UPDATE: This piece has been updated to reflect a statement from North Carolina Sen. Jeff Jackson.
Republican congressional candidate Pat Harrigan of North Carolina slammed his Democratic opponent, State Sen. Jeff Jackson, claiming during a Friday Fox New appearance that “vile and nasty lies” led to a shooting incident at his parents’ home.
An unknown assailant reportedly fired a bullet into the home owned by Harrigan’s parents Oct. 18, missing his two young daughters by a few feet, the New York Post reported. Jackson’s campaign aired an ad reportedly shot near Harrigan’s property earlier in the campaign.
“We have many more questions than we have answers at this juncture. And this all started at the very beginning of this campaign when my opponent started to lie about me, and I’m not talking about just normal lies, I’m talking about vile and nasty lies,” Harrigan, a former Green Beret running for the 14th Congressional District near Charlotte, told “Fox and Friends” co-hosts Will Cain, Brian Kilmeade and Katie Pavlich. “I’m in the firearms industry. One of these lies is that I profit from the deaths of children.” (RELATED: Two Shot Outside New York Gov. Nominee Lee Zeldin’s Home While His Children Were Inside)
“Truly reprehensible, and this has led to a cascade of consequences for me and my family where I have received a very credible death threat,” Harrigan continued. “This was followed up by my opponent utilizing very poor judgment to actually shoot an ad out in front of one of my homes and display that home for all to see in the world. I mean, in the era of Steve Scalise and Brett Kavanaugh and now Paul Pelosi, this is just unbelievable to me.”
“Yesterday I learned about an event that happened three weeks ago. It appears that someone – who has yet to be identified – fired a shot into the home of my opponent’s parents.It was absolutely an act of violence and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” Jackson tweeted Friday.
WATCH:
Harrigan blasted Jackson after the incident in a post on Twitter, claiming the state senator’s policies caused “rising inflation, economic ruin, & rampant crime — including political violence.”
Jeff Jackson’s politics lead to rising inflation, economic ruin, & rampant crime–including political violence. My mission is a better economy, less inflation & safe streets. A bullet & death threats aren’t enough to knock this Green Beret off that mission.https://t.co/HXGO2SdK5f
— PatHarriganNC (@PatHarriganNC) November 3, 2022
“This — this is politics at its worst and the reason it’s this way is because my opponent is desperate to do anything that he possibly can to talk about anything other than what actually matters in this campaign, which is the economy, inflation, rampant crime, declining educational outcomes for our kids, the crisis at the southern border,” Harrigan said on Fox and Friends. “It doesn’t matter what he has to manufacture, he is willing to trade my security and my family’s security to score political points and it’s reprehensible.”
Harrigan is one of several candidates who have been targeted in violent incidents. Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York was nearly stabbed during a July campaign event, while Republican Dan Bolduc, who is seeking to defeat Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire was allegedly the victim of an attempted assault just prior to his Wednesday debate with Hassan.
Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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