Gas prices, blaming Biden center of new Republican ad running in Charlotte
Citing Ukraine, high gas prices and the turmoil at the end of the war in Afghanistan, one Republican is revving up his campaign to represent much of Mecklenburg County in Congress.
Pat Harrigan, a combat veteran and the owner of a North Carolina-based firearms manufacturing company, will release a digital campaign advertisement soon across much of District 14 — which includes southwestern Mecklenburg and eastern Gaston counties. Harrigan lives in Hickory. A representative for his campaign said he will soon be moving to the district.
Harrigan faces one primary competitor, Jonathan Simpson.
The Republican nominee would be likely to face state Sen. Jeff Jackson, who is also a veteran, in the general election. Jackson also has a primary competitor, Ram Mammadov, but has a significant advantage with name recognition and campaign cash.
It will be a difficult road to Washington for either Republican. Jackson has hundreds of thousands of dollars left over from his campaign for U.S. Senate, which he walked away from in December. On top of that, past election results indicate the district is likely to go to a Democrat.
But, in an interview with the Observer, Harrigan says he’s counting on voter frustration to win.
“I’m really looking forward to hearing Jeff Jackson defend President Biden’s policies,” he said. “I don’t really care what the demographic makeup of this district is when everybody is frustrated.”
His campaign adviser is Jordan Shaw, who is also an adviser to former Gov. Pat McCrory, who is running for U.S. Senate. The campaign, Shaw says, is fundraising from within the district and from outside of it.
Harrigan said he’s focused on bridging political and cultural divides within our country, and on uniting people who are upset with the state of the country under Biden’s watch.
“There is a very different story playing out in Washington D.C. than is playing out in downtown Charlotte,” he said. “I think that gap needs to close and I can be part of the force that helps to close it.”
If he and Jackson make it to the general election, he said the reality on the ground — high prices, in particular — are likely to steer people his way.
“I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to unite folks on the left and on the right that are frustrated with the fact that they’re going to see $7 gas three weeks from now, that they can’t go to the grocery store and get milk for the same price that they bought it last year,” he said.
“There is broad agreement ... things just aren’t working correctly in our society and we need real solutions to solve those problems.”
Who is Pat Harrigan?
Harrigan grew up splitting time between California and Wyoming. He graduated from the military academy West Point with a degree in nuclear engineering in 2009, and eventually became a detachment commander in the Green Berets — the special forces of the U.S. Army.
All told, Harrigan said he spent over 18 months in Afghanistan, where he “had the privilege of leading some incredible Americans in some very extreme circumstances.”
He and his wife, who now have two children together, started his current firearms business from a double wide trailer near Fort Bragg. It now employs more than 60 people.
In the digital ad, Harrigan focuses on the Biden administration’s performance in Afghanistan and Ukraine. He called the withdrawal from Afghanistan “criminally incompetent,” citing the death of 13 service members who were killed outside the Kabul airport during the evacuation.
“I’m not done fighting for our country,” he said in the ad. “And I’ll do something different in Washington: I’ll speak the truth.”
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