On Saturday, a group of more than 20 North Carolinians gathered at Bur-Mil Park in Greensboro to hold North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Sarah Stevens and Chief Justice Paul Newby, both Republicans, accountable for raising money from known child sex offender Harvey West.
As they entered the event, Stevens, Newby, and Court of Appeals candidate Craig Collins refused to answer shouted questions asking if they would give up the money they have raised from West.
Holding large banners that read “Sarah Stevens Protects Predators” and “Protect Kids Not Predators,” the demonstrators sought to bring public attention to Newby, Stevens, and others’ record of using West’s support to boost their campaigns. Their embrace of West came despite reports from outlets like Cardinal and Pine and Asheville Watchdog that Republican Party officials knew for years that West was a convicted child sex offender.
Demonstrators outside of the Judicial Picnic holding and displaying large banners.
The accountability action was a response to the Guilford County Republican Men’s Club NC Judicial Picnic, a fundraiser for Stevens, Collins, and Court of Appeals candidates George Bell and Michael Byrne. The Guilford event came roughly a year after West’s 2025 NC Judicial Picnic held at his estate in Eastern North Carolina. Stevens, Collins, and Byrne all attended West’s 2025 picnic and were rewarded with large contributions to their campaigns.
Newby had been a frequent guest at West’s fundraiser and received multiple large donations as a result. West’s wife has even credited Newby and Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. for making West’s fundraiser an annual event, saying Newby and Berger asked the Wests to hold the fundraiser every year after the first event in 2020.
West was forced to call off the planned 2026 event after his record of molesting girls as a 29-year-old police officer and serving time as a registered sex offender was widely publicized earlier this year.
West is expected to feature prominently in political campaigns this fall. In addition to his long history as a judicial fundraiser, he is strongly linked with U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, who appointed West to the powerful North Carolina Republican Party Plan of Organization Committee.
West is also strongly linked with North Carolina First Congressional District Republican candidate Laurie Buckhout. West served for years as the chair of the NCGOP First Congressional District Republican Chair and was an early and prominent supporter of Buckhout.
