Katherine Harris (born April 5, 1957) is an American politician from Florida. A Republican, she served in the Florida Senate from 1994 to 1998, as Secretary of State of Florida from 1999 to 2002, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 13th congressional district from 2003 to 2007. Harris lost her 2006 campaign for a United States Senate seat from Florida to incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.
In the 2000 presidential election, she received international attention for her role as the elected Florida Secretary of State during the state's election recount, certifying George W. Bush's narrow victory (537 votes) over Al Gore and awarding him the Florida electors, which gained him the national election.
Early life and education Harris was born in Key West, Florida, to one of the state's wealthiest and most politically influential families."The Woman in Charge". CBS News. November 15, 2000. She is the daughter of Harriett (Griffin) and George W. Harris Jr., who owned Citrus and Chemical Bank in Lakeland, Florida.Follick, Joe (July 22, 2001). "Tracks in Florida's Sand", Tampa Tribune., Orlando Sentinel, 17 August 2003 Her maternal grandfather was Ben Hill Griffin Jr., a successful businessman in the citrus and cattle industries and a powerful figure in the state legislature. Shortly before his death in 1990, he was ranked as the 261st richest American on the Forbes 400 list.Narvaez, Alfonso A. (March 2, 1990). "Ben Hill Griffin Jr., 79, is Dead; Leader in Florida Citrus Industry", The New York Times. Section A, Page 18, Column 4. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida is named for him.
Harris graduated from Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida, in 1975, after attending Santa Fe Catholic High School in Lakeland, Florida, from 1972 to 1974. She attended the University of Madrid in 1978. Harris received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, in 1979. She studied under Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer at the L'Abri community in Huemoz, Switzerland. While in college, she interned for U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles and U.S. representative Andy Ireland.
Before entering politics, Harris worked as a marketing executive at IBM and a vice president of a commercial real estate firm."Katherine Harris' Biography". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved April 30, 2006. Harris earned a M.P.A. from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in International Trade and Negotiations in 1996.
Career Harris ran for the Florida Senate as a Republican in 1994 in one of the most expensive state races in Florida history to that time.
Florida senate and Riscorp Harris played a prominent role in introducing William Griffin, the CEO of Riscorp, to various Florida legislators. In the 1994 state senate election, Sarasota-based Riscorp, Inc. made illegal contributions totaling $400,000 to dozens of political candidates and committees,Rado, Diane (August 25, 1998). "Harris backed bill aiding Riscorp" , St. Petersburg Times. including $20,600 to the Harris campaign."Katherine Harris" . NNDB. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
Two years later, in 1996, Harris sponsored a bill "to block Riscorp competitors from getting a greater share of Florida workers' compensation market, [and] also pushed a proposal that would hurt a particular competitor." This issue later emerged during her campaign for Florida Secretary of State in 1998.
William Griffin eventually pleaded guilty to illegal campaign donations, among allegations of other serious wrongdoing at Riscorp, and served prison time in 1998. According to a Sun-Herald column from June 2005, "Harris denied any knowledge of the scheme, was never charged with any crime and was cleared of wrongdoing by a state investigator."
Florida secretary of state
Harris was elected Florida Secretary of State in 1998. She defeated then-incumbent Sandra Mortham in the Republican primary and won the general election against Democratic candidate, Karen Gievers, an attorney from Miami.George, Robert (November 4, 1998). "Last-minute Donations Boost Harris" . Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved December 30, 2011."Katherine Harris" . infoplease. Retrieved April 30, 2006. A state constitutional change was passed in the same year, making the Secretary of State an appointed office. This change made Harris the last person to be elected Secretary of State in Florida.
Harris abruptly resigned in August 2002 while campaigning for Congress when it was discovered that she had violated Florida's "resign to run", which stated "...No officer may qualify as a candidate for another public office, whether state, district, county or municipal, if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other, without resigning from the office he or she presently holds." Since the start of her Congressional term (January 3, 2003) would overlap with the end of her term as Secretary of State (January 7, 2003), she was required to submit a letter of resignition. The law allowed candidates to have the resignation be effective up until the term for the new office began. Since Harris failed to do so, she was required to resign immediately. Harris said the oversight was unintentional. She said that she thought because Florida voters had approved a constitutional amendment that made the position of Secretary of State an appointed office rather than an elected office, the law did not apply to her situation.
International travel During her first 22 months in office, Harris spent more than $106,000 for travel, more than the governor or any other cabinet officer. She visited eight countries on ten foreign trips.
