State elections board investigating racist, homophobic threats against 2 NC candidates
The North Carolina State Board of Elections is investigating racist and homophobic threats against a Black candidate for the Chatham County Board of Commissioners and a Latino candidate for mayor of Siler City.
Elections board officials said Tuesday they’re monitoring the situation around numerous hateful text messages that attacked county commission candidate Rev. Albert Reddick and mayoral candidate Nick Gallardo.
“When we become aware of any threatening or harassing behavior pertaining to elections, we forward that information to our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners,” SBE spokesman Patrick Gannon said in an email.
Both Reddick and Gallardo received racist texts with derogatory messages and imagery, which were shared by the candidates to Raw Story, who first reported the news.
Tuesday was the primary election in North Carolina for races across the state.
Reddick, a Democrat, faces Katie Kenlan and Travis Patterson in the primary for the District 4 seat.
Gallardo faces Donald Matthews and Thomas K. “Chip” Price III, the mayor pro tem, for mayor.
Threatening messages sent to Reddick included racist imagery involving nooses to suggest a mock lynching, Raw Story and WRAL reported.
Reddick filed a complaint with the Siler City Police Department last Thursday.
‘Anything can happen’
Reddick told The News & Observer on Election Day that he had not received any new threatening messages since then, but he feels unsafe.
Reddick was at several voting precincts the morning of the primary, but cut his campaigning short.
“Matter of fact, I’m a little bit concerned about being out right now,” said Reddick, who is 75 years old. “I’m afraid to stay out late. I was planning to be out and stand and greet (voters) but decided not to. I wanted to be out at the polls until they closed. It’s not worth my life at this point.”
He said he hasn’t heard back from police on their investigation into the death threats made against him and that he feels unsatisfied with their lack of communication.
Siler City police chief Mike Wagner did not return calls and messages asking for details on the investigation.
Referring to a grocery store shooting last Saturday in Buffalo, N.Y., in which a white gunman targeted and killed Black people, Reddick said, “anything can happen.”
He said that he and Gallardo shared the same concerns when they spoke earlier on Tuesday.
“We’re in a racist community. Remember that David Duke of the Klan spoke at Siler City on the courthouse steps,” Reddick said, recalling when the former KKK leader spoke at an anti-immigration rally in the town 22 years ago.
Getting elected to the county commission is important because he would become the only commissioner who is African American, he said. Karen Howard, a current Black commissioner on the Chatham County commission, is of Bahamian descent, he noted.
Gallardo, 23, was sent more than 100 messages, many of which were homophobic or violent in nature. Gallardo says the attacks also included being tailed in his vehicle.
One message to Gallardo threatened him and the three other candidates under the “Unity 2022” ticket in the race, saying, “I hope y’all get AIDS and die,” WRAL reported.
He said he does not identify as gay, WRAL reported.
If elected, he would the first Latino mayor and the youngest mayor to hold office in Siler City.
Gallardo did not return a request for comment from The N&O.
Saturday, about 100 people gathered in Chatham County to mourn five local residents who were lynched a century ago, The N&O reported.
In March, Chatham County received national attention after a parent posted on social media that Black middle school students were “sold” at a mock slave auction in Goldston, The N&O reported. The school system said no school employees were involved in the incident, but it prompted community protests and calls for action from the school district.
Chatham County Superintendent Anthony Jackson issued an apology, and the school board approved recommendations to expedite a response if a staff member or student reports any form of discrimination.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 4:49 PM.
