Candidate Would Back New Election If Fraud Shown

The Republican candidate in an unresolved North Carolina congressional race says he would back a new election if a probe proves that fraud swayed the race's outcome.

Mark Harris released a video statement Friday addressing an investigation into absentee ballot fraud allegations in the district where he holds a slim lead in unofficial results. The state elections board has refused to certify results while it conducts an investigation.

Harris said in the statement that if it's proven that illegal activity changed the outcome of the race, he would "wholeheartedly support a new election."

Harris also repeated that he knew of no wrongdoing during the campaign but that he's fully cooperating with the state investigation.

This news comes after a filing shows that the Republican candidate owes $34,000 to a consultant that's been subpoenaed in a ballot fraud probe.

The Mark Harris campaign listed a debt of $34,310 owed to the Red Dome Group in a filing Federal Election Commission filing late Thursday. The form says the nature of the debt included "Reimbursement Payment for Bladen Absentee."

The filing lists two other debts totaling nearly $20,000 to Red Dome for digital advertising, robocalls and mailings for Harris, whose slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready is now in question.

Red Dome hired a Bladen County contractor being scrutinized by the North Carolina Elections Board. The state has refused to certify the results while it investigates the contractor it described as a person of interest in the probe of ballot irregularities.