Litigation is involved in America’s only race, for attorney general in North Carolina, pitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Republican Rep. Dan Bishop filed Oct. 3 against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Jeff Jackson, and the North Carolina Democratic Party for defamation. In the final week before Election Day, he’s invited a Friday showdown of facts via deposition.
The lawsuit stated that “mass communications” from many different Democratic entities regarding Bishop’s “professional legal careers” are “unethical and unlawful.”
Each is a former state senator.
The attorney general race has been one of North Carolina’s most heated races in the 2024 election cycle. It’s also the most-expensive attorney general race in American history, according to Jackson.
Jackson or his campaign have not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit. Bishop has pushed for a quick resolution.
“It’s time for some truth telling from Jeff Jackson. Let’s have depositions. Friday,” Bishop on Wednesday posted on social media.
This was in response to Jackson’s campaign sending a letter saying that the Bishop campaign was making “defamatory attacks” about Jackson and an interaction he had with Chad Turner, a convicted sex offender.
“It is unfortunate that in the waning hours of your campaign, you have chosen to mount these despicable attacks, but they are consistent with your long and notorious career of seeking political gain at the expense of the truth,” said Jackson’s lawyer in a letter to Bishop.
In 2022, Jackson accepted an award from Turner at a Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce event. Turner is president and CEO of the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
“When he received the award in 2022, Rep. Jackson had no knowledge of Mr. Turner’s criminal record,” said Jackson’s lawyer. “Your statements and implications are simply false.”
Republicans say there is more to the story.
“Yes, Jeff Jackson accepted an ‘Equity Award’ from a notorious child molester (and gave him a big hug),” said the North Carolina GOP in a statement on social media. “But the REAL STORY is that he is clearly lying about not being aware of Chad Turner’s ‘status.’”
Bishop also officially responded to the letter.
“I understand Jeffs distress at the public witnessing this, but that doesn’t translate to a claim for defamation. Defamation is the knowing or reckless publication of factual falsehoods, like the lies spread about my law practice,” he said. “This Friday, let’s have reciprocal depositions. My pending lawsuit is a ready vehicle for conducting discovery … Let’s open the event to observers. Let’s get to the heart of things.”
If Bishop wins the seat, he would be the first Republican candidate to win the attorney general seat in North Carolina since Zeb V. Walser won the 1896 election.
Bishop, counselor of three decades, has appeared 403 times in trial courts, the state Court of Appeals, and state Supreme Court. Jackson’s background includes three years as an assistant district attorney in Gaston County, and as a major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the North Carolina Army National Guard.
Jackson was first elected to the U.S. House in 2022, winning District 14 by a little over 15% against his Republican opponent. Bishop won a special election in 2019 following the Bladen County-centered ballot harvesting saga, then twice won reelection. He has significantly out-fundraised his opponent.
