Rep. Andy Harris scolded a debate crowd after they laughed at his diesel-price explanation. Minutes later, he tried to have a reporter removed for continuing to record him.
Republican Rep. Andy Harris had a rough Tuesday night in Maryland, and somehow the post-debate press scrum made the debate look calm by comparison. First the audience laughed at his answer about diesel prices. Then Harris scolded the crowd for being rude. Then, after the event, he called for police when a reporter kept recording him.
The sequence unfolded during a League of Women Voters forum between Harris and Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz. Asked about President Trump’s decision to lift Russian oil sanctions in an effort to lower fuel costs, Harris said he opposed the deal and blamed Democratic environmental policies for diesel-price increases that followed the Iran war.
The Baltimore Banner reports that the audience of roughly 200 people erupted in laughter. Harris responded by repeatedly calling audience members rude and telling them they should let him answer.
Political debates produce boos and laughs all the time, but Harris appeared visibly irritated by the reaction. Video from the event shows him pushing back on the crowd as the exchange grew increasingly tense.
Then came the second act. After the debate, Harris invited reporters into a separate room for questions and answers. He dismissed some questions as “silly” and objected when one reporter continued recording him.
According to The Banner, other reporters in the group were also recording. Harris nevertheless told the woman she was not allowed to record and then called for his staff to summon police to have her removed when she kept the camera running.
That is an impressively fast progression from “please stop laughing at me” to “somebody get law enforcement for the journalist.” Most candidates spend debate night hoping for one clean clip. Harris managed to generate two viral ones in separate rooms.
There is no indication from The Banner’s account that the reporter was arrested or charged with anything. The episode is about Harris attempting to have her removed after she refused his demand to stop recording.
The confrontation also lands awkwardly for a member of Congress dealing with a press corps. Politicians can dislike questions, reject premises and end interviews whenever they want. Trying to involve police because a reporter is recording a post-debate exchange is a very different escalation.
Harris is seeking a ninth term and represents Maryland’s heavily Republican 1st Congressional District. Schwartz is trying to capitalize on a political environment in which fuel prices, healthcare and Trump’s foreign-policy decisions are all major campaign issues.
The underlying diesel argument may still matter to voters. But the internet is unlikely to remember the finer points of Russian sanctions policy when the easier clip is a congressman getting laughed at, calling the room rude and then asking for police because a reporter would not put down her phone.
Sometimes campaigns lose control of the message because an opponent lands a perfect line. Sometimes they lose it because their own candidate decides the reporter holding the camera has become a public-safety issue.
