NC Republican group injects hot-button national issues into Huntersville election

A few weeks ago, a Republican political group sent out a flyer in an attempt to warn Huntersville voters before the Nov. 7 election about “dangerous Democrat activists” trying to “take over town hall.”

The Huntersville election doesn’t put party affiliation on the ballot, but the group listed as sending the flyers, Citizens for North Carolina, has injected national hot-button issues into a local race via a mailer sent to voters. It makes claims about a candidate’s stance on abortion, diversity and inclusion, and gender-affirming care for minors. One candidate refuted the claims, while others said they contained some truth.

“Don’t be fooled by some of the candidates for local government,” the mailer from the Citizens for North Carolina PAC says. “They’re not just Democrats, they’re liberal activists trying to take over town hall. They’re focused on making social statements and virtue signaling rather than managing our town. Their out-of-touch agenda would raise our taxes, make us less safe and increase government control over our lives.”

The mailer includes claims about Huntersville mayoral candidate Christy Clark and town board candidates Alisia Bergsman, Amanda Dumas and Jennifer Hunt. It also features endorsements for four town board candidates, telling residents to vote for John O’Neill, Justin Moore, Anna Rubin and Frank Gammon.

“Our Republican candidates have the right priorities for Huntersville. They’re focused on basic government services and making Huntersville the best place to live: Fund our police and fire; Improve roads and reduce traffic; Lower taxes; Business friendly policies to create jobs; and strategic growth planning.”

Who is Citizens for North Carolina?

Citizens for North Carolina is a political action committee created in 2016 that’s spent money to support Republican candidates and hired Raleigh-based firm CM&CO, which often works with GOP candidates, according to campaign finance reports filed with the N.C. State Board of Elections.

The group’s listed treasurer is David Clapsadl, a Republican attorney who lives in Wilson. Its assistant treasurer is Collin McMichael of CM&CO.

Citizens for North Carolina’s last reported contributions came in February and March 2022 — when Robert Luddy of Raleigh, Douglas Miskew of Morrisville, Bea Newton of Wilson and Eldon Newton Jr. gave a combined $23,400, according to the latest available campaign finance reports. Of that total, the Newtons gave $20,000.

The most frequent recipient of the political action group’s money or help over the previous two years also is a member of the Newton family: state Sen. Buck Newton, a Republican who represents District 4 in eastern North Carolina. The group hasn’t yet filed reports showing how much it’s spent in the Huntersville election.

Christy Clark

The mailer claims Clark is an “anti-gun activist who supports abortion up to the moment of birth.”

“Those statements have no basis in fact,” Clark told The Charlotte Observer, adding that “abortion up to the moment of birth” would be considered murder. “I’ve never been anti-gun in my entire life. I am an advocate for gun safety.”

Clark, who represented District 98 in the N.C. House from 2019-20, said this isn’t the first time Republicans have used false claims to try to disrupt her campaign.

“They’ve always had, in the past, really awful, false, negative mailers against me,” she said, noting that past ads have compared her to notable Democrats in Congress, such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “I think this is just more of the same.”

Alisia Bergsman

The mailer, which misspells Bergsman’s name, claims she is a “lifelong liberal activist focused on diversity, inclusion and equity,” which isn’t a bad thing, she said.

After obtaining a master’s degree in international relations, much of Bergsman’s work focused on the refugee and immigrant communities, she said.

While living in Australia, she served as a director of a nonprofit that worked with asylum seekers. In 2021 took on the role of community organizer for the C.A.L.M. Afghan Refugee Project.

There, she coordinated a pop-up medical clinic in collaboration with local health care providers, aimed at addressing the urgent and overwhelming needs of Afghan refugee families as they arrived in Charlotte.

“I feel it’s important to look at things through an equity lens, because whether or not people realize it, Huntersville is a diverse community,” Bergsman told the Observer. “There are voices that have been historically marginalized, oppressed and ignored. I want to do everything possible to help elevate those voices.”

Amanda Dumas

The mailer claims Dumas supports gender-affirming care for minors.

“I am an LGBTQ advocate, and I have been back and forth to Raleigh speaking on this with my husband many times this year,” Dumas said.

A North Carolina law that bans gender-affirming care for minors took effect in August. The law restricts access to puberty-blocking shots that would stop physical changes that occur during puberty, such as the development of breasts or beginning a menstrual cycle. They are treatments Dumas’ 12-year-old son, Michael, is currently taking.

“That is not OK that legislation is impacting the timeline of the health care of our child,” she told the Observer in July.

Dumas said she realizes she won’t have the ability to change laws at the state level, but the new laws affect her family and led her to run for local office.

“I’m not trying to turn the town ‘gay,’” Dumas said. “It’s not something I have control over.”

Jennifer Hunt

The mailer claims Hunt is a “radical environmentalist whose top priorities are ‘pollinator habitats’ and ‘increasing biodiversity.’”

“My website has a lot of information about how I care about environmental stewardship,” Hunt told the Observer, adding that she would never refer to herself as a “radical environmentalist.”

Her website says Hunt’s ideas include enhancing green spaces and greenways with bee and other pollinator habitats, which increase biodiversity, adding recycling and compost bins in public spaces and implementing a town compost program to cut down on food waste.

Local news editor Josh Bergeron contributed to this story.