In early 2001, the Florida Senate leaders eliminated the $3.4 million that Harris had budgeted for international relations for the year, assigning it instead to Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development agency. However, Tom Feeney, the Speaker of the Florida House of representatives at the time, said that he disagreed with the Senate and believed that Harris was an able advocate to foreign countries. After the House refused to agree with the proposed budget action, the Senate agreed to restore the money; however, it insisted on a review committee, appointed by Senate President John McKay, Feeney, and Governor Jeb Bush, to evaluate all of Harris' expenditures on international affairs since July 1, 1999, and produce a report.Morgan, Lucy (July 31, 2001). "Millions for Harris's trips under review" , St. Petersburg Times.
2000 U.S. presidential election
As Secretary of State of Florida (and co-chair of Republican George W. Bush's election efforts in Florida), Harris was a central figure in the 2000 US presidential election in Florida. She was involved in purging 173,000 individuals from the state's voter rolls,Florida's flawed "voter-cleansing" program, Salon.com, Greg Palast, December 4, 2000. Retrieved July 10, 2022. the results of hiring a firm, "Choice Point", that provided Florida with an extremely inaccurate list of those supposed felons who became disenfranchised via misidentification. The list was derived from, for instance, a Texas felons' list which included common names that were used to strike Florida voters from the rolls. Thousands, including a disproportionate number of Blacks, were prevented from casting ballots.A blacklist burning for Bush, The Guardian, Gregory Palast, December 10, 2000. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
The Florida election between Bush and Democrat Al Gore was so close, separated by only 537 votes, that a recount of the votes was demanded.
After several recounts were inconclusive, Harris halted the recounting process, arguing that the laws governing recounts were unclear. The official vote totals showed Bush as the narrow winner of the statewide popular vote in Florida, so Harris certified the Republican slate of electors. This victory in Florida allowed Bush to obtain a narrow majority in the Electoral College and thereby prevail in the election. Her certification was upheld in the state circuit court, but subsequently overturned on appeal by the Florida Supreme Court. The Florida Supreme Court decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore (2000). In a per curiam decision, by a 7–2 vote, the Court held that the Florida Supreme Court's method for recounting ballots was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Furthermore, it held, by a 5–4 vote, that no alternative method for a recount could be established within the time limits set by the State of Florida. Sandra Day O'Connor's vote to stop the recount was crucial.How Sandra Day O'Connor's Swing Vote Decided the 2000 Election, History.com, Erin Blakemore, August 7, 2018, updated October 27, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2022. This decision allowed Harris' previous certification of Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand. Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 electoral votes, thus defeating Gore, who ended up with 266 electoral votes (one D.C. elector abstained).
Harris later published Center of the Storm, her memoir of the 2000 election controversy. It was later revealed that, unimpressed with her performance in the media spotlight of the recount, the Bush Campaign had assigned a staff member to her, essentially as a handler.
United States congresswoman
In the 2002 U.S. House elections, Harris ran for Florida’s 13th congressional district seat, facing Sarasota attorney Jan Schneider. This seat was left open by retiring Republican Representative Dan Miller. Harris secured a decisive victory, winning by a margin of 10 percentage points in the strongly Republican district. Her campaign was bolstered by one of the largest first-term fundraising efforts in the district’s history and significant backing from the Bush family.
Harris considered running for the seat of retiring Senator Bob Graham in 2004 but was reportedly dissuaded by the Bush White House to allow Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez to run instead. Martinez went on to narrowly beat challenger Betty Castor. Harris ran for re-election to her House seat in 2004; she was re-elected with a margin almost identical to her first win.
In a 2004 speech in Venice, Florida, Harris claimed that a "Middle Eastern" man was arrested for attempting to blow up the power grid in Carmel, Indiana;Grace, Francie (August 5, 2004). "Katherine Harris 'Oops' On Terror". CBS News. Carmel Mayor James Brainard and a spokesman for Indiana governor Joe Kernan said they had no knowledge of such a plot. Brainard said he had never spoken to Harris.
During a 2004 campaign stop in Sarasota, a local resident, Barry Seltzer, "tr[ied] to 'intimidate' a group of Harris supporters" by menacing Harris and her supporters with his automobile. Witnesses described Seltzer as having swerved off the road and onto the sidewalk, directing it at Harris and her supporters. Nobody was injured in the incident. Seltzer, who claimed he was "exercising [his] political expression," was eventually arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon."Man accused of trying to run down Rep. Katherine Harris". CNN. October 27, 2004.
MZM incident In 2005 and 2006, a major corporate campaign donor to Harris, Mitchell Wade (founder of defense contractor MZM), was implicated in several bribery scandals. Wade had bundled together and donated to Harris's campaign $32,000 in contributions from his employees at MZM, Inc., then reimbursed those employees for the contributions. Regarding this issue, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein said that Harris did not appear to know the donations were obtained illegally. Harris has maintained she had no personal knowledge that her campaign was given illegal contributions. Wade acknowledged that the donations to the Harris campaign were illegal and were part of an attempt to influence Harris to MZM's benefit.