LUMBERTON, N.C. — The 2024 race for North Carolina's 8th District faced an interesting start in the primaries after the Democratic primary election was canceled and the Republican primary narrowly avoided a possible runoff. After all that, the race has come down to Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Justin Dues.
Mark Harris
It's the second chance for the Rev. Mark Harris to represent the state. Harris appeared to have received the most votes in the 2018 election for the 9th District seat, before an absentee ballot scandal investigation involving a political operative working for him. While the investigation led to charges and convictions, Harris wasn’t charged. He cooperated with investigators and called for a new election. He did not run again.
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Harris was born in Winston-Salem and has a degree in political from Appalachian State University, a master's of divinity and doctor of ministry degree in Christian leadership from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was president of the North Carolina Baptist convention from 2011 to 2013.
Justin Dues
Dues is an Ohio native and a military veteran, having served in the Marine Corps from 2003 through 2012. He left active service to focus on his family and education, according to his campaign.
He finished his master's of business administration degree at UNC Charlotte in 2018 and started a medical device startup in 2019, which his campaign says was based on a desire to provide an alternative to using opioids for pain management.
The 8th District runs from Charlotte east to Lumberton.
WCNC Charlotte will have live election coverage of all the local and statewide elections starting at 7 p.m. on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5 on streaming on WCNC+, and all election results can be found by texting the word ELECTION to 704-329-3600 or going to WCNC Charlotte's election page.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.