As the November election draws closer, yet another North Carolina Republican candidate has been put in the spotlight for their relationship to convicted child sex offender Harvey West Jr. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has launched a digital ad campaign tying U.S. House candidate Laurie Buckhout to West, who has become a talking point around many state Republicans.
Earlier this year, the Asheville Watchdog released a report bringing attention to West, who previously pleaded guilty to multiple offenses of indecent liberties involving three girls when he was a police officer. Despite his crimes, he was appointed to serve as chair of the 1st Congressional District’s GOP from 2019 until this year, following the release of the article.
Since then, a number of articles have come out tying state Republicans to West, from sitting Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Paul Newby to former State House Representative Sarah Stevens, who is now running for the state Supreme Court.
Buckhout is the latest to be added to the list of individuals targeted for their work with West. Buckhout participated in a candidate forum hosted by West in 2023, and the same year, Buckhout publicly praised West, describing him as “generous” in a social media post that has since been deleted.
The following year, West’s wife, Kim Cotten-West, was paid $42,000 for working on Buckhout’s 2024 campaign for Congress against Don Davis, who Buckhout now faces again in the newly gerrymandered district in the upcoming election.
You can read more about the ad directly from the DCCC here.
