Trump ally Rep. Andy Harris was named the new chair of the House Freedom Caucus — ushering in a Trump-endorsed, Project 2025-backed chair to head the far-right caucus tasked with doing Trump’s bidding in the chamber and pushing a Project 2025 legislative agenda.

DNC National Press Secretary Emilia Rowland released the following statement: 

“Trump’s Project 2025 takeover just got a new ally in the MAGA House. Rep. Andy Harris was a key player in pushing Trump’s Big Lie — becoming one of Trump’s ‘closest allies in Congress’ as he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and has a record of pushing extreme, Project 2025 legislation like a national abortion ban, repealing the ACA, handouts to the ultra-wealthy, and attacks on Americans’ personal freedoms. Trump’s Republican Party isn’t focused on solutions for the American people, they’re focused on doing Trump’s bidding in Congress to score him political points. With Rep. Harris at the helm of the far-right Freedom Caucus where Trump pulls the strings, they’ll continue to attack our freedoms, middle-class families, and our democracy until voters hold them accountable at the ballot box this November.” 

Rep. Andy Harris was a key player in Trump’s failed plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and all signs point to him continuing to be one of Trump’s “closest allies in Congress.” 

Washington Post: “Rep. Andy Harris (Md.) was among at least 10 House Republicans who attended a December 2020 White House meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss actions that could be taken to keep Trump in power on Jan. 6, 2021, the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol revealed in its latest hearing.

“Harris’s attendance indicates he was more intimately involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results than previously known, making him one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress as the president desperately tried to cling to power despite being told by White House lawyers and the Justice Department that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud.”

WBAL: “Rep. Andy Harris on Wednesday echoed President Donald Trump’s unsupported allegations of widespread voter fraud and claimed a manual recount in key states would determine he has in fact won reelection.”

Trump gave his whole-hearted endorsement of Rep. Harris just months before they both conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

@realDonaldTrump, June 2020: “Congressman Andy Harris (@Harris4Congress) is a tremendous advocate for Maryland! A highly respected physician, Andy fights for the Second Amendment, Border Security and our incredible Farmers. Andy has my Complete and Total Endorsement! #MD01”

And Rep. Harris has long supported Trump — and even promised to campaign for him and help him win Maryland’s electoral votes in 2016. 

DelmarvaNow, June 2016: “Maryland’s Republican governor recently made clear he doesn’t plan on voting for Donald Trump for president this November. But the Free State’s next-highest-ranking member of the party isn’t just voting for the presumptive nominee, he plans to campaign on his behalf.

“‘Yeah, I’m a Republican. I’m going to support him,’ said U.S. Rep. Andy Harris at a town hall gathering in Fruitland on Wednesday, June 29. ‘He’s the nominee, so I’m going to support him. I particularly like his picks for the Supreme Court.”

“Afterward, in a Daily Times interview, [Rep. Harris] gave his strongest endorsement yet.

“I’m going to work for him. I’m going to help him try to win the electoral votes in the state of Maryland because in the presidential election, it’s always a selection between two individuals. No one is going to be perfect, any individual. But Mr. Trump will be a far better choice for this country than Mrs. (Hillary) Clinton.”

Delmarva Public Media, July 2016: “Rep. Andy Harris to Campaign for Donald Trump”

Breitbart, January 2024: “Exclusive: Top Maryland Republicans Dave Bossie, Rep. Andy Harris Endorse Donald Trump for President”

The Baltimore Sun, July 2024: “‘I’m looking forward to seeing Donald Trump being nominated on Thursday night and then going out and making the case to the American people that his policies are the policies that will make this country great again,’ said Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD-1).”

Rep. Harris is an anti-choice extremist who’s called for a national abortion ban, just like Trump’s Project 2025. 

WYPR: “Maryland’s lone Republican congressman U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, who represents the first district, said he would support a national abortion ban if a fetus has a heartbeat. If the legislation was passed by Congress, abortions after six weeks into a pregnancy would be illegal nationwide. The six week mark is often before many women know they might be pregnant. When asked about a nationwide abortion ban, Harris said his vote would depend on the details of the bill. ‘I’m on record,’ Harris said. ‘I would support a heartbeat bill. I think we should protect infant lives after the heartbeat is detected.’”

