Mark Harris

Mark Harris is an American pastor and politician from North Carolina. He ran as a Republican to represent North Carolina's 9th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives in the 2016 and 2018 elections. In 2016, he was narrowly defeated in a Republican primary by incumbent Robert Pittenger. Harris ran for Congress again in 2018, and this time he defeated Pittenger in the Republican primary. In the general election against Democratic opponent Dan McCready, initial tallies showed Harris winning the election; however, an election panel refused to certify these results after investigating reports of ballot fraud involving McCrae Dowless, a Republican political operative employed by the Harris campaign. Dowless was later criminally charged in connection with the alleged fraud, but Harris was not. In February 2019, the bipartisan North Carolina Board of Elections dismissed the results of the election and called for a new election to be held. Harris was not a candidate in the new election.