Super Tuesday NC: Mark Harris wins District 8

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — The Rev. Mark Harris won the Republican nomination for the 8th Congressional District seat Tuesday night with 30.4% of the votes.

>>Click here for election results.

He is on the verge of heading to Congress in the safe Republican district.

>>Watch the video at the top of this webpage for Channel 9 reporter Joe Bruno’s report on the race.

The district extends east from southeastern Mecklenburg County to Lumberton in Robeson County along the state line. It also includes most of Cabarrus County and all of Union County.

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Harris appeared to receive the most votes in the 2018 general election for Congress but never took office.

A new election was ordered over an absentee ballot fraud probe and he decided not to run again. He now calls what happened a “manufactured scandal.”

In an interview, Harris told Channel 9′s Joe Bruno he accepts responsibility for hiring McCrae Dowless. He was the Bladen County operative and Harris supporter who hired people to ballot harvest.

Cabarrus County is split between two congressional seats. On the east side of Interstate 85 is the 8th Congressional District.

On Tuesday, the Republican primary had six legitimate contenders vying for the seat.

Harris and state Rep. John Bradford, another candidate for the seat, have been under fire for their residency. Harris only has an apartment in the district and Bradford doesn’t live in it.

Candidate and former Union County Commissioner Allan Baucom, who was another candidate for the seat, has been outspoken on the topic

“I don’t see how anyone can take and represent the district when they don’t know the people,” he said. “When you don’t live here, when you don’t know all the history of an area, how can you represent the people?”

Bradford and Harris said they have strong ties to the district.

The other three candidates in this race were Leigh Brown, Don Brown and Chris Maples.

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