NRA slams NC GOP candidate over campaign flyer that resembles its endorsements

The battle for a southern Wake County seat in the state Senate is heating up in the days before the March 5 primary, with the National Rifle Association calling out GOP candidate Scott Lassiter for a flyer it said implies he has the group’s endorsement.

The NRA on Monday sent an email out to its members notifying them that it had endorsed Vicky Harry, who is running against Lassiter in the Republican primary for the newly drawn Senate District 13.

In that email, the NRA also wrote that “recently a postcard containing the NRA’s logo and likeness was sent by The Committee to Elect Scott Lassiter and seemed to suggest” the NRA Political Victory Fund, the organization’s political action committee, “had issued an official endorsement of Mr. Lassiter.”

“That is incorrect and misleading,” says a photo of the NRA email shared by Taylor McKee, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the NRA.

The flyer mailed out by Lassiter’s campaign features an orange background, and in what appears to be the same font and a similar format as the orange postcards used by the NRA to inform voters about its endorsements, says at the top to “Vote to Elect Scott Lassiter - NC Senate 13.” It also features, on the back of the flyer, the NRA logo.

Harry, through her political consultant, Nathan Babcock, said in a text to The News & Observer that Lassiter’s “fraudulent mailer is yet another example of his craven, dishonest behavior — and why voters can’t trust him in elected office.”

Lassiter said in an interview with The N&O that the postcard is “clearly marked as paid for by the committee to elect Scott Lassiter” and added in a text that the flyer never uses the word “endorsed.”

This is not the first time the NRA has flagged flyers that look like its version. The group issued an alert on social media in May 2023 that New Jersey Senate candidate Tom Mastrangelo in the Republican primary was “misleading voters by distributing knockoff NRA orange postcards.”

NRA ranking

The flyer also tells readers that Lassiter has received an “A” rating for his stance on gun rights while Harry has received a “?” from the NRA-PVF. The NRA lobbies heavily for more access to guns and largely opposes gun-control measures.

The NRA-PVF issues hundreds of endorsements across the nation and ranks political candidates’ pro-gun credentials.

Its website currently shows Lassiter as having an AQ ranking, the highest rating a candidate can receive without a voting record and based solely on their responses to a questionnaire. As of Monday morning the website showed Harry as having an AQ ranking as well, but that changed later in the day to also show an endorsement.

Lassiter does not have an NRA endorsement this year and said he has not had one before.

An “A” rating is given to a “solidly pro-gun candidate” who has a voting record or “a demonstrated record of support on Second Amendment issues,” according to the NRA-PVF site. Meanwhile, a question mark “often indicates indifference, if not outright hostility, to gun owners’ and sportsmen’s rights,” says the NRA-PVF site, as well as Lassiter’s flyer.

Lassiter said these flyers were sent out earlier in February and that at that point, the NRA still had a question mark next to Harry’s name.

The flyer, which was shared by Babcock, is dated Feb. 15. That’s when Lassiter says it was approved. Lassiter shared a screenshot from Feb. 13, which shows Harry was ranked with a question mark back then.

Since being mailed that week, it has not been sent out again, Lassiter said.

Asked if Harry disputed Lassiter’s version, Babcock said, “the NRA updated their site upon receiving her survey.”

Some candidates endorsed by the NRA include Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, and congressional candidates Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, Mark Walker, David Rouzer, John Bradford, Richard Hudson, Chuck Edwards and Tim Moore. A slew of state House candidates also have endorsements.

DWI, abuse allegations

On Thursday, Lassiter pushed back on claims made in a flyer paid for by the Vicki Harry Committee, which features a picture of Lassiter alongside text that references a 2012 driving while impaired conviction and claims that he threatened the career of his former wife and abused her, as previously reported by The N&O.

Harry’s flyer pulled quotes from media reports — including ones shared by his wife, from whom he said he has since divorced — detailing a lawsuit Lassiter filed against House Speaker Tim Moore over Moore’s extramarital affair with Lassiter’s then-wife. The flyer does not include context on that lawsuit alongside his former wife’s comments.

Through Babcock, Harry, who was a Wake Christian Academy teacher for seven years as well as a small business owner, said on Thursday that “voters deserve to know so they can make an informed choice.”

Lassiter, who is an assistant principal in Wake County Public Schools, a former Apex Town Council member and current vice chair of the Wake Soil and Water District, said on Thursday the flyer’s allegations were “totally false” and “a misrepresentation of the truth.” He sent a cease and desist letter to Harry on Friday.

“No one is permitted to make defamatory statements knowing that they are false or with reckless disregard for their truth,” says the letter. You “selectively and deceptively excerpted language from media reports about Mr. Lassiter intentionally omits materially contextual information,” the letter says, which threatens legal action if defamatory misstatements continue.

Babcock told The N&O on Friday they were “discussing” the letter and that “as far as cease and desist letters go, this is a very weak one.” Lassiter said Monday that he had received no response.

Under the Dome Newsletter

What do you want to read in this newsletter? Tell The N&O's politics team by filling out this form or by sending an email to dome@newsobserver.com.