Andy Harris had one job on Tuesday night: stand in front of his own constituents and answer their questions. It did not go well.
At a League of Women Voters debate in Cambridge on October 13, more than 150 Eastern Shore residents came to hear Harris and his Democratic challenger, Dan Schwartz, answer the questions they had submitted to the League, Maryland Matters reported. By the end of the night, Harris had told the room they were rude, refused to calm his own side down, and threatened a reporter with prosecution.
The diesel answer
The question that blew up the room was about the Trump administration's deal to let Russian diesel into the country. Senators from both parties have called that order illegal; Schwartz called it "disgusting," because, as he put it, Russia is "actively working with Iranian forces to kill our troops."
Harris went another way. Diesel prices had gone up, he said. "There's no question about it. Why has it gone up? Because the Democrats —"
He got as far as "environmental regulations" before the room broke into laughter and groans.
The laughter had a point. The next day, the government's own numbers showed fuel oil, which includes diesel, is up 72% for the year and gas is up 34% — "as the Iran war drags on," Stateline reported. Inflation hit 3.7% in September, the highest since May. The war that is driving those prices is one Harris has backed: he is among the Republicans we track who voted to keep Trump's Iran war going when the House tried to end it.
"You are rude"
Instead of answering, Harris turned on the audience. "This is the problem," he told them: they said they believed in the First Amendment, but only if they agreed with him.
A video the Star Democrat posted is titled "Harris calls constituent rude." Mediaite quoted him snapping at one woman: "You should let me finish the sentence, Ma'am. You are rude!"
When the League's local president asked both candidates to urge their supporters to stay civil, Schwartz did. Harris refused. "My people aren't interfering with Mr. Schwartz. It's only one way," he said.
These are the voters he represents. They came with questions they had submitted in advance. When they reacted to his answer, he lectured them about the First Amendment.
"Get an officer in here"
Then came the part that went viral.
After the debate, a group of reporters gathered around Harris, nearly all of them recording. He singled out one: Cat Murphy of Capital News Service. According to video the Baltimore Banner posted, and a transcript published by Mediaite, it went like this:
Harris: You do not have my permission to record. If you record, we will refer you to the prosecutor.
Murphy: Everyone in here is recording.
Harris: But you are not allowed to. We are in a two-party state.
When Murphy asked him about his past comments on the Iran war, he escalated: "Take her camera. You're gonna take a camera. She is violating the law. In fact, get an officer in here."
"Sir, we are in public," Murphy answered. "Congressman, you said that you supported the First Amendment. What does this say about that?"
Harris walked out. "She's ruining all your chances to get an answer about anything," he told the other reporters. "Thank her. Thank her profusely."
He got the law wrong
Harris claimed he "actually know[s] the law well" because he's a legislator. He doesn't, on this one. Maryland's two-party consent law covers private conversations — ones where people expect privacy. A congressman answering a crowd of reporters in a public room after a public debate isn't that. And of the many people recording him, he went after only one of them.
His office didn't respond to Mediaite's request for comment.
A pattern of not answering
Harris has been in Congress since 2011 and is asking for a ninth term. At the debate, his pitch was that "experience counts." But what voters on the Eastern Shore saw was a congressman who blamed Democrats for fuel prices that have soared as the war he voted to continue drags on, scolded the people asking, and tried to have a reporter's camera taken away for asking a follow-up.
He has a record of standing apart even from his own party: he was the only member of the House to vote "present" when it condemned QAnon 371 to 18.
In summary
Asked about Trump's deal to bring in Russian diesel, Andy Harris blamed Democrats' environmental regulations for fuel prices that federal data show are up 72% for the year as the Iran war he voted to continue drags on. He called his own constituents rude when they laughed and refused to ask his supporters to be civil. After the debate, he falsely told a reporter that recording him in a room full of cameras broke Maryland law, told someone to take her camera, and called for an officer.
