Six years after a voter-fraud scandal denied the Rev. Mark Harris certification as an elected U.S. representative and resulted in a new election won by another Republican, GOP voters in North Carolina's 8th District on Tuesday nominated him for Congress.
Harris won the primary with 30.4% of the vote over five opponents. Under Tarheel State election law, if a candidate wins 30% or more, the nomination is decided and there is no need for a runoff.
The 8th District is considered safe Republican, having given 60% of its votes to Donald Trump in 2020; and all signs point to Harris' certain election to Congress this fall.
But it wasn't always this way. Having beaten then-Rep. Robert Pittenger in the Republican primary and then won a narrow election in the district (then the 9th and since redrawn as the strongly Republican 8th), Baptist preacher Harris was hit with charges that his hired political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. oversaw an absentee ballot-harvesting scheme — a crime in North Carolina, but legal in other states.
A month later, the state Board of Elections refused to certify Harris' election and cited voter irregularities. The election result was overturned and a resulting special election was won by stalwart conservative Republican Dan Bishop, who is now relinquishing the House seat to run for attorney general of North Carolina.
Harris said little at the time about his situation and declined to run in the special election. Later, after the Wake County district attorney decided not prosecute him in 2020, Harris began insisting the entire scandal was "manufactured" and that he "made a bad hire" by hiring Dowless (who died in 2022).
Noting that Harris barely managed 30% in a crowded field, veteran North Carolina political analyst Marc Rotterman told us: "Mark Harris' comeback story is entirely attributable to Christian organization skills."
"Mark was elected with 30% of the vote, and 70% voted against him," Pittenger said. "A skewed system is suitable for shrewd mavericks. He was able to fool enough people. Regrettably, the best and brightest are often not adept in political strategy and trickery."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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