On this date one year ago, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day published our original profile of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Maryland’s 1st Congressional District, Andy Harris, who was first elected to office in… yes, of course, the 2010 Tea Party Wave, after a failed Congressional campaign in 2008, and prior to that, a full decade in the Maryland State Senate from 1999-2009. That failed 2008 campaign involved Harris unseating incumbent GOP Congressman Gary Gilchrest by running to his right, and claiming that Gilchrest, a Vietnam veteran, was not truly supportive enough of the Iraq War during his time in Congress. Gilchrest ended up supporting Democrat Frank Kratovil in the general election, forcing Harris to try again in 2010. And Gilchrest is still disgusted with him until this day… which is understandable, given the circumstances.
Including the fact that Harris, a physician, ran for office by whipping up paranoia about the Affordable Care Act. But during his orientation in late 2010, he threw a tantrum that he would not be given health insurance immediately, and would have to wait all of two months until he was sworn in before it would kick in. Let us repeat that… the main who campaigned against socialized healthcare practically s*** himself in rage that he would have to wait two months to get some of it for himself.
Harris, the only Republican member of the Maryland delegation in the House, comes to our attention because while we would like to say he’s a son of a Hungarian immigrant father and Polish immigrant mother and that should make him a good example of a Republican with attitudes towards immigration… but no, it’s quite worse than that. Andy Harris likes to remember his father, Zoltan Harris, as a man who was taken to a Russian gulag for being a determined anti-Communist soldier… the timeline of that, however, neglects to mention that Zoltan Harris fought for the pro-Hitler Hungarian army that was fighting the Allies during World War II.
So, yes, neglecting to mention that your father was pro-Nazi is a concern.
More of a concern… the support for Hungarian fascists did not skip a generation, as Andy Harris has come out hard in support of Hungarian strongman and Putin ally Viktor Orban, actually writing it down on Congressional letterhead. And he’s snuck across the pond to speak at events in Budapest in favor of Orban, with his opening act being Sharon Slater, the head of an anti-LGBTQ hate group from Arizona who thinks that homosexuality is a “mental disorder” caused by childhood trauma that can be treated with gay conversion therapy. But Harris has gone as far as to write the U.S. State Department and ask them to pull the financial support our government gives towards journalists in Hungary, who, y’know, report on human rights violations being committed by Orban’s regime.
But that is not the only far-right Eastern European country where Harris has shown interest… in 2018, Harris planned to visit far-right Czech white nationalist Tomio Okamura with a delegation of true Congress-critters that included Dana Rohrabacher, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar, and of course, the ultimate racist in the House, Steve King. Not for nothing, but if your dad was in a pro-Nazi group and you didn’t hold the same ideals, maybe you wouldn’t want to hang out with trash like Okamura, who had called for the gassing of Jews, gays, and Roma.
But Andy Harris is not discriminating in the company he keeps, or political endorsements he gives… as in 2017, he endorsed Roy Moore even AFTER the public learned Moore had a long history of predatory behavior towards young girls (to say nothing of the rampant racism and homophobia). It’s not a one off, where he sticks up for the worst people. After all, 2018, Harris came out hard in defense of Brett Kavanaugh, making accusations that his highly credible accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was just “a troubled woman”, and her testimony should be disregarded.
I mean, there is no bottom for how gutless Andy Harris can be. He might pretend to be a patriot, but it’s hard to claim that when you go and vote against healthcare for 9-11 First Responders and call the Zadroga Act “fiscally irresponsible”. Or how in 2018 he was caught funneling campaign dollars to his wife illegally and was slapped with an ethics violation.
This has continued into current events, as he’s started feuding with fellow Republican and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan for responsibly keeping his state’s business closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harris compared Hogan’s “stay at home” order that applied to church services to “Communist China” and “North Korea”. Hogan, to his credit, blew Harris off, saying, “he’s got a right to say whatever crazy things he wants to say”.
Maryland’s 1st Congressional District has a +14 Republican lean, which is amazing considering out of the rest of the state’s districts, the next most conservative is a +6 Democratic lean. That helped Harris win in 2020 with 63% of the vote, and he’s returned to the Capitol to continue on with one of the more grotesque voting records in all of Congress:
- December 18th, 2019: Rep. Harris ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
- May 15th, 2020: Harris votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- October 2nd, 2020: Andy Harris boldly votes “present” as a resolution is presented in the House to condemn the Qanon conspiracy theory after its followers started to make death threats against Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski.
- December 10th, 2020: Harris signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
- January 6th, 2021: Andy Harris votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 7th, 2021: Rep. Harris nearly gets into a physical altercation with Texas Congressman and former NFL linebacker Colin Allred by throwing a tantrum during remarks certifying the 2020 election votes.
- January 12th, 2021: A swath of legislators from Maryland call upon Harris to resign for helping stoke and incite the mob on January 6th.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Harris votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- January 21st, 2021: Harris is the subject of an investigation by the Capitol Police after trying to get a handgun past metal detectors, only two weeks after the Capitol Attack.
- February 4th, 2021: Andy Harris votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Harris votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Harris votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Andy Harris votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Harris votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Harris votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- March 17th, 2021: Harris is one of twelve Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congressional gold medals to members of the Capitol Police who bravely defended members of Congress during the attack.
- May 19th, 2021: Andy Harris votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- May 20th, 2021: Harris is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
- June 15th, 2021: Rep. Harris is one of 21 Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congressional gold medals to members of the Capitol Police who bravely defended members of Congress during the attack.
Andy Harris is a disgrace, and now has both Republicans and Democrats in Maryland’s 1st District lining up to knock him out of office in 2022. That is also assuming that he didn’t have some further role in the insurrection on January 6th and doesn’t end up in jail.
One Year Ago, June 21st, 2020: Andy Harris (MD)… Original Profile
Two Years Ago, June 21st, 2019: Brad Schimel (WI)… 2019 Update
Three Years Ago, June 21st, 2018: Brad Schimel (WI)… 2018 Update
Four Years Ago, June 21st, 2017: Brad Schimel (WI)… 2017 Update
Five Years Ago, June 21st, 2016: Brad Schimel (WI)… 2016 Update
Six Years Ago, June 21st, 2015: Brad Schimel (WI)… Original Profile