Fact check: In attorney general race, Dan Bishop tries to tie Jeff Jackson to sex offender
The Republican candidate for North Carolina attorney general is targeting his opponent over an alleged friendship with a local LGBTQ leader and registered sex offender, which Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson denies having.
Rep. Dan Bishop’s campaign is circulating an ad that alleges Jackson knew about Chad Turner’s criminal history and still decided to embrace him at an award ceremony. Turner is the president of the Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce and a registered sex offender who was charged in 1998 with “committing or attempting a lewd act upon a child under 16,” when he was 20 years old, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Jackson’s campaign said he has no relationship with Turner and was unaware of his criminal history.
The ad, which has generated spikes in Google search traffic across the state, stems from a video where Jackson accepts an award for “advancing equity” at an event hosted by the LGBT+ chamber in 2022. Jackson is shown hugging Turner as he accepts the award. Other event attendees and award winners include NASCAR, Ally Bank and Avita Pharmacy.
“Rep. Jackson, along with NASCAR and other businesses, was given an award by a local chamber of commerce for supporting small businesses,” a spokesperson for Jackson’s campaign said in a statement to The Observer. “The chamber of commerce staff member who presented the award had a serious criminal background, which Rep. Jackson was unaware of.”
Turner stepped down from the role in 2016 after coming under fire from a conservative group when he advocated for expanding Charlotte’s nondiscrimination ordinance. Turner rejoined the LGBT+ chamber as its president and chief executive officer in 2020, according to his LinkedIn page and the organization’s website.
Last year, the city received criticism from a conservative group after they appointed Turner to the city’s business advisory committee, Queen City News first reported.
What Chad Turner ad shows
Bishop’s campaign declined to comment on the allegations or provide details about spending on the ad, which draws on reporting from The Daily Wire, a national conservative publication.
The ad pictures multiple women reacting to a video of Jackson accepting the award. The women then say they can’t trust Jackson to be around children.
“Child molester Chad Turner became one of Charlotte’s most notorious sex offenders. A few years later, Jeff Jackson accepted an award from and embraced Chad Turner,” a narrator says during the ad. “Everyone knew about this guy.”
Jackson’s campaign said the ad is misleading, and Jackson did not know about Turner’s criminal background when he addressed the chamber.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 12:21 PM.
