Maryland Rep. Andy Harris questions student reporter's right to record him after contentious debate

It was a contentious night on the Eastern Shore for Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland's only Republican in Congress.

Harris clashed with audience members during a debate on Tuesday in Cambridge, Maryland, with Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz and later tried to have a student journalist removed from a press gaggle after questioning the reporter's right to record him.

After the debate, reporters gathered to interview Harris. During the exchange, he challenged a reporter from The Baltimore Banner and then singled out a student journalist from the University of Maryland, arguing that the reporter did not have permission to record him.

The exchange was caught on camera.

Harris cited Maryland's two-party consent law, which generally requires all parties to consent to the recording of a private conversation. Whether that law applied to the interaction is a question an attorney will address on WJZ at 11.

The debate itself also featured tense moments, with audience members interrupting both candidates and Harris engaging in a heated exchange with a woman in the crowd.

"You all say you believe there's a First Amendment but only if you agree with you," said Harris, who represents Maryland's 1st Congressional District. "You should let me finish the sentence, ma'am. You are rude."

Schwartz also challenged Harris over his record in Congress.

"This guy put forward his own legislation in 2013 that would have limited members to six terms. Now he's running for his ninth," Schwartz said.

On WJZ at 11, an attorney explains Maryland's two-party consent law and whether Harris had a legal basis to ask the student journalist to stop recording.

CBS News Baltimore reached out to Harris for comment but has not heard back.