Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st, got into a shouting match on the House floor early Thursday morning during a debate over GOP objections to certifying the electoral votes from Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election, according to accounts from several reporters.
Pennsylvania was the second and final state whose certified electoral votes faced objections from Republican lawmakers during what is normally a routine process of Congress opening and reading the electoral votes from the states.
The debate over the first objection, to Arizona’s electoral count, came to a sudden halt early Wednesday afternoon after right-wing domestic terrorists broke into the U.S. Capitol building, forcing lawmakers to be ushered to safe locations as police took several hours to regain control of the building.
Photos and videos show the rioters breaking glass in doors and windows to enter the Capitol and overwhelming Capitol Police officers trying to keep them out. One woman was fatally shot by an officer during the melee, three others died as a result of medical emergencies, and numerous police officers were assaulted and injured by the mob that included some holding “Blue Lives Matter” flags purporting to support law enforcement.
The mob was incited by remarks made by President Donald Trump during an earlier rally in Washington, D.C.
Trump has repeatedly lied about the presidential election results, claiming he defeated Joe Biden in a landslide victory even though Biden handily won both the Electoral College vote and the national popular vote.
More than 50 lawsuits from Trump and others challenging the results have been rejected by state and federal courts across the nation, including by the U.S. Supreme Court. Many courts found the Trump lawsuits to be baseless, with no evidence supporting allegations of fraud.
As a result of the Wednesday afternoon attack on the Capitol, several Republican senators who had planned to join GOP congressmen in objecting to the results from six swing states opted to pull their support.
The objection to Arizona’s results was defeated 93-6 in the U.S. Senate and 303-121 in the House of Representatives, with Harris joining 120 Republican colleagues in support of the objection.
As the process continued, GOP objections to the results in Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada failed outright when not a single U.S. senator joined the dozens of congressional Republicans objecting to those states’ results. For an objection to be considered for discussion and a vote, at least one congressman and one senator must sign onto a written objection.
However, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, joined GOP colleagues in the House in an objection to Pennsylvania’s results.
According to a report from Maryland Matters and States Newsroom:
Shortly after delivering his own remarks challenging Pennsylvania’s election results on the House floor in the early morning hours, Harris was among lawmakers who ran toward each other during a heated debate and had to be separated by a Capitol Hill staffer.
“It didn’t materialize out of nowhere,” Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb (D) said of the unrest. “It was inspired by lies. The same lies that you’re hearing in this room tonight.”
Huffington Post reporter Matt Fuller tweeted that Harris was shouting “He called me a liar!” during the confrontation with Colin Allred (D-Texas).
Fuller later tweeted that a congressman said it was mostly Al Lawson, a Florida Democrat, and Harris in the argument, but Allred was among a group of members from both sides who converged in the aisle.
Several people commenting on Fuller’s tweet noted that Allred is a former NFL linebacker.
Below is a video of the comments Harris made during the debate on the Pennsylvania objection:
Nearly an hour later, Rep. Connor Lamb, D-Pennsylvania, spoke against the objection to his state’s electoral vote results. The argument involving Harris occurred during Lamb’s remarks and shouting can be heard on this video excerpt from C-SPAN.
As Lamb spoke, Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican, asked that his comments about Republicans lying be stricken from the record.
However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Griffith’s objection was not timely and Lamb continued his remarks by noting: “The truth hurts.”
CNN reporter Kristin Wilson tweeted that Harris and Allred yelled at each other: to “sit down” “no, you sit down” from across the floor, then confronted each other in the aisle as a dozen members from each side joined them.
The objection to the Pennsylvania results was defeated in the House on a vote of 282-138. Harris was among the 138 Republican congressmen to vote for the objection.
The final objection — to the results in Wisconsin — also failed when no senator joined the objection.
The joint session of Congress ultimately certified Joe Biden’s presidential victory with an Electoral College vote of 306 to 232 for Trump.
Harris and Griffith were the only two Republican congressmen who voted against seating the newly elected House members from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Forbes reported.
A Republican Texas congressman opposed to efforts to reject the presidential results had challenged the seating of those House members, arguing that any voter fraud in those states would also affect the congressional results, according to Forbes.
