[Baltimore Sun] Maryland’s Andy Harris said North Carolina should consider awarding electoral votes to Trump before election
Read Time:2 Minute, 12 Second
Maryland Rep. Andy Harris said during a Republican dinner that North Carolina legislators should consider awarding electoral votes to Donald Trump before the election because the state otherwise risks disenfranchising Trump voters affected by damage from Hurricane Helene.
According to a video posted on X by a Trump supporter, Harris said in a question-and-answer session at a Talbot County dinner that the hurricane damage disproportionately affects Trump voters in 25 North Carolina counties.
In the video, Harris says if he were a state legislator, that would be enough to say that “Yeah we’ve got to convene the legislature. We can’t disenfranchise the voters.”
The entire exchange with a Trump supporter, Ivan Raiklin, could not be heard on the video.
When reached by The Baltimore Sun for comment, Harris did not directly challenge a report by Politico on Friday headlined “Freedom Caucus leader endorses radical proposal for North Carolina to hand its electoral votes to Trump.”
But Harris — chairman of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus — issued a statement to The Sun on Friday saying his remarks were theoretical.
“Yesterday’s theoretical conversation has been taken out of context. As I’ve repeatedly said, every legal vote should be counted. Currently, voting is going well in western North Carolina,” the statement said.
Harris’ statement added that “what is still at play is Rep. Raskin’s threat to have the Democrats deny electoral certification under the 14th amendment.”
Montgomery County Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, told Axios recently that Trump was trying to interfere with the electoral process and that if Trump “won a free, fair and honest election, then we would obviously accept it.”
North Carolina is a swing state in the Nov. 5 presidential election between Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris, the only Republican in Maryland’s eight-member U.S. House delegation, represents Harford County, the Eastern Shore and part of Baltimore County.
In 2021, Harris was among 147 lawmakers who opposed formal certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s win when Congress met on Jan. 6 of that year.
Earlier, in December 2020, Harris was among a group of Republican members of Congress who gathered with Trump in the White House and discussed the possibility of Vice President Mike Pence rejecting the election results, according to a congressional committee that studied the meeting.
Asked by reporters about the meeting in 2022, Harris replied: “It was not planning an insurrection. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Have a news tip? Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker@baltsun.com, (410) 979-2052 and on X as @sunjeffbarker.
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