Life at Conception Act, (a national abortion ban that threatens IVF protections) 117th Congress, Cosponsors: Rep. Andy Harris

• Trump’s Project 2025 could use the Comstock Act to implement a national abortion ban. Their plans for HHS could threaten access to IVF. 

Rep. Harris supported efforts to rip away access to the safe and effective medication abortion pill mifepristone — and Trump’s Project 2025 wants to revoke its FDA authorization. 

Roll Call: “Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who chairs the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, said he is likely to offer an amendment to the coming fiscal 2024 House spending bill later this year to restrict mifepristone.”

• Trump’s Project 2025 calls for revoking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.

Rep. Harris voted for Trump’s extreme MAGA tax scam, which rigged the economy against the middle class for ultra-wealthy and big corporations, and Trump’s Project 2025 would bring back this failed MAGAnomics agenda. 

Roll Call Vote, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 2017: “Harris – YEA” 

•  Trump’s Project 2025 would once again leave the middle class behind while America’s wealthiest and greedy corporate execs line their pockets with tax giveaways. 

Rep. Harris wants to rip away the historic Inflation Reduction Act provisions that are already lowering prescription drug costs for America’s seniors, just like Trump’s Project 2025. 

The Baltimore Sun: “The conservative Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project calls for a repeal of all tax increases passed under the IRA, including the excise taxes placed on drug manufacturers that force them to obey prescription drug price controls under Medicare. The Committee to Protect Health Care, a national organization that advocates for a stronger health system, sent letters to all congressional candidates, including those in Maryland, requesting that they support the health benefits outlined in the 2022 IRA. … No Republican U.S. House candidates responded, including Congressman Andy Harris, a Republican who voted against the bill in 2022.”

• Trump’s Project 2025 calls for ending the Inflation Reduction Act, which has already lowered the cost of prescription drugs for America’s seniors. 

Rep. Andy Harris railed against the Affordable Care Act and voted to repeal the program. 

Press Release, Office of Congressman Andy Harris, on voting for legislation that repeals the Affordable Care Act: “On May 4, Dr. Andy Harris (MD-01) voted in favor of the H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA).”

Press Release, Office of Congressman Andy Harris: “As the Obamacare nightmare continues to unfold, it’s critical that Congress does not give up on efforts to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a system that will bring down the cost of premiums for the middle-class Americans who have been hardest hit by Obamacare.”

• Trump’s Project 2025 calls for ripping away access to health care for 40 million Americans, and Trump has once again echoed those calls during the presidential debate. 

Rep. Harris has openly attacked transgender people and their health care as Trump’s Project 2025 calls to end protections for LGBTQ+ Americans.

The Independent: “Indeed, last week the Republican National Committee officially made cutting off taxpayer funding for all ‘sex change surgeries’ part of its 2024 policy platform. Other legislators were more diffident. ‘Yeah? So?’ said Maryland Republican Andy Harris, a medical doctor on the House appropriations committee who backed several anti-trans amendments, when buttonholed by The Independent on the Capitol steps on Thursday before Congress left for recess. Pressed on why he supported those amendments, he said: ‘Because there should be no special rights.’”

Washington Blade: “Republican Maryland Congressman Andy Harris on Wednesday attacked transgender people during a debate against Democratic challenger Heather Mizeur.”

• Trump’s Project 2025 calls for drastically rolling back rights for LGBTQ+ Americans.

Heritage Foundation founder and Project 2025 contributor Ed Feulner and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, who is also involved in Project 2025, have praised Rep. Harris.

The Baltimore Sun: “Ed Feulner, a founder of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Harris could help confront those questions. Feulner, a member of Trump’s transition team, was the committee’s executive director during its early days. Harris ‘can very much be the bridge between the leadership on the one side and the … guys and gals in the Freedom Caucus on the other,’ he said, ‘bringing everybody back together.’”

Maryland Matters: “During the 2016 convention, in Cleveland, then-U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the head of the House Freedom Caucus at the time and later President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, was a Maryland GOP breakfast speaker. He told the group that in his perfect world, Maryland Rep. Andy Harris (R) would be a prime candidate for speaker of the House. That was a surprise.”