Democrats were already targeting North Carolina’s 9th District before incumbent Rep. Robert Pittenger lost his Republican primary in May. And they’re hoping that past comments from the former Baptist minister who defeated him improves their chances of flipping the seat this fall.

Mark Harris on multiple occasions — as a preacher and political candidate — has said that women should submit fully to their husbands and that he believed homosexuality is a choice. Before venturing into politics, he was a pastor at First Baptist Church in Charlotte.

Harris said in a Friday interview with Roll Call that a wife submitting to her husband does not mean that they are not equal. He said he regularly mentions that in counseling sessions and when he presides at weddings.

“I say [to the husband], ‘Here’s how this works. You’ve got to love your wife with an incredible love that can only come through Christ,’” he said. “It’s really submitting one to another in a relationship.”

Harris said he did not consider submission to be a matter of one person being inferior to the other.