Andy Harris and our right to vote by Heather Mizeur

The right to vote, and to have that vote counted, is the defining feature of our democratic system. As we all learned four years ago, that sacred right doesn’t mean much to Donald Trump, who made clear his willingness to casually throw out tens of millions of legally cast ballots if he doesn’t like the outcome.

Our congressman, Andy Harris, chairman of the comically misnamed Freedom Caucus, shares Donald Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s disdain for elections and voters. But Harris’ brand of authoritarianism actually goes a step further. He told a Republican Party dinner in Talbot County last Thursday that, given hurricane damage in western North Carolina, the legislature there should consider dispensing with voting altogether and simply assign the state’s 16 electoral votes to Donald Trump.

Congressman Harris has long been an admirer of Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban. But not even Orban (or for that matter, Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei) has gone quite so far as to name a winner before the election. Think about that: Many of the world’s worst leaders at least make a show of democracy.  Our “Freedom Caucus” leader stands alone in his open disdain for democratic ideals.

Naturally, when word of what he said leaked out, Harris tried to walk it back. No one has ever accused the good doctor of being a profile in courage. Rather than owning up to his obvious anti-democratic impulses, he now twists himself into knots to claim that his statement was merely “hypothetical” and taken out of context.

Here’s some context for you. In the days before the January 6, 2021 insurrection, Andy Harris was part of a small group of Donald Trump’s cronies who met in the White House to devise a plot to block the peaceful transfer of power and keep Trump in office by overthrowing the results of a free and fair election.

Are Harris’ colleagues having misgivings about promoting him to a high-level position within their ranks? It sure sounds like it. GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina told Politico “it makes no sense whatsoever to prejudice the election outcome,” and that Harris was misinformed about conditions on the ground in North Carolina. “Bless his heart,” McHenry added, as if Harris were some kindly but feeble-minded cousin.

But Andy Harris is neither kindly nor feeble-minded. He is a smart man, a physician with a long history of success in politics. He knows exactly what he is doing when he allies himself with the likes of wannabe dictators like Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Viktor Orban.

Fortunately, we on the Eastern Shore have a chance in this election to let Andy Harris know what we think of someone like him – one who calls himself a leader but would casually discard the rights of his fellow citizens.

After all, we still live in a democracy. For now.

By: Heather R. Mizeur, former Maryland State Legislator and 2022 Democratic Nominee for Congress in MD-01. Ms. Mizeur resides in Chestertown and can be reached at [email protected]