Mark Harris, back in the political pulpit
A familiar name to many long-time NC politics watchers resurfaced in the filing for the June special primaries. Charlotte pastor Mark Harris — a surprise last minute entry into the 2014 US Senate GOP primary field — is once again throwing his hat into the primary ring at the last minute. Harris filed on the last day of the filing period for the district 9 congressional seat currently held by Robert Pittenger.
Harris joins former Union County commissioner Todd Johnson in challenging Pittenger’s renomination. Both men are likely to challenge Pittenger — under scrutiny by, at least, the FBI and the IRS — from the right and *occasionally* bring up ethics.
The Ninth District is a lot different from how it was in 2014. It was mostly centered on Mecklenburg County and was mostly Republican. Now, it’s more competitive and stretches along the border with South Carolina to the state’s southeastern region.
Pittenger’s ethical and legal troubles, as well as his support for ObamaCare and amnesty, were seen early-on as making him ripe for a conservative grassroots challenger. With Harris’s entry into the game, the anti-Pittenger vote will surely be split. And, with no runoffs 
in this cycle, Pittenger only needs to get ONE MORE vote than the other two guys.
In 2014, critics accused Harris of being a stalking horse for the Tillis-backing establishment. The final vote totals showed the combined vote of Harris and Tea Party favorite Greg Brannon essentially tying Tillis. If Harris had not been in the race, there’s a decent chance we might not be talking about “Senator Tillis” these days, critics argue.
It will be interesting to see if Harris ends up pulling Pittenger’s chestnuts out of the fire this year.
Welcome back Pittinger. Spoiler Harris back in the saddle again,
Unfortunately, Obama Republican David Rouzer no longer has a primary challenge, and one of the most exciting new conservative Republicans to seek a House seat in NC, Jim Duncan was left without a practical district to run from and did not file anywhere. We could use more Jim Duncans and fewer David Rouzers.
As bad as Robert is, we can’t allow Dee Stewart and his cronies to steal another election with Todd Johnson. Todd isn’t a real challenger. Him getting in the race only allows Robert Pittenger to raise more money. Todd couldn’t be reelected as county commissioner, much less congress.
If progressive Republican consultant Dee Stewart is running his campaign, then we do NOT need Todd Johnson. I would vote for the Democrat if necessary to stop anyone associated with Dee Stewart. Dee Stewart is a slimy scumbag who sold his soul to the radical environmentalists as Civitas has documented.
My point exactly. Truth of the matter is, Mark is the only credible candidate in the race. Todd could ultimately be the spoiler that saves Pittenger’s political career!
Dee Stewart is bad news. He has no principles and is hostile to conservative candidates and conservative policies. The only thing he does competently is last minute smear campaigns by direct mail, often based on half-truths or outright lies, when it is too late for an opponent to answer. Do you have proof that he is behind Johnson?
If Dee Stewart really is behind Johnson, I would bet that staunch conservative former State Senator Fern Shubert of Union would be highly motivated to get involved in this one.
After her run for governor, Shubert’s old Senate seat opened up again and she filed. Stewart backed her RINO opponent Tommy Tucker in the primary. At the last minute when it was too late to respond, Stewart sent out two very damaging postcard mailings attacking Shubert that crushed her campaign. Both postcards were outright lies. There was a long thread on the subject on the old discussion boards at Talking About Politics ( but all comments other than by the site owners on that site were scrubbed some months ago).
I think Sen. Shubert and her supporters would be very motivated for some political payback against Stewart and Stewart’s client. If I had been a victim of Stewart’s despicable lies like she was, I certainly would be.
Good to see Dr. Rev. Harris involved. Excellent speaker, very conservative, and would make a fantastic Representative.
We need a true conservative in the House in DC. Pittenger is a coward who voted for Obamacare and amnesty, both of which are destroying the economy of this nation. We do not need any more illegal immigrants and we certainly do not need Obamacare, the worst thing that has happened to our health system in this country.
We need a conservative who will vote for American values.
Ahhh yes, Mark Harris. Has he ever renounced his support for Pathway to citizenship/Amnesty? And by the way, where has he been these past 2 years and why isn’t he out in front of the HB2 debate? Just another #Squish
Are you serious? I can’t turn the TV on without him being on there talking about HB2.
I don’t know what Squish means but Rev. Harris is a man of character and it would be refreshing to have someone genuine in office, not just another snake oil political salesman.
Do not let Dee Stewart’s puppet get another seat in government or allow Johnson to take the votes from Mark Harris and put someone being investigated by the FBI back in office.