NC court hopeful says she ‘didn’t even know’ sex offender. But records show ties
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- Sarah Stevens, NC Supreme Court candidate, said that she did not know Harvey West.
- But she has documented ties to him and his wife before and after fundraiser.
- NC Democrats say it’s “all but impossible” Stevens didn’t know West’s sex offender status.
Sarah Stevens, the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s 2026 Supreme Court race, said in a recent interview that she “didn’t even know” Harvey West, a convicted sex offender whose fundraising picnic she attended last year.
However, Stevens has documented ties to West and his wife, Kim, that range before and after the much-discussed fundraiser.
In the weeks leading up to the event, Stevens appeared alongside Kim on her podcast to promote the picnic. At the fundraiser — which was hosted at the Wests’ home in Plymouth — Stevens was a featured speaker, as was Harvey. She accepted campaign contributions from the event and, as of this week, Stevens remains friends with Harvey on her personal Facebook account.
“It’s all but impossible that Sarah Stevens didn’t know about Harvey West’s status as a convicted child predator,” Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said in a statement to The News & Observer. “What Stevens knows is that voters find her association with Harvey West toxic, and now she’s lying to try to save her campaign from ruin — all while refusing to give up the money she raised from West.”
In a statement to The N&O, Stevens said she did not remember the podcast and that she “had not met either of the West family until that day.”
“I do not make a habit of conducting a criminal record check on all the individuals I meet on the campaign trail,” she continued.
As for her Facebook, she said she’s accepted many friends on the platform “and I don’t personally know them all.”
West connections dog NC GOP
Stevens, a nine-term lawmaker in the state House, resigned her seat last week, saying she needed to focus on her Supreme Court campaign.
Her most recent comments about West come from an interview with the North State Journal, in which she said “I had no idea he was on a sexual offender registry … or that he was put there 24 years ago.”
West, who has held multiple leadership roles within the NC GOP, pleaded guilty in 2000 to several charges of indecent liberties with a minor younger than 16 and served six years in prison. Upon his release, he was required to register as a sex offender. He has since been taken off the sex offender registry.
News circulated about West’s sex offender status in 2012, when he was selected to be an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention. He resigned the position shortly after the news broke.
Speaking to the Associated Press at the time, West denied the crimes and said he pleaded guilty to get a lesser sentence.
“There’s no way you can defend yourself. This is who I am, and this is what happened to me,” he said. “I was given my right to vote back, and I have a right to the political process. When do I get to live my life?”
West’s history once again dominated headlines earlier this year, when the Asheville Watchdog reported on his ties to GOP leadership and candidates through his annual “Down East Judicial Picnic.”
While top Republican leaders have spoken little about West’s influence publicly, the NC GOP approved a new rule at its convention earlier this month that appears motivated by his history.
The rule, which proponents say took years to get approved, bars anyone with sexual abuse, violent felonies or child abuse convictions from holding party office, the N&O reported.
Speaking to the Asheville Watchdog, West said the new requirement would not end the controversy over his involvement in the GOP.
“They’re too late. I’ve been involved for 20 years,” he said. “You can’t put that toothpaste back in the tube.”
Donations tied to West’s fundraiser
Candidates who attended the Wests’ Down East Judicial Picnics received donations from a PAC called the Al-Pam Republican Club.
During a Facebook interview in 2023, Kim West said that all the funds raised went to the candidates who attended.
“Whether there’s a primary or not, if they come, they get a contribution,” she said.
Since 2014, the Al-Pam Republican Club has made just under 50 donations to Republican candidates, totaling roughly $100,000.
Chief Justice Paul Newby and Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin both received donations from the PAC, alongside justices Phil Berger Jr., Richard Dietz and Trey Allen.
Stevens herself accepted a $4,000 contribution from the PAC in October of last year.
In her statement to the N&O, Stevens said the contributions “were from the people of the First District,” referring to the congressional district in which the Wests’ home is located.
Democrats have continued to hammer Stevens over the donations, with protesters arriving at the legislature last month with signs demanding that she “return the pedophile’s money.”
Asked for her response to the protest, Stevens told The N&O last month “it’s just all nonsense.”
