John Harris, who testified in 9th District ballot fraud case, plans run for NC House

John Harris, whose 2019 testimony helped expose a ballot-harvesting scam and sink his father’s political career, will run for a Wake County seat in North Carolina House of Representatives.

Harris, 32, is a former federal prosecutor. He plans to run as a Republican in District 36, which as drawn now covers the southwest corner of Wake County, reaching up to Apex. Those lines may be reworked as part of a redistricting lawsuit pending before the state Supreme Court.

In political circles, Harris is best known for the damning testimony he gave during State Board of Elections hearings into the 9th Congressional District ballot scam, which over turned his father’s apparent win and triggered a new election. John Harris testified that he counseled against his father hiring Bladen County operative McCrae Dowless, who would eventually be charged with election fraud in the congressional race.

The testimony contradicted what Mark Harris had told reporters: that he received no warnings. A day after his son’s testimony, Mark Harris acknowledged the evidence against his campaign, called for a new election and stepped away from the race.

John Harris told WRAL News that he did what he thought was right in the case, and that he has a good relationship with his parents.

“My parents made decisions I didn’t agree with,” Harris said in a Zoom interview. “That’s all part of the transcript and public record. That’s still the case. But, for me, my relationship with my dad goes far beyond politics.”

John Harris also said the case, and the turmoil it from it, reinforced a lesson about politics: People forget politicians are just other people.

“We can’t just have a political system that is nothing more than a bunch of caricatures,” he said.

Harris said he’ll run on a message of “conservative competence” and that education will be his top issue. He said education leaders need to do a better job of building partnerships with and empowering parents. With the pandemic, “there’s a lot of parents that are really frustrated … and maybe not even so much the decisions, but feeling like they didn’t have a voice," he said.

Asked about education funding, always a top issue at the legislature, Harris said the Republican majority has done a good job over the last decade balancing tax policy and funding needs.

State Rep. Julie Von Haefen, a Democrat, represents the 36th district now, though it covers a different geography due to the not-yet-consummated redraw. She did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.