Fact check: Pat Harrigan says Jeff Jackson supports ‘giving your money to terrorists’

A new TV ad from Pat Harrigan, the Republican nominee for the 14th Congressional District, claims Democrat Jeff Jackson supported sending a stimulus check to the Boston Marathon bomber.

Harrigan and Jackson are running for the House district that includes uptown Charlotte, southern and western Mecklenburg County, and much of Gaston County, including Gastonia. Election day is Nov. 8 and in-person early voting starts Oct. 20.

The reference to the Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, has been used by GOP candidates in other races. Republicans say Democrats supported giving Tsarnaev a stimulus check through the American Rescue Plan.

The bill resulted in Tsarnaev receiving a stimulus check, but Harrigan’s ad lacks important context about Jackson and the legislation.

What the ad says

▪ The ad begins with photos of Harrigan from his military service. Harrigan says: “As a Green Beret, I had a simple job: kill terrorists.” Harrigan then appears on screen, saying “I’m Pat Harrigan. My job in Congress will be simple, too: kill inflation.”

▪ The ad then transitions to grainy video footage of Jackson. “But Jeff Jackson is different. He’s for giveaways that cause inflation, even stimulus checks for the Boston Marathan bomber.” A photo of Jackson appears next to one of Tsarnaev. The ad then shows a picture of Jackson and text that says: “Jeff Jackson, inflation money to terrorists.”

▪ Harrigan continues and appears on screen. “So your choice is simple. Jeff Jackson, more inflation, giving your money to terrorists, or dead terrorists and less inflation. Seems simple to me.”

Fact check

When saying Jackson supported sending money to the Boston Marathon bomber, the ad cites a Washington Examiner article about the American Rescue Plan and how it sent stimulus checks to inmates. That article does not mention Jackson by name.

Jackson, a state senator, did not vote on the federal legislation. Harrigan’s campaign told The Charlotte Observer that Jackson supported the American Rescue Plan. Jackson’s campaign confirmed his support.

The American Rescue Plan, which passed along party lines in the U.S. Senate and close to party lines in the U.S. House, sent a $1,400 stimulus check to Tsarnaev, who is serving a life sentence. He didn’t get to keep it, the Associated Press reported.

In January, a U.S. District Court judge ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons to turn the $1,400 over to a fund that will go toward Tsarnaev’s restitution, according to the Associated Press.

While the American Rescue Plan allowed eligible inmates to receive stimulus money, Republican TV ads, including Harrigan’s, do not mention that other stimulus programs, including two signed by former President Donald Trump, have also given stimulus checks to prisoners.

Prior to the passage of the American Rescue Plan, two Republican senators proposed an amendment to not send stimulus checks to inmates. It was shot down on a party-line vote.

Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said at the time that keeping the money from prisoners would hurt their families.

“Children should not be forced to go hungry because a parent is incarcerated,” he said on the Senate floor. “Relief payments would allow families to replace lost income and pay rent and put food on the table.”

While Jackson’s party passed this legislation, the ad lacks contexts about other stimulus programs that gave money to convicts — including two signed by Trump — and puts the blame on Jackson, even though he wasn’t in Congress.

Jackson’s response

In a statement to the Observer, Jackson called the ad a “textbook example of blowhard, nonsense politics that exactly zero people will take seriously.”

He pointed to his military service as a major in the Army National Guard, saying he served in Afghanistan, has been shot at and seen friends die. He’s in his 20th year of service.

“Him saying that I’m in favor of terrorism is just as believable as me saying that he’s in favor of making rational, sensible comments that don’t embarrass himself and his campaign,” he said.

This story was originally published October 11, 2022 at 3:00 PM.

Will Wright

The Charlotte Observer

Will Wright covers politics in Charlotte and North Carolina. He previously covered eastern Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader, and worked as a reporting fellow at The New York Times.