U.S. House of Representatives members are elected every two years. Mecklenburg County sits in three congressional districts. Voters will see one race on their ballot based on where they are registered.
North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District covers portions of south-central North Carolina, including parts of Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties, along with all of Union, Stanly, Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland and Anson counties.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives serve two-year terms. They must be at least 25 years old, a citizen of the U.S. for seven years and live in the state they represent. They cast votes on bills, serve on committees, draft laws and focus on policy issues that are of interest to themselves or their constituents. Other high-level tasks of the U.S. House include funding government programs and oversight of the executive branch.
This race features incumbent Republican Mark Harris, Democrat Colby Watson and Green Party candidate Bo Whitehead. District 8 leans Republican. In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump received 59% of votes while Kamala Harris received 40%.
Colby Watson
Party: Democrat
Incumbent: No
Age: Approximately 37
Previous experience in elected office: None
Occupation:
Small business owner ("federal contractor")
Description:
Watson's key issues are to regulate corporate ownership of homes, prevent medical debt from bankrupting people, improve education for children and help the state’s farmers. He also pledges not to accept money from corporate or foreign-interest lobbyists and says he will not buy, sell or trade stocks while serving in Congress.
Other personal:
Watson is a Union County native and father of two. He says that while he does not hold "a fancy degree," he built a business with his brother that "grew to employ more than 50 people."
Mark Harris
Party: Republican
Incumbent: Yes
Age: 60
Previous experience in elected office: U.S. House of Representatives (2025-present)
Occupation: U.S. Congressman; pastor
Description:
Harris’ key issues are strengthening border security, reducing federal spending, supporting agriculture and expanding parental rights in education. He supports tax relief, increased domestic energy production and conservative social policies. As a member of Congress, he has introduced legislation related to agriculture and criminal justice and has supported measures addressing immigration enforcement, education and public safety. One bill he introduced passed in the House’s most recent session; the bill would require the U.S. Attorney General to publish names of jurisdictions that allow individuals charged with violent crimes to be released with “cashless bail.” This was a response to the Irinya Zarutska murder on the CATS light rail in 2025. Harris ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2014 and U.S. House in 2016. His 2018 U.S. House election victory was overturned following revelations that one of his campaign operatives engaged in illegal ballot harvesting.
Other personal:
Harris was born and raised in Winston-Salem. Harris is married to his high school sweetheart and is a father and grandfather. Prior to joining Congress, he was a pastor and social conservative who had received national media attention for comments advocating that women “submit” to their husbands. Harris said those comments were taken out of context. He is the former president of the North Carolina Baptist Convention. He has a bachelor’s from Appalachian State and a master’s from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Bo Whitehead
Party: Green
Incumbent: No
Age: 33
Previous experience in elected office: None
Occupation: Warehouse supervisor
Description:
Whitehead says he wants to represent the working class. He says he has navigated the social safety net for disabled persons and believes the experience is "arbitrary and unfair." He wants to raise the minimum wage to $25/hour, pass universal healthcare and abolish ICE. On his Instagram profile, he expresses opposition to license-plate reading cameras in the Charlotte region.
Other personal:
Whitehead lived in Georgia prior to moving to the Charlotte area three years ago. He lives in Pineville. He is the primary caretaker for his wife, who he says was disabled following an assault.
The Election Hub Questionnaire
Please share demographic information to help voters (your age, education, and where you live in NC now).
I am 33 years old. I was homeschooled and received my GED. I also had prior certifications in CDL as well as Hazmat transport. I live in Pineville NC.
Why are you running for this role, and why should voters pick you over your competitors?
For generations our nation has been ruled by a duopoly. Two seemingly opposing parties that maintain power through manipulation, oppression, propaganda, and the appearance of opposition to one another. These parties go by the name of Democrat and Republican. But what they are in reality are domestic terrorist organizations who steal your money, and murder millions of people around the world. War after endless war. Exploitation of the working class. Literal enslavement of peoples. The formation of the KKK. Over 100 years of oppressive Jim Crowe laws. Political assassinations. Experimentation on the public. Denial of basic human rights. Economic fallout, And the worst health crisis that the world has ever seen. Every last one of these things has been done under the rule of both parties. They keep us fighting each other over small differences in policy, while they commit genocide. They encourage us to cancel each other over JOKES while THEY traffic children. They keep us poor and struggling, while THEY take millions of dollars from lobbyists and Super PACS. Many of whom represent the interests of foreign governments. I am begging you. From the bottom of my heart. Stop supporting these terrorists. Do not vote for them. They are quit literally raping, murdering, and enslaving people around the world. You can not trust them.
