Far-Right House Leader Calls on North Carolina to Preemptively Give Donald Trump Its Electoral Votes

Maryland Rep. Andy Harris has proposed that North Carolina deviate from the democratic voting process in the 2024 election by preemptively allocating the state’s presidential electors to former President Donald Trump, according to Politico.

At the Talbot County Lincoln Reagan Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 24, the chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, 67, asserted that it "makes a lot of sense" for North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature to directly decide the winner, given the potential barriers to voting that some areas are facing amid the Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

"You statistically can go and say, 'Look, you got disenfranchised in 25 counties. You know what that vote probably would have been,' " the congressman said in conversation with MAGA operative Ivan Raiklin, who has endorsed a similar plan to ensure a Trump victory in North Carolina.

Rep. Harris continued by saying that the devastation from Hurricane Helene "would be — if I were in the legislature — enough to go, 'Yeah, we have to convene the Legislature. We can’t disenfranchise the voters.' "

While Rep. Harris acknowledged that it would appear to be "just a power play" if other states started allocating Electoral College votes before ballots had been counted, he argued that in North Carolina, "it’s legitimate."

"There are a lot of people that aren’t going to get to vote and it may make the difference in that state," he said.

In response to his comments when he was asked to elaborate, Harris issued a statement to Politico, writing, “As I’ve repeatedly said, every legal vote should be counted. I would hope everyone could agree that legal American voters whose lives were devastated by the recent storms should not be disenfranchised in the upcoming voting process.”

Raiklin, 46, posted his exchange with Harris on Thursday night on X, writing, "Breaking! @freedomcaucus chairman @RepAndyHarrisMD at Talbot County Lincoln Reagan Dinner agrees that NC Speaker of the House @NCHouseSpeaker and the State Legislature should convene a joint session to allocate the electors on Nov 5 directly to ensure the franchise of 25 counties is restored."

Raiklin himself has raised concerns by positioning himself as a potential "secretary of retribution" in a future Trump administration. He has reportedly compiled a "Deep State Target List" of 350 individuals he considers enemies, and has promised to appoint "Constitutional sheriffs" to go after those enemies if Trump is elected and offer them "the maximum punishment for treason." (The Department of Justice says that treason can be punishable by death.)

Raiklin was the man who shared a two-page memo on X (then called Twitter) in December 2020 called "Operation Pence Card," which detailed a plan to have Vice President Mike Pence reject the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump retweeted the memo, and after the idea grew in popularity, Pence ultimately refused to participate.

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North Carolinians will play a key role in deciding the next president. The state is one of seven battlegrounds identified in the 2024 election, carrying a large prize of 16 Electoral College votes for the winner. Polls suggest that Kamala Harris has a chance at flipping the state blue, with Trump only an inch ahead in most surveys.