NC-09: The Democratic opposition research group American Bridge has unearthed a 2013 sermon from Baptist pastor Mark Harris, the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, in which he questioned whether it's the "healthiest pursuit" for women to pursue careers instead of their biblical "core calling" of being mothers and wives first.
In another portion of the sermon, Harris declared that "only one title is given to a woman in all of scripture ... the title given to a woman is 'helper.'" He followed that line by quoting a part of the Bible admonishing "young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God not be blasphemed."
In a statement to ABC News, Harris’ campaign said he “absolutely stands by his personal statements,” reiterating that “there is no higher calling that a woman has than to be a helper to her husband and mother to her children.” Unsurprisingly, Harris has a long history of socially conservative activism in keeping with these remarks.
In 2012, Harris helped lead the successful GOP-backed effort to ban same-sex marriage in the North Carolina constitution, and he wants the Supreme Court to overturn both Roe v. Wade and the 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationally. He was also a major supporter of the infamous "bathroom bill" that discriminated against LGBTQ people and sparked a major backlash from businesses and voters against then-Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, helping lead to his loss Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
But will Harris pay a similar price? Though Republicans carefully gerrymandered this district, which stretches from suburban Charlotte to the Fayetteville area, it contains an above-average share of college-educated voters, and Harris faces a serious challenge from Democratic businessman Dan McCready. While North Carolina is relatively religious on the whole, Republican-leaning swing voters here may not be as amenable to Harris' hardline beliefs and support for state-sanctioned discrimination as in other parts of the state.