PAC postcard attributes quote about ICE response to wrong NC sheriff candidate
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Independent PAC mailed postcard misattributing challenger’s immigration comments.
- LaBarre was the actual speaker and said he wasn’t involved with the PAC mailer.
- Immigration cooperation and Blackwood’s record emerged as key campaign issues.
A national political action committee that waded into the contentious Orange County sheriff’s race wrongly attributed the challenger’s immigration comments to the incumbent this weekend.
Sheriff Charles Blackwood, who was first elected in 2014, is facing a tough challenge from David LaBarre, a director of planning and development for the Durham County Sheriff’s Office.
Over the weekend, Orange County residents reported to The News & Observer that they had received political postcard mailers claiming Blackwood told The N&O in an interview that: “As the sheriff, I’m not going to blow a whistle [on ICE action in the community]. I’m not going to notify any community members.”
LaBarre actually made those comments and also told The N&O in an interview that, “We’re going to monitor [federal immigration agents]. They have full jurisdiction in that community, just like we do. But I think if you cross the line, you cross the line.”
On Sunday, LaBarre posted a statement to his Facebook page after The N&O alerted him to the inaccurate postcard.
“This mailer was sent as an independent expenditure. My campaign did not pay for it. We did not receive funding from this PAC,” LaBarre said. “I was unaware of this mailer and as such did not provide input or approval. Nonetheless, I believe it’s important for my campaign to publicly recognize that this mailer was factually incorrect.”
Julien Burns, a spokesperson for the Local Accountability PAC, said in a statement Monday that the mailer was “an unfortunate misinterpretation” of The N&O’s news article.
“We had no intention of misattributing this quote,” Burns said.
Immigration a big issue in sheriff’s race
Immigration has been a top campaign issue in left-leaning Orange County, on the heels of deadly ICE interactions in Minneapolis in January. LaBarre is hammering Blackwood on the issue, putting out social media statements and videos linking Blackwood to Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson.
Johnson is well-known for his support of the 287(g) immigration enforcement program and working with ICE agents.
LaBarre has also accused Blackwood of creating fear in the local immigrant community by sending a Hispanic man who was arrested on charges of larceny and assaulting three deputies to the Alamance County jail, rather than housing him in Orange County.
Blackwood has said he made that decision to protect his deputies from charges of retaliation in case something happened to the man in jail. The suspect’s criminal history indicated he is a U.S. citizen, Blackwood said, contrary to Hispanic media reports.
The information could not be independently confirmed. The suspect, Jorge Lopez-Duran, is serving time on a different charge in the Granville Correctional Institution. He is scheduled for release March 8, state corrections records show.
Durham, Washington PACs have ties
In late February, Washington, D.C.-based Local Accountability PAC jumped into the fray, posting video advertisements and mailing out postcards attacking Blackwood on immigration.
That group was also behind the postcard sent this weekend with the wrongly attributed quote.
Local Accountability PAC officials interviewed LaBarre earlier this year, he told The N&O, but he wasn’t aware of its endorsement until a postcard arrived in his family’s mailbox.
As a political action committee, Local Accountability can accept unlimited contributions and does not have to disclose its donors. It can also spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.
Direct candidate support is limited in North Carolina to $6,800 per election, and that also triggers a requirement for the PAC to register with the State Board of Elections. Local Accountability has not registered with the state.
Federal elections reports show Local Accountability PAC was founded in 2023 and got roughly $84,000 last year — nearly all of its reported receipts — from the Durham-based Sheriff Accountability Action. Sheriff Accountability Action is a 501(c)4 social welfare organization that aims to reform sheriff’s offices, reduce the number of jails and jail deaths, and stop deportation.
The federal filing shows its contributions to Local Accountability PAC included a $50,000 donation and in-kind contributions, including software, legal services and compliance work.
Max Rose, former executive director of Sheriff Accountability Action, founded the group in 2018 under the name Sheriffs For Trusting Communities. He is a past treasurer for Local Accountability PAC, but referred questions to Burns when reached by phone.
Juan Cuba, the current treasurer of Local Accountability PAC, is now the executive director of Sheriff Accountability Action. In 2024, Sheriff Accountability Action got $1.4 million in operating support from the left-leaning Amalgamated Charitable Foundation.
Sheriff Accountability Action and Sheriffs for Trusting Communities are not registered with the Federal Elections Commission. Sheriffs for Trusting Communities is registered with the State Board of Elections, but hasn’t filed a report since 2023, when it claimed $1,500 in donations.
PAC goals, campaign finance reports
The latest campaign finance reports for LaBarre have not yet been released by the State Board of Elections.
Reports filed at the end of the year show LaBarre had raised $21,001 by Dec. 31 and spent $13,539. His largest donors, four of which gave over $1,000 in cash or campaign materials, included a mix of Durham and Hillsborough residents.
Blackwood’s latest campaign report, filed Feb. 18, shows he has raised $17,508 and spent $13,934. Nearly all of his donors live in Orange County, four of which work or are retired from the Sheriff’s Office. Three donors gave over $1,000.
Burns confirmed the PAC bought ads supporting LaBarre that use news coverage, stock footage, candidate websites and publicly available sources, including social media.
“Cooperation between sheriffs and ICE is a top concern for our organization,” Burns said.
“We had heard from local immigrant rights groups that Sheriff Blackwood’s record raised serious concerns, and when it became clear he had an opponent committed to putting community safety first for everyone, we decided to get involved,” he said.
He cited Blackwood’s comments to The N&O that were reported in February. In his comments, Blackwood confirmed his office had worked with ICE last year to avoid arresting a man in his largely Hispanic neighborhood in Carrboro.
Blackwood has a history of reaching out to the Latino community and saying his deputies do not ask about immigration status. ICE has criticized him in the past for rejecting detainers that ask jails to hold people for 48 hours but are not signed by a judge.
Last year, the state legislature passed a law that requires sheriffs to honor those detainers if someone is suspected of being in the country illegally and charged with felonies, impaired driving, serious misdemeanors and protective-order violations.
Blackwood also called Alamance Sheriff Johnson a “good partner,” Burns noted.
“Those positions are matters of public record and go directly to the public safety concerns at the center of this race,” he said.
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 11:52 AM.
CORRECTION: Durham-based Sheriff Accountability Action is registered as a 501(c)4 social welfare organization, but is not a political action committee, according to Max Rose, the group’s former executive director.
As a 501(c)4 nonprofit, Sheriff Accountability Action can engage in political and issue advocacy, raise money, and endorse candidates. As a political action committee, Local Accountability can also spend money and directly influence political campaigns.
Juan Cuba replaced Rose as executive director in late 2024 or 2025, and is also listed in federal tax returns filed on Jan. 26, 2026, as the treasurer of Local Accountability PAC. Rose was the PAC’s treasurer in 2024, according to Federal Elections Commission filings.
