FAMILY MATTERS

Mark Harris’ Son: I Warned My Dad About McCrae Dowless Months Before Alleged Election Fraud

The North Carolina Republican is under scrutiny for hiring an operative accused of illegally collecting ballots from absentee voters.

The son of Mark Harris—a North Carolina Republican still fighting for an undecided House seat in the state’s Ninth District—testified Wednesday that he repeatedly warned his father that one of his hired operatives, McCrae Dowless, could be engaging in election fraud. The district has been mired in controversy since the 2018 midterms, when allegations surfaced that Dowless illegally paid volunteers to pick up absentee ballots to help Harris win. It remains unclear if any of the ballots were tampered with, and Harris currently leads democratic rival Dan McCready by 905 votes. John Harris testified Wednesday during the third day of a hearing into the matter. Reporter Judd Legum wrote on Twitter that Harris claims he told his father about Dowless’ alleged attempts to illegally interfere in the 2016 GOP primary in April 2017, and repeatedly warned him about Dowless’ conduct. That flies in the face of his father’s previous statements, in which the congressional hopeful claimed that no one had warned him about Dowless, and he had “no reason” to be suspicious of him.

HIGH-STAKES SAGA

NC Republican: I’ll Support New Election if Fraud Is Proven

Gideon Resnick