Republican congressional candidate Pat Harrigan of North Carolina slammed his Democratic opponent, State Sen. Jeff Jackson, during a Friday Fox News appearance, claiming that Jackson’s “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.
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.”
In the news: Florida Teen Arrested Threatening School Shooting On Snapchat
“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.
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.”
“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 recent violent incidents. Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York was nearly stabbed during a July campaign event.
Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GiveSendGo or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook Here Or Twitter Here.
Copyright 2022 The Free Press, LLC, tampafp.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.