NC pastor Mark Harris, known for 2018 election scandal, is running for Congress again

Mark Harris, the controversial Charlotte-area politician whose last political race made national news for allegations of election fraud, said Tuesday he's running for U.S. Congress again.

He'll be running for the seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, who is leaving Congress to run for state attorney general. Bishop was the GOP's replacement for Harris in a 2019 do-over election and has been in Congress ever since.

"After seeing first hand the manufactured scandal that resulted in the Democrat controlled State Board of Elections not certifying our victory in 2018, I am one of the few people who truly understands the extremes Democrats will go to in order to advance their woke, leftist agenda," he wrote in an email announcing his campaign.

Harris, a Mooresville Baptist preacher, initially appeared in 2018 to have won North Carolina's 9th Congressional district in a nail-biter of a race. But he later called for a new election to be held, voluntarily bowing out after evidence emerged of possible election fraud by his campaign.

The post-election investigation into his 2018 campaign was overseen by a fellow Republican, former state elections director Kim Strach. And the state election board's vote to hold a new election was unanimous and bipartisan. Harris on Tuesday, however, blamed it on Democrats' efforts to keep him out of Congress and asked voters to give him another chance.

"I fully expect a flurry of lies and rumors from both Democrats and some from my own party," he said in the announcement. "But as these political games play out, I'm focused on the glaring realities of today: the constant climb of of daily living costs, a southern border that remains open, and hardworking Americans suffering from Bidenomics."

Harris' campaign announcement doesn't mention the fact that he voluntarily ended his campaign while under investigation, after his son, a fellow Republican politician, testified against him.

Harris was never criminally charged following the election fraud investigation. But several operatives were were, including McCrae Dowless, the alleged leader of the scheme, who died last year while awaiting trial.

Harris said he re-hired Jason Williams, who ran his 2018 campaign, to run his new 2024 campaign as well.