A Maryland Republican raised the prospect of awarding North Carolina’s 16 Electoral College votes to Republican nominee Donald Trump before the Nov. 5 presidential election, citing storm damage in the western part of the state and claiming certainty about how voters would have cast their votes.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chairman of a group of far-right and libertarian Republicans in the House of Representatives called the Freedom Caucus, made the comments Thursday at a GOP dinner event following a speech by pro-Trump activist Ivan Raiklin, who has argued that states should give their vote to the former president if they believe the 2024 election is tainted.
North Carolina is a swing state that Trump previously won twice by narrow margins. Opinion poll averages give him a lead of about 1 percentage point in next month’s election.
After Hurricane Helene made landfall in the southeastern US in late September, the storm passed over western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, causing massive flooding in the mountainous region and resulting in a natural disaster declaration for the area. Clean-up efforts have continued and some roads are still closed due to the damage, hampering transport.
“Statistically, you can say, ‘Hey, look, you’ve become disenfranchised in 25 counties. You know what that vote probably would have been’ – which, if I were in the Legislature, would be enough to say, ‘Yes, we have to convene the Legislature, we can’t disenfranchise our voters,’” said Harris. during the dinner, according to video footage posted online by Raiklin, who often sits in the audience during congressional hearings.
Harris doubted whether any other state could legitimately use this reasoning, saying it could look like a “power play” elsewhere.
“By North Carolina I mean it’s legit,” he said. “There are a lot of people who don’t vote, and it could make a difference in that state.”
The U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to control their votes in the Electoral College; 48 states, including North Carolina, use a “winner take all” model that benefits the popular vote winner.
Harris voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results on January 6, 2021 — even after a violent mob, fueled by election fraud lies spread by Trump, ransacked the U.S. Capitol.
In a statement from his office, Harris said his comments Thursday were “theoretical” and taken out of context.
“As I have said repeatedly, every legal vote must be counted,” Harris said.
“Currently, voting is going well in western North Carolina, despite FEMA spending more than a billion dollars housing illegal immigrants instead of helping North Carolina residents,” he added, while he repeated a false claim about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s efforts to help North Carolina Republicans with hurricane relief. repeatedly debunked.
Despite extensive storm damage, the state broke turnout records on the first day of early voting last week, with the vast majority of early voting locations still open in the western counties hardest hit by flooding.
