In a statement Tuesday, less than one week after the North Carolina State Board of Elections ordered a new contest for the seat, Harris attributed his decision to medical issues that included two recent strokes and issues with his memory and recall, saying the 9th District deserved “to have someone at full strength during the new campaign.”
“It is my hope that in the upcoming primary, a solid conservative leader will emerge to articulate the critical issues that face our nation,” said Harris, an evangelical pastor from Charlotte.
Harris’ decision was not especially surprising in the wake of an evidentiary hearing last week in Raleigh, where state officials and witnesses described an absentee ballot effort that was rife with misconduct. Although Harris denied any personal wrongdoing, he testified that he had hired the contractor at the center of the scandal, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., and he acknowledged that he gave “incorrect” testimony to the state board Thursday.
At the time, Harris blamed recent health problems in his announcement Tuesday, he cited his medical history and plans for surgery as factors in his decision not to run again.
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The state board has not yet set a timetable for the new election, and Democrats are expected to mount an aggressive campaign. Dan McCready, the Democratic nominee in last fall’s race, said Friday that he would run in the new contest. Prominent Democratic officials and groups have already begun to coalesce around McCready, a former Marine who has been among his party’s most prized candidates.
“I view my job as to make the case to everyone in this district, whether they’re Republican, independent or Democrat,” McCready said in an interview Friday. “I hope to bring a leadership to Washington that people can be proud of.”
What is still uncertain is how much the wrongdoing associated with last year’s vote — conduct that a prosecutor said last week could soon lead to criminal charges — will loom over this new election. But Harris’ decision not to run could limit that line of attack, and Republican officials have expressed optimism that the 9th District campaign will eventually focus on policy issues.
Still, McCready suggested Friday that he could use the Harris-funded operation, which witnesses said included the illegal collection and completion of absentee ballots, to remind voters of the turmoil that enveloped the 9th.
“I’ve come to realize over the course of the last couple of months that what we’re up against is politicians who put themselves before the people they’re supposed to serve,” McCready said. “What we saw this week was a politician who let his own desire for power color his view, and he did the wrong thing instead of the right thing.”
Even before Harris announced his decision, many leading Republicans had begun to distance themselves from him, in public and in private, seemingly dimming the prospects for a rematch of last fall’s contest. In that race, Harris appeared to prevail by 905 votes, but state officials soon refused to certify him as the winner and announced the inquiry that ultimately led to the new election, the first redo of a congressional House seat in more than 40 years.
On Tuesday, Harris said he would support Stony Rushing, a commissioner from Union County, for the Republican nomination. The endorsement came one day after former Gov. Pat McCrory, who was among the most prominent Republicans to consider a campaign in the 9th, said he would not run. Instead, McCrory said he was considering a comeback bid for governor in 2020, or a Senate run in 2022.
The 9th, which includes part of Charlotte and runs through much of southeastern North Carolina, will not have representation in the House until the new election has been completed and certified. Republicans have held the district’s House seat since 1963. The state’s 3rd District, which is on the Atlantic coast and includes the Outer Banks, has been vacant since earlier this month when Walter Jones, a Republican serving his 13th term, died. A special election for that seat has not been scheduled.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.