NC GOP Senate candidate sues Wake schools, says suspension politically motivated
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Scott Lassiter sued Wake County Schools alleging suspension and forced resignation.
- Lassiter claims the district leaked suspension details and filed a misconduct report.
- He seeks damages and to get his job back after losing the Senate District 13 race.
Former Republican state Senate candidate Scott Lassiter has filed a lawsuit accusing the Wake County school system of suspending him from his job as an assistant principal and forcing him to resign to help Democrats in the 2024 election.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Wake County Superior Court, Lassiter says he was unfairly suspended from his position after breaking up a fight at Connections Academy in May 2024. Lassiter accuses the school system of suspending him, leaking the news to the media and pressuring him to resign to hurt his political campaign to help Democrats break the GOP supermajority in the Senate.
“They wanted that Senate seat very, very badly,” Lassiter’s attorney, Woody Webb Sr., said in an interview Friday with The News & Observer. “It’s no secret that these educational institutions are fairly Democratic in nature, and I mean the Democratic Party, and his opponent was funded to some extent by the NCAE, which is indisputably a liberal teachers union.
“I think they wanted to make sure that the Republicans could not retain the supermajority.”
Democratic Sen. Lisa Grafstein defeated Lassiter in the District 13 race. But Republicans were able to maintain their legislative supermajority in the Senate.
Lassiter seeks damages, wants job back
Lassiter says in the complaint that he did nothing wrong when he broke up the fight but agreed to voluntarily resign in return for Wake keeping the matter confidential. Instead, Lassiter alleges the district leaked the information about the suspension publicly and later filed an educator misconduct report with the state Department of Public Instruction to hurt his future job prospects.
Webb charges that part of the reason for the district’s actions were in retaliation to Lassiter complaining about safety conditions at Connections Academy, which is an alternative school program.
Lassiter is asking for damages and to get his job back from Wake.
Lassiter referred questions from The N&O to Webb.
The Wake County school system has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Lassiter sued Tim Moore in 2023
Lassiter, a former Apex Town Council member, was previously involved in high-profile litigation with then House Speaker Tim Moore.
In 2023, Lassiter sued Moore, alleging that Moore had a relationship with Lassiter’s then wife, a state employee. Moore admitted to that relationship but denied exchanging political influence for sex. Attorneys for both sides said the lawsuit was resolved but did not provide details.
Staff writer Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi contributed.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 3:20 PM.