By voting against that challenge, nearly all Republican congressmen essentially acknowledged the legitimacy of the congressional results in those states. Yet, a few days later, many of those GOP lawmakers said the presidential election results in those very same states should be rejected.
JT Smith says
I am disgusted by my Congressman’s consistent lack of wisdom, moderation and manners. Too bad he did not complete his encounter with a former NFL linebacker….
Frank Carollo says
Harris is just a disgrace. I’m shocked — SHOCKED! — that he was surprised and evidently offended that someone told the truth and called him a liar. Real mature to then get in a shouting match with other congressmen. That’s our Andy!
And we’ll be stuck with him for another 2 years even after the ignominious departure of his dark lord Trump in 2 weeks. If only Andy would skulk away with him.
Eva M. Smorzaniuk, M.D. says
Unfortunately, we, the voters, do not have the authority to unseat a congressman, even one who has demonstrated his loyalty to an unfit president, rather than to his country. His legacy will be as accomplice to the many crimes that Trump has committed, including inciting people to riot against the symbol of our democracy, the Capital. We can only hope that 2/3 of the new members of Congress are as horrified by his behavior as are his constituents.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Eva, Perhaps the Dems could put forward a candidate with at least some ghost of a chance of victory. I watched and listened to the video, right here, on “The Spy” of the Dem opponent to Harris. Some guy with sixties hair (way too long) who actually proposed rail service to the Eastern Shore, to bring even more throngs of unwanted masses to the Ocean City .
Get a more electable opponent to Harris.
Will Chapman says
Uh … Harris’ opponent was not a “guy,” but rather 20-year military veteran, Mia Mason. Good to know though that hair length factors into one’s decision to unseat one of the worst representatives in the U.S.
Michael Davis says
Thank you, Will, for pointing this out.
Ms Mason put her heart and soul in the campaign. But she was fighting a huge uphill battle thanks to the Democratic Party who gave Andy a safe seat in order that Democrats in the rest of the state were safe from Republcian voters.
As a Democrat in Easton, I am angry about it. Still I will do everything I can to fight against Harris’s relection supporting Ms. Mason who I hope runs again. But if she declines, maybe an 80-year White guy with White hair who drives White 1070 Elvis Special Cadillac and plays golf. Any Democrat running against Harris gets my support
Ezra P FInkin says
How is hair style remotely linked to electibility?!?! Oh wait, Trump lost. You might be right.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Ezra, For evidence of the importance of appearance in politics, check out the video of the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate. ‘Nuff said.
Jay Corvan says
Congressman Andy Harris has been a huge disappointment to people on the eastern shore. Harris has consistently sided with big agribusiness , big chicken, big pharmaceutical companies , not supporting Main Street vendors , always looking to follow the big corporate or federal money and Lobbyist trail and stuff his pockets as quickly as possible.
As a founding member of the gop tea party, Harris is an radical outsider from public opinion . He does not represent prevailing constituent perspectives he is supposed to serve . The first district of Maryland must find ways of purging representatives that place their own success and crazy ideas over their constituents interests. Harris didn’t even understand the reason why the Capital was attacked, because there are no real consequences for errant and radical congressmen in America who don’t serve the people , only themselves . People are tired of representatives like Harris who always put themselves first.
Harris was simply looking to grab trumps fading power by using outrageous obfuscation in an argument, yelling out of turn in Congress, ( pretending to be a constitutional scholar but getting the ideas completely wrong) almost ending in a first fight in Congress. This is not the kind of behavior any one in this district wants to see represent our gentle people in the district. The representative should be quickly censured in the house and primaried out at the next possible election. We should not forget this moment when Harris showed his true radical colors. He must take the fall along with the other 100 outlying congressmen that chose to ignore the electorate processes and to misunderstand what happened on January 6th in the capital.
There has to be consequences for representatives gone astray. Harris needs to make himself gone, and should resign if he has the good sense to do so.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Jay, How does this Harris continue to be re elected? What say you?
Deirdre LaMotte says
Stupid, racist people vote too. That is how.