Understand this, we cannot reform this system. For it is not broken. Our system is a well-oiled machine. Our system works perfectly. Without a single flaw. Exactly the way it was intended to function. It’s sole purpose? To maximize profit for a small minority at the expense of the majority. To maintain power, whatever means necessary. The pursuit of power is as old as time. It is nothing new. And will never disappear. It is like a cancer, leaching off of the legacy of the human race. It must be starved. It must be contained. We must do it now before it is too late. And we must replace this system with one that reflects the needs of the people.
Please tell us about any previous experience in elected office that you have.
I have no experience in politics but I think that’s what this country needs. We need working class representatives who know struggle, not politicians who have been training for years to swindle the American people.
Tell us about 1-2 professional accomplishments that give voters a sense of your leadership style or skills.
I worked in the Chalk mining industry in Georgia for 7 years starting out as a dump truck driver and moving my way u to being a trainer. After about a year of training experience I got my Hazmat certification and started transporting hazardous chemicals such as sulfuric acid, Caustic, and powdered lead. I also spent a couple year training in that function which gave me critical leadership experience. When we worked in the mines it was always a life or death situation. Especially when training new drivers in Hazmat, as we had to load and unload most of the materials ourselves. This required strict adherence to safety protocols and proper use of PPE such as full Hazmat suits that had to be worn any time we were outside of the truck. While unloading powdered lead, I had to not only wear my full PPE including a respirator but I had to beat the side of the tank with a rubber mallet to get all the product to unload from the tanker. All of this inside of an unventilated area that reached temperatures upwards of 115 degrees in the summer. When I worked, there I worked hard and did jobs that would terrify most people. And commonly worked 60-80 hours a week.
When I moved to North Carolina I began working in a warehouse and started out loading trailers by hand. Stacking heavy boxes all the way up to the ceiling. After a couple months I transferred to a Loss Prevention position that gave me critical office skills as well as experience working with people in high stress situations such as deescalating confrontations between associates and responding to emergency medical calls and administering first aid. After that I was excepted into the supervisor in training program where I was promoted to Supervisor a few months later and now run a whole department along with my counterparts. When I see a problem I want to fix it. I know how to get things done and I'm not afraid to do the things others won't. And I will apply that same attitude towards my role in the legislature if elected. I will do whatever it takes to protect this country.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of concern for many voters (e.g. government-run chatbots; AI-generated videos, text and images; data centers; license-plate readers; AI to hire and evaluate employees or teach students). How should elected officials in your role or others regulate AI, if you believe they should? How should elected officials in your role use AI?
AI is extremely dangerous and will not only kill jobs, but it will almost certainly be used to deceive the masses at some point. Either by the government, media, or bad actors outside of our country. For this reason, I think that we should put strict regulations on AI to ensure that it is only used for the purposes of search engine assistance, high level computing/mathematics that goes beyond human capabilities, and format assistance within office programs such as Microsoft Word. I do not think that anyone should have the capability to make realistic images using AI for the reasons stated previously regarding deception. Once anyone can make a realistic image or video that is indistinguishable from real images we will no longer be able to fully know what is happening in the world around us. So for that reason those capabilities should be banned nationally.
In regard to data centers, I think that we should put a national moratorium on them and look into what is actually going on. These facilities are using massive amounts of electricity, billions of gallons of water, and are taking up valuable land space (sometimes taken through imminent domain) that could be used for housing, agriculture, or left alone for conservation purposes. These facilities have one purpose: To make billionaires even richer and create an infrastructure for mass surveillance. They do nothing positive for the community other than creating short term construction jobs and a small number of maintenance jobs. I would rather live in a world where my water isn’t being poisoned with forever chemicals by mega-tech companies and our electrical grid is not being weakened by these atrocious abominations.
License plate readers such as flock cameras should be banned on a national level as they are being used to spy on American citizens without a warrant. Not to mention the fact that many police officers are using these cameras for the purpose of assisting criminal enterprise, stalking woman, and generally just violating people’s rights. Any and all officers caught misusing these cameras should be charged on a federal level for violating the 4th amendment of the United States Constitution. And I would be more than happy to introduce legislation on such issues.
AI should never be used to evaluate employees or educate students. And I do not think that elected officials should use AI for anything other than the uses stated above such as search engine assistance or formatting for paperwork.
What endorsements from any notable NC organizations or individuals have you received?
I have the full endorsement of The North Carolina Green Party.
How long have you lived in the region you are looking to represent in office?
I have lived in Pineville NC since March 2023. And I am loving every second of it.
Please tell us something unexpected about you that voters may be interested in knowing.
I am an avid music lover and have played guitar since I was 11 years old. Back in 2018 I bought my first bass guitar to break monotony and loved it so much that I switched to bass full time. I primarily play classic rock and metal but also write my own music. Some of my favorite bands are Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallica, Misfits, Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd.
