MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Republican Pastor Mark Harris won election to the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District.

Harris, who serves as senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Mooresville, N.C., captured 59.68% of the vote to defeat Democrat Justin Dues, according to unofficial preliminary results from the N.C. State Board of Elections. Multiple news outlets called the race for Harris on election night.

“Thanks to you, NC-08, we did it!” Harris said in a Facebook post. “I am humbled and honored that you’ve selected me to represent your voice and our values in Washington as our district’s next Congressman. The job ahead of us is not an easy one, but I am more determined than ever to get to work so we can start putting America First again, once and for all. Thank you, and God bless you!”

Harris’ win comes six years after his apparent congressional victory in North Carolina’s 9th District during the 2018 election wasn’t certified, and state election officials ordered a new election following an investigation and hearing related to absentee voting irregularities.

Harris cooperated with investigators and testified at the time that he had no knowledge of election fraud, but he decided not run in the new election. Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., a Bladen County political operative at the center of the investigation, was charged with multiple counts of ballot fraud related to the 2016 and 2018 elections. Dowless died of cancer in 2022 while awaiting trial.

Last fall, Harris announced another congressional run in the redrawn 8th District, which runs along North Carolina’s southern border from Mecklenburg to Robeson counties. Harris advanced to the general election after winning the primary with 30.45% of the vote in a race that included six Republican candidates.

Harris was also a U.S. House 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, N.C., native, is well-known in Baptist life. He pastored First Baptist Church of Charlotte from 2005 to 2017 before stepping down to devote more time to his 2018 congressional campaign. He began serving in his current pastorate at Trinity Baptist Church in February 2020, 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.