New Election Race Called NC District 9 Race

NC (NPR) North Carolina's 9th Congressional District will have a new election. Through the testimony I've listened to over the past three days I believe a new election should be called. It's become clear to me that the public's confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted," said Harris.

Updated at 5:16 p.m. ET

After months of insisting he knew of no illegal activity being done on behalf of his campaign, Republican Mark Harris, who leads the race for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, called Thursday for the State Board of Elections to hold a new election.

Shortly afterwards, the bipartisan state board voted unanimously to redo the only congressional race left from the 2018 midterms that remains undecided.

It was a dramatic and humbling reversal for Harris, a pastor who until now had insisted that the elections board should certify his 905 vote lead over Democrat Dan McCready in the unofficial tally so that he could take a seat in Congress.

Four days of hearings had left that position increasingly untenable as witnesses detailed how an operative hired by Harris illegally handled absentee ballots, a felony in North Carolina. One witness said she filled in unmarked sections of ballots. Harris' own son testified on Wednesday that he had warned his father that the operative's tactics were likely illegal.

An email first released to the public on Thursday shows that Harris requested a meeting with the operative, McRae Dowless, in March 2017 after losing a primary election in which one of his opponents had hired Dowless.

The disclosure by the Harris campaign frustrated investigators, who were presented with the evidence only on Wednesday, despite a subpoena from the North Carolina State Board of Elections for the relevant documents months ago.

In December, the board declined to certify the results of the election. Instead it voted to open an investigation into an absentee ballot scheme that investigators have now been unspooling for months. Election board staff said that the investigation will continue even as preparations are made for a new race.

The investigation focuses on McCrae Dowless, who was hired by Harris to run get-out-the-vote efforts in Bladen and Robeson counties. Dowless was also investigated in 2016 for his tactics, which a number of witnesses have testified included illegally collecting absentee ballots and filling out some of those ballots.

Harris has said publicly since the investigation began in December that he was unaware of any illegal acts that may have been done on behalf of his campaign. He reiterated that in his testimony Thursday.

"He said we do not take the ballot," Harris said, describing what Dowless told him. " 'I don't care if it's a 95-year-old woman in a wheelchair, we do not take the ballots.' "

The email produced by the attorney representing Harris' campaign showed Harris reaching out to Judge Marion Warren about procuring Dowless' help. Dowless worked for another candidate, Todd Johnson, who nearly swept Bladen County's absentee ballot totals in 2016, and Harris refers to that victory in his email.

"On the other issue of your gracious offer to meet me in Bladen County and spend a day connecting me to the 'key people' that can help me carry that part of the county in a future US House NC-9 race," Harris wrote to Warren on March 8, 2017. "You know the political and financial connections better than anyone else I would know, including the guy whose absentee ballot project for Johnson could have put me in the US House this term, had I known, and he had been helping us."

But Harris' son, John Harris, testified Wednesday that he warned his father that he thought Dowless was a "shady character" who likely engaged in illegal practices as part of his operation.

"It was painfully clear that he was saying, 'Daddy don't mess with this guy,' " said State Board member Jeff Carmon. "That was your son, with no ax to grind, that wanted to make sure you were protected."

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