North Carolina pastor Mark Harris won the Republican primary in the state’s 8th Congressional District on Tuesday (March 5), nearly six years after an apparent win in his last bid for Congress ended amid controversy.
Based on unofficial results reported by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Harris captured 30.44% of the vote, which was just above the mark needed for him to avoid a potential runoff election.
State law stipulates that if a primary candidate fails to win 30% of the vote plus one, the second-place finisher can request a runoff. Harris’ closest challenger in the crowded six-person race received 27% of the vote.
Harris now moves on to November’s general election where he will face Democrat Justin Dues, who ran unopposed in his party’s primary.
Harris’ victory came in one of several closely watched primaries across North Carolina, which has five open congressional seats this election season.
The redrawn 8th District stretches eastward along North Carolina’s southern border from Charlotte to Lumberton and includes parts or all of Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Richmond, Robeson, Scotland, Stanly and Union counties.
Political observers say the district is heavily Republican and suggest that Harris has a strong likelihood of winning the general election in November.
Harris’ 2018 congressional campaign garnered national attention amid allegations of election fraud. In that year’s general election, Harris appeared to have won a close race against Democratic opponent Dan McCready in the state’s 9th Congressional District, but the State Board of Elections did not certify the results based upon “claims of irregularities and fraudulent activities related to absentee by-mail voting.”
Harris was never criminally charged with election fraud and said at the time that he had no knowledge of fraudulent activities.
However, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., who worked for the Harris campaign and had worked in other political campaigns, was charged with multiple counts of ballot fraud during the 2016 and 2018 elections. Dowless died of cancer in 2022 while awaiting trial.
The fraud investigation eventually resulted in a new election in 2019, which Harris called for but was not a candidate in. The new election was won by Dan Bishop. Bishop did not seek re-election to his seat this year, opting instead to run for state attorney general.
When Harris announced his last bid for Congress last fall, he alleged that the 2018 congressional election was stolen from him, echoing similar claims made by former President Donald Trump about the 2020 presidential election.
Harris was also a U.S. congressional candidate in 2016, falling to incumbent Robert Pittenger in that year’s Republican primary. Harris later defeated Pittenger in the Republican primary in 2018.
In 2014, Harris ran for the U.S. Senate, finishing third in the Republican primary behind Thom Tillis and Greg Brannon in a crowded primary field of eight candidates. Tillis went on to defeat Sen. Kay Hagan, the Democratic incumbent, in the 2014 general election.
Harris, a Winston-Salem native, served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlotte from 2005 to 2017, before stepping down to devote more time to his 2018 congressional campaign.
He is currently serving as senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Mooresville, N.C., according to the church’s website.
Harris also served two consecutive terms as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in 2012 and 2013.
