WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mark Harris won election to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Tuesday. The Baptist minister won six years after his similar U.S. House bid derailed during an absentee ballot scandal. It appeared Harris was the 2018 election winner, but an investigation found a political operative working for him gathered blank or partially filled ballots and turned them in. Harris cooperated with investigators but declined to run in a new election. He ran this year in the Republican-leaning 8th Congressional District stretching from Charlotte to Lumberton. The seat became open when GOP Rep. Dan Bishop ran for attorney general. The Associated Press declared Harris the winner at 9:43 p.m. EST.
CHARLOTTE, NC - OCTOBER 26: Republican Congressional candidate for North Carolina's 9th district Mark Harris (C), addresses the crowd as President Donald Trump (L) and Republican Congressional candidate for North Carolina's 13th district Ted Budd (R), listen at the Bojangles Coliseum on October 26, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. President Trump visited Charlotte to campaign for 9th District House candidate Mark Harris. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)