NEWS

NC candidate in disputed race led Augusta church

Susan McCord
smccord@augustachronicle.com
FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2018, file photo, Mark Harris speaks to the media during a news conference in Matthews, N.C. The nation's last unresolved fall congressional race with Harris against Democrat Dan McCready is awash in doubt as North Carolina election investigators concentrate on a rural county where absentee-ballot fraud allegations are so flagrant they've put the Election Day result into question. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

The Republican candidate for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District whose campaign operative is accused of "ballot harvesting" made headlines during his five years as pastor of Augusta's Curtis Baptist Church.

Mark Harris, who led the downtown Augusta church from 2000 to 2005, said Friday that he was "absolutely unaware of any wrongdoing" by campaign workers and would agree to a new election "if the investigation finds proof of illegal activity on either side."

Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes out of nearly 283,000 ballots cast in a contest under investigation by the state elections board, which has not certified the result. McCrae Dowless, a Bladen County, N.C., political operative hired by Harris' campaign, is at the center of an investigation into "ballot harvesting," in which workers illegally collect and mail or withhold ballots to benefit a particular candidate.

In Augusta, Harris championed Curtis Baptist's expansion and moving Curtis Baptist School back to the church campus downtown, said former state Sen. Don Cheeks, who worked closely with Harris on the project.

"He was a very instrumental pastor at Curtis and he was very interested in the school," Cheeks said. "It was he that discussed with me to possibly bring the school back down to the church and build a new building."

The work continued, but Harris soon announced he had accepted an offer in his home state to pastor Charlotte's First Baptist Church, Cheeks said.

"He was a great pastor. He left suddenly," Cheeks said.

Cheeks said Harris never seemed "like he had any political leanings" but "was intelligent and would make a great congressman."

As Curtis Baptist developed a plan to expand in the 1200 block of Broad Street and bring the school from the 2200 block of Broad at Milledge Road to the downtown campus, Harris took the lead among churches opposed to increased alcohol sales downtown and other activities, including the proposed addition of an adult bookstore now known as the X-Mart.

By October 2000, Harris packed an Augusta Commission meeting with 150 people opposed to licensing a restaurant, bar and dance hall called Off-Broadway Dining and Dancing in the 1300 block of Broad Street. The commission went along and voted 6-4 against the license.

"It's about respect, respect for a church and its ministry that has been here making a difference for 125 years," Harris told the commission. "We made a decision as a church family that we were going to be salt and light to downtown Augusta, and she happened to be the first individual to come along and apply for a liquor license within eyeshot of Curtis Baptist Church, putting at risk our children and our families."

Members of Harris' congregation at Curtis Baptist had only praise for him and doubt that Harris would ever go along with illegal campaign activities.

"Mark is one of the nicest men in the world," Joyce Scarborough said. "He was so dedicated in whatever he did."

Curtis named the Harris Building for its former pastor, she said.

Scarborough recalled her husband and Harris having lunch at the United House of Prayer cafeteria.

"When Mark would walk in, they'd come out and talk about how 'we love to hear you preach,'" she said.

"All I can say is wonderful things about Mark," she said. "He would never had done anything that the Lord would not have him do."

Church member Nancy Wiggins said Harris returned to Augusta to officiate her daughter Melany's funeral in 2008, as he did with other church members.

"In his public and his private life, he's stellar," she said.

Harris refused to allow his campaign to engage in any negative campaigning, she said.

"I'm very heartbroken over what is happening there," Wiggins said.

Harris served as the religious representative on the Downtown Advisory Panel, which worked on changing downtown ordinances such as the First Friday ordinance and a distance requirement between churches and bars in an effort to improve the area.

"I saw him as very, very easy to work with. He was not hardline. He was really reasonable," said Brad Owens, who served with Harris on the panel.

While Harris did not indicate plans to run for office, Owens said he is not surprised.

"Does it surprise me he would be successful? No. He's very charismatic. He's amazing," he said.

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— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNC9) December 7, 2018