#ncga: GOP majority screwing Mark Harris for Christmas
Mark Harris is a Baptist preacher. He lives by the principle of loving your enemies. (The guy is waaaaaaaay too nice for politics.)
After he lost the 2014 primary for US Senate, he went to work campaigning for Thom Tillis ( while Greg Brannon told them all to go pound sand.) Harris has been a team player. And look at what it’s getting him.
The NCGOPe is rolling over and being strangely silent while Democrats and leftists savage Harris and try to overturn his November victory in the Ninth Congressional District. There is talk of possibly having a new general election. But Republicans are stirring up the 
possibility of even a new primary — an option that would give new life to Robert Pittenger and create an opportunity for a lot of Charlotte area Republicans.
The thing is — state law makes redoing an already-certified primary election a wee bit sketchy. So, the outgoing GOP supermajority is doing what it does best — changing the law.
Legislative leadership has scheduled a veto override vote for House Bill 1029 for December 27. The bill includes very specific language:
[…] Primary Required for a New Election. – For any new congressional general election ordered under subsection (a) of this section, a primary for that election shall be conducted. The State Board shall determine when the primary shall be held, and shall set the schedule for publication of the notice, preparation of absentee official ballots, and the other actions necessary to conduct the primary.” […]
If a re-do is ordered in the Ninth, it will be classified under law as a “new” election. Anybody who can pay the filing fee can jump in.
Never mind that Mark Harris has already put in a lot of hard work and won this thing. Never mind that all kinds of people have already cast votes for Harris. Never mind that most counties in the district have certified the general election, and ALL have certified the primary. Never mind that no complaints have been filed. Never mind that absolutely no criminal activity has been charged or proven.
Personal political agendas “have” to be addressed.
Plain and simple, this is little more than urination on the will of the people. It’s a disgrace. There is nothing vital in this bill. This is one veto Jones St. Republicans need to leave ALONE.
Look at the NC voter database…Dowless was a democrat voter in 2016 and prior. He was recommended to Harris by a former democrat judge Marion I forget last name but he’s in this link. But it’s one big party. Look at this link…all are there except harris. Harris is the conservative outsider. Since the TEA party and trump the elites are showing their true colors. Looks like a set up to me. Now per this story they are changing election law to allow pitt to run again or what?
See …bladenonline.com/politicians-appreciation-day-was-a-success
Look at Belmont and Gaston County… Our former county commissioner Jason Williams conservative was campaign chair for Harris AND when they chose the land for Belmont Middle legislators passed a law about roads… Pittenger owns the land along the river front near the school and gets a free road?
Maybe it’s all good until you look at what they are doing to Reverend Mark Harris…
Are you saying you think Jason Williams set Harris up in exchange for Pittenger getting roads built out to Belmont?
It is glaring that this new provision of the law only applies to new elections for Congress, NOT for example to new elections ordered for seats in the state legislature. This stinks to high heaven and it is nothing but the liberal establishment trying to screw conservatives. Pitiful Pittenger has been the most liberal member of the NC Republican House delegation and was tossed out by primary voters. Giving him another bite at the apple is just unacceptable.
It is just as unacceptable to try to put a different liberal Republican like failed legislator Andy Dulin or failed governor Pat McCrory in that nomination. Both sold out to the far left on HB2 and that should NEV ER be forgotten nor forgiven.
Conservatives should make a point of taking names of all legislators who vote for this pile of crap on the veto override.
Why would any conservative bother to even show up to vote when the establishment has strongarmed the choice into two liberal candidates? The liberal legislative leadership would have poisoned the well and caused the loss of this seat.
One would presume that this would also open the race to the Constitution Party. One would presume that they would give Harris a clear shot at the Democrat but would be there with bells on to challenge any liberal Republican.
The behavior of the NCGOP is also beyond the pale. They have plenty of ammunition to push back against the Democrats but are not using it. That is utterly shameful. The Haymaker is carryiing the water on the fight back while the state party organization sits on its hands at best, and goes along with the Democrats at worst.
This is unbelievable. This nothing more than the RINO swamp trying to defeat anything that looks like a conservative.
The legislature has fouled up every election they have touched. Look at the supreme court.
Nothing but liberals in Republican clothing. Swamp, Swamp, Swamp
The GOPe refuses to learn that actions like this (or inaction such as not backing the pastor) are reasons why voters are abandoning the Republican Party and registering as an Unaffiliated.
It has effected the Party to the extent that it is now 3rd in the state behind Dems and Unaffils, yet they continue to shoot themselves in the foot.
Many here on the coast have had about their fill of it.
This lies squarely at the feet of the Red Dome Group (ie..Carolyn Justice, Luke Stancil, Andy Yates)
They have a track record of dirty politics and orchestrated this whole disaster.
It is probably that the legislative leadership did not think this up by themselves. More likely someone pushed them to do it. Was it the NCGOPe? That would be par for the course.
