Inside Andy Harris’ debate crashout

Andy Harris had a tough night.

Maryland’s lone Republican member of Congress argued with the audience as much as he did with his Democratic opponent, Dan Schwartz, at a Cambridge debate Tuesday.

He lashed out. He told people they were rude for not respecting his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. He finger-wagged at his challenger and questioned Schwartz’s facts.

First elected in 2010 and running for his ninth term, Harris pitched himself to the audience as the experienced choice because of his 15 years in Congress.

“I’m not a newcomer,” he said.

But one question cracked open the tension building ahead of a midterm election where the balance of evidence — history, polls, campaign spending — suggests Republicans are underwater in races across the country. And it revealed a combative Harris who continued after the debate ended.

The moderator asked the candidates whether they agreed with President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil in an effort to lower diesel fuel prices, which have skyrocketed since the president launched the war with Iran.

Harris blamed Democrats’ environmental policies for fuel prices. The crowd laughed and jeered. He turned to the moderator.

“If you’re not going to tell them they’re rude, I’m going to tell them,” he told her. Then he directed his frustration at the audience, asking whether they believed in his First Amendment right to express himself.

“You should let me finish the sentence, ma’am. You are rude. You’re rude,” Harris said, approaching an audience member who disagreed with him.

David Lublin, chair of the government department at American University, said Harris seemed to be “aping” Trump in terms of “being petulant to any criticism. But it doesn’t always work for every Republican.”

“The irony about Harris and Trump is they both talk a lot about the First Amendment, but it’s only when they want to talk,” Lublin said. “The audience might say our First Amendment allows us to laugh at you.”

The fiery exchanges spilled over into a postdebate press conference. Harris invited a gaggle of media to a separate room for questions and answers.

He called a journalist’s question “silly” and “stupid” but proceeded to answer.

“I’m going to say it slowly because people from The Baltimore Banner need me to say things slowly because they don’t understand,” he said.

He argued reporters did not have permission to record him. Harris singled out a journalist with Capital News Service, the University of Maryland’s student-staffed newswire, after she asked him to respect the press.

Just moments after Harris invoked his freedom to speak publicly, he told the student journalist — falsely — that under Maryland’s two-party consent law she was not allowed to record him and that he would not answer her questions. The law does not apply to public conversations, such as a postdebate press conference.

Harris threatened to refer her to a prosecutor. He ordered his staff to get police after she refused to leave.

“You’re gone. You’re gone,” he said to her, gesturing toward the door.

The debate, hosted by the League of Women Voters, was billed as a candidate forum. Harris and Schwartz were asked the same questions and given time to answer.

Though Harris is still a strong favorite in the conservative district, Schwartz has run a dogged campaign and for over a year has traversed the district talking to voters across party lines.

Schwartz, in a postdebate interview, said Harris’ behavior became “the real story” of the debate.

“I really think we got a good look at our congressman tonight.”