District 8 includes Union, Cabarrus, Anson, Stanly, and Richmond Counties, as well as part of Mecklenburg County, in the United States House of Representatives.
Republican representative Mark Harris has held the position since 2025 and does not have a primary challenger.
Three Democrats will be on the Democratic ballot in the primary: Kevin Clark, Jesse Oppenheim and Colby Watson. Oppenheim has dropped out of the race.
Clark did not respond to our candidate guide. If he does, we will update this page with his answers.
Colby Watson (D)
What is your occupation? Construction business owner
Over the last year, we have heard terms like “affordability crisis” and concerns from the state about health care affordability. Do you think there is an “affordability crisis,” and if so, what should be done to solve it? I absolutely believe there is an affordability crisis.
Homeownership is slipping out of reach. Medical costs are crushing families. And the average household is working harder than ever yet still falling further behind. We need to focus on the core drivers of this crisis: housing, healthcare, and basic essentials. On housing, that means increasing supply and modernizing building regulations so more homes can actually be built, while also restricting corporate ownership from dominating the single-family housing market. Homes should be for families, not hedge funds.
On healthcare, we have to be honest; the system is structurally broken. It’s built around profit extraction instead of patient care. Prescription drug prices are inflated, hospital systems consolidate and drive up regional costs, insurance bureaucracy adds layers of administrative waste, and families are left holding the bill.
I support expanding Medicare’s authority to negotiate drug prices, prohibiting medical debt from appearing on credit reports, and moving toward a universal coverage framework so that getting sick never means financial collapse.
Healthcare shouldn’t function like a luxury market. Illness isn’t optional.
And across the economy, we need stronger antitrust enforcement to prevent corporate consolidation and price manipulation. When markets become too concentrated, consumers lose, workers lose, and small businesses lose.
Right now, the top 1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined. That level of concentration isn’t just inequality, it’s imbalance. And the gap continues to grow.
If we want to solve the affordability crisis, we must rebuild the middle class and lift more Americans into it. Policy should not be designed around protecting the wealthiest few. It should be designed around strengthening the families who make this country work.
What should the role of the United States be in Venezuela, the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Palestine conflict? U.S. leadership should be pro-peace, pro-human rights, and pro-American security, with Congress involved, clear goals, and no blank checks.
Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro was a dictator, and I’m not going to pretend his removal is a tragedy. But how we act matters. The U.S. operation that captured Maduro raised serious questions about sovereignty, legality, and what comes next, and it risks setting a precedent that other powers will copy when it suits them.
· Support a Venezuelan-led democratic transition with international partners (especially in the region), not occupation or nation-building.
· Prioritize humanitarian stabilization and protecting civilians while Venezuela rebuilds institutions.
Require Congressional oversight and a clear end-state for any U.S. action.
Ukraine-Russia
We need to be clear about two things at the same time.
Russia chose to invade a sovereign nation. That was wrong. Crossing international borders by force cannot become normal in the 21st century.
At the same time, serious conflicts do not emerge in a vacuum. There are long-standing geopolitical tensions, security concerns, and historical grievances in that region. Understanding those factors is not the same as excusing aggression, but ignoring them makes peace harder to achieve.
The loss of life on both sides is tragic. Our priority should be ending the killing and preventing a wider war.
The United States should support Ukraine’s sovereignty, work with allies, and push aggressively for credible negotiations. But we should also be honest with the American people: there should be no blank checks and no undefined end goals.
Diplomacy must lead. Accountability must remain. And American involvement must have clear objectives and limits.
Israel–Palestine
We have to apply the same principles we claim to believe in everywhere else: protect civilians, uphold human rights, and demand accountability.
I believe Israel’s government and military have committed serious human rights violations in Gaza. I condemn Hamas terrorism, and I also reject collective punishment of civilians. The United States should not provide weapons that enable violations of international law. Our role should be to push for a sustained ceasefire, full humanitarian access, and the release of all remaining hostages. And ultimately, we need a real political solution, a viable two-state outcome that guarantees security for Israelis and genuine freedom, rights, and clearly defined borders for Palestinians. Peace cannot be built on permanent occupation or permanent war. It must be built on mutual security and self-determination.
Are you in favor of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration? What immigration reform measures do you support? I am not in favor of the means and methods President Trump has used in his crackdown on illegal immigration.
I do believe in strong borders and an orderly immigration system. A country has the right and responsibility to know who is entering and to enforce its laws. But creating fear in communities, sending masked agents into cities, and separating families does not make us safer, it breaks trust and destabilizes communities.
At the border, I support investing in modernized screening technology, additional personnel, and significantly more immigration judges, so asylum cases can be decided quickly and fairly. The current backlog creates chaos and incentivizes exploitation.
Enforcement should be focused on human trafficking networks, cartel smuggling operations, and repeat violent offenders, not families who have built lives here, work hard, and contribute to their communities. Families should not live in constant fear of separation.
We also need to ensure that our immigration system does not undercut American wages or allow corporations to exploit immigrant labor as cheap, disposable work. When businesses use undocumented labor to drive down wages, it hurts both American workers and immigrant families.
For people who are already here without documentation but have established roots, have children here, and have no serious criminal record, I support a clear, structured path to legal status and citizenship. That path should include background checks, paying taxes, and meeting civic requirements, but it should exist.
We can have strong borders and still act with humanity. Immigration reform should restore order, protect communities, strengthen American workers, and reflect our values as a nation built by people who came here seeking opportunity and safety.
What sets you apart from your opponents? What separates me from my opponents is simple.
I was born and raised in this district. I didn’t move here for politics. I built my life here. I’ve worked here. I’m raising my family here. I’ve lived the same economic pressures the people of this district are feeling.
Second, I don’t take corporate PAC money or money from groups that represent foreign interests. My loyalty is to the people who live here, not to corporations, not to political machines, and not to outside power.
I’ve also made a clear commitment: I will not buy, sell, or trade individual stocks while serving in Congress. Public office should never be used for personal gain. If members of Congress have access to information that could move markets, they shouldn’t be allowed to profit from it. I believe anyone seeking federal office should be willing to make that same commitment.
And unlike career politicians, I’ve spent my adult life as a small business owner. I’ve had employees relying on me to make payroll. I’ve made real decisions with real consequences. Leadership, for me, isn’t messaging, it’s responsibility.
At a time when trust in government is at a historic low, we don’t just need new policies. We need politicians willing to stand on integrity and go the extra mile to rebuild trust. That’s what I’m willing to do.
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