Another possibility is Kevin McCarthy from the establishment swamp in DC. As bad as Boehner and Ryan have been, McCarthy is even more anti-conservative; about like McConnell who infamously pledged to “crush them [conservatives] everywhere”. A special election primary a year or so ago in the Florida panhandle is illustrative. Conservatives were behind a female legislator who was a staunch conservative and also an ethnic minority. McCarthy, with his “leadership PAC” pumped in big money to promote a lobbyist who had recently switched from Democrat, and among other things had lobbied IN FAVOR of Obamacare, for the GOP nomination. McCarthy’s money prevailed.
If this is a Kevin McCarthy scheme, it needs to be ruthlessly crushed.
Everyone should be aware that Hayes has publicly stated that he’s running for State Chair in 2019 in spite of the fact that he’s lost the Governor’s Mansion, the NC Supreme Court, the legislative supermajorities, and by June we’ll probably see a diminished congressional delegation as well, thanks to the NCGOPe malpractice in NC-09.It’s a sure bet that he’ll be paying delegates to attend the convention on his dime, so everyone has a choice….pack the convention with loud, no-compromise anti-Hayes delegates, or not attend but immediately move to the Constitution Party to build up their numbers to ensure that no gop candidate can ever be elected to Congress for more than one term without being held accountable for failure to advance a conservative agenda. Just going Unaffiliated accomplishes nothing.
The first step is to get a conservative / grassroots candidate to run for state chairman, and also for vice chairman, treasurer, secretary, general counsel, et al.
We need to replace the swamp creatures now in power.
What is the worst thing in the eyes of the squishy RINO leadership in DC? It is a conservative beating one of their squishy RINO incumbents in a primary and then getting elected in the general election. The McConnell – Boehner – Ryan – McCarthy leadership pulls out the stops to see that this does not happen, and that is the basis of what is being done to Mark Harris.
Mark Harris took down liberal RINO Bob Pittenger, who among toher things is an amnesty whore, in the primary and that put a target on Harris’ back with the “leadership”. Their goal is to take the nomination away from conservative upstart Harris, and put either Pittenger or another liberal RINO in the nomination. If they can get the RINO elected in the general, that is just icing on the cake. The main thing they want to do is destroy Harris. That is the whole reason to do all the things they are doing to throw Harris under the bus; not defend him against the Democrat onslaught, not counterattack the Democrats, go along with a new election, and to top things off, set a new primary.
The DC leadership may have had the gall to send the signals to places like the NCGOP and the legislature directly, or they may have used a cutout like the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which they control. They probably did not use their real reason, but went with a false flag excuse like “electabllity”. In fact, their own behavior is hurting Harris’ electability in a new election, as Republicans seem to voters to distance themselves from Harris. NRCC leaders even made public statements in the last election to try to undermine conservative House incumbents like Steve King (R-Iowa).
These scoundrels would rather throw away the seat than see a conservative who has taken a RINO out in a primary succeed. This is an anti-conservative scheme that simply needs to be stopped.
We saw the same RINO behavior in the Alabama special election for US Senate, where a conservative took down the RINO incumbent in the primary and McConnell and his leadership group did everything he could to sabotage his general election race, with the help of Thom TIllis, and the RINOs succeeded in handing the seat to a far left Democrat. This is the same game plan by the RINOs
If those at NCGOP and in the legislative leadership got suckered into this, not knowing what they were doing, they are dumb as a box of rocks and do not belong in their ;positions. More likely, they know very well what the objective is and are going along with it.
Conservatives need to watch every member of the legislature and how they vote on the Anti-Harris Bill override. Real conservatives will vote against the override. Only RINOs and phonies will vote for it.
We need to send a message to the swamp dwellers in our own party in DC..
While I will neither confirm nor deny the role of the national GOP Congressional leadership in this operation, I will point out that all you “smart guys” and gals on this site are missing a major point, and that is the role of consultants.
You see, we at NCGOPe, and among the legislative leadership, value our consultants much more highly than we do our candidates and elected officials, especially when the candidate is one of those icky conservatives like Mark Harris. We could not help protect Harris without throwing Red Dome, which hired Dowless, to the wolves, and Red Dome needs to live to fight another day. Mark Harris, not so much.
Then there is our good friend, and good friend of the legislative leadership, Paul Shumaker, who is Robert Pittenger’s consultant. Giving Pittenger a new primary gives Shumaker a chance to redeem himself for his earlier loss, and gives him a chance to make some more money. What is not to like about that?
It’s all called looking out for the consultants. To heck with the candidates., And it does not hurt that a former employee of consultant Dee Stewart, a sometime partner of Paul Shumaker, happens to work as Political Director at NCGOPe.
I prefer the candidates that tell the GOP to go pound sand.
There is something to be said about being a “team player”, however, I believe the team in which Harris decided to play with, is diametrically opposed to the principles in which Harris literally preaches. It may be time to flip some tables, Mr. Harris.
Looks like that bill also included language that may now, in wake or the courts decision yesterday, leave us without a Board of Elections until January 31. So if we ever have a hearing on the congressional race it may not be until February now. How short sighted can a bill be?