Jay Corvan says
Steve. Thanks for the comment. I think that people don’t know what goes on and don’t make the effort to research their candidates. Most of the eastern shore electorate pulls the republican lever in the voting booth out of habit. If they knew what motivates Harris ( money) they’d look elsewhere. And you are right a moderate candidate is needed to cross over and pick up hard core , dyed in the wool republicans. Wayne Gilchrist was able to satisfy us on the shore for many years with good bipartisan representation and not be a radical whacko. He was fair , principled and moderate, pleased many constituents andcwas well loved. The shore is a republican stronghold because of state district gerrymandering and Harris himself will admit he’s a real freak of districting. Either we come up with more moderate candidates ( not my preference) or we have to Push towards the center. Of course we must redistrict the state and look for fairness. . Btw Democrats ( not the republicans ) are responsible for the ridiculous geography of the first district. The dems lumped all the republican areas into One district and called it a loser. That’s us!
Michael Davis says
Andy Harris is a liar. There is NO, NO data supporting Mr Harris’s position. Yet he yells his “facts” as if he is an expert in Pennsylvania law. A representative of Pennsylvania pointed out Andy’s errors. Prima facie, my guess is that a lawyer from Pennsylvania knows more about Pennsylvania law than a doctor in Maryland.
While Andy was yelling to the members of the House of Representatives, terrorists we attacking the Capitol. These people were instigated by Donald Trump. I’d venture to guess Andy is more concerned about keeping Trump in power than he is about the false arguments he was presenting on the House Floor.
Someone below asked how he gets elected over and over again . He gets reelected because the Democrats walled off the Eastern Shore through gerrymandering. That is a disservice to the citizens of the Shore as we have no opportunity to vote for a Congressman who tells the truth.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Michael, Have you ever seen a politician that was NOT a liar? I have not.
David Stevens says
That cynicism gets you nowhere. There are Trumps on one end of the spectrum. You can’t believe almost anything he says and a Jimmy Carter on the other. He actually is a Christian and his word is gospel. In between there are shades but most are reliable and Obama and Biden are examples of that. Republicans have come to rely on distortions and fear such as in the Georgia Senate races. Republicans put forward no policies of what they stood for and ran ad after ad calling their opponents communists or radical socialists. Republicans have become the minority party because of their stands on so many issues that the American people disagree with. So they resort to voter suppression and lies to sway voters who don’t do much research into issues or candidates. The Republicans couldn’t even come up with a platform last year.
Harris is a radical right winger who will oppose anything to do with fighting climate change, inequality, police reform or immigration reform. We should lobby state lawmakers when they draw district maps to make the first district competitive. As is is now Harris will be in Congress for as long as he wants to be.
James Brennan says
I have made an effort to communicate with Congressman Harris over the past 4 years, and have done so many times, including in person. When he he spoke to me, he repeated the same narrow talking points over and over, no matter what subject I addressed. He seems to solely represent his selected Lobbies (the fossil fuel industry, factory farming, the NRA) at the expense of his Eastern Shore constituents.
It’s certainly true that District 1 is gerrymandered to be a Republican stronghold, but that doesn’t allow our representative to go rogue. I urge everyone to call Andy Harris regularly (in Bel Air:410-588-5670; Kent Island: 410-643-5425; Salisbury: 443-944-8624) and share your priorities with him. He may be unskilled labor, but he’s on our payroll.
Ann Farrell says
Andy Harris’ legacy will be deep distaste of colleagues and many constituents. He wins by “default” without serious campaigning because D1 O’Malley carved it out as “giveaway” to Republicans to compensate for Democratic-gerrymandered Districts. Voters vote party first (Hogan exception!), his opponents weak to pathetic, except Jesse Colvin.
As recent east coast returnee, I researched Andy’s track record dumfounded at his voting record on healthcare (MD no less), environment and Save the Bay ETC. – capped with petty badmouthing of Nurse Anesthetists. Most disgusting were “tele-town halls” where he doesn’t face voters and censors calls/questions and presents info fast talking, often with bogus data he never corrects, even when contacted with actual data.
Read of fascist contacts in Europe, unconditional love of Trump (White Nationalists) – cartoonish hubris. His popularity best captured in near punch this week.
Saw trail of Trump / Harris signs on Hartford and Cecil Country roads, wondered “do they really know who they are voting for?”. Hopefully Dr. Harris bows out as promised and we’ll elect a better representative and human being.