A super PAC with ties to Republicans has entered North Carolina’s Democratic primary for attorney general, running television commercials praising Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry, whose competition is Charlotte Congressman Jeff Jackson and Tim Dunn of Fayetteville.
The Virginia-based group — And Justice For All — is touting Deberry’s liberal credentials.
Deberry, who was first elected Durham DA in 2018, has said she has focused on violent crime and worked to “reduce unnecessary pretrial incarceration and court involvement, and worked to improve trust and equity in the courts.”
The commercial states: “As Durham District Attorney she worked to end inequity and racial bias in the system. As attorney general, she will fight to make the system more transparent, lower incarceration rates and break the cycle of crime.”
Emails and phone messages to And Justice For All weren’t returned.
But the group uses Chain Bridge Bank in McLean, Virginia, which is often used by Republican committees, including the Republican Attorneys General PAC.
It’s common for both Democrats and Republicans to interject themselves into the other party’s primaries to try and promote a candidate they think will be easier to beat in the general election.
Deberry is considered more progressive than Jackson, who has run for Congress and the state legislature as a centrist.
The most recent campaign finance reports show Jackson had $1.8 million in the bank at the end of 2023, compared with roughly $31,000 for Deberry.
Deberry said in a statement that she “doesn’t know who made the ads or why.”
She added that “this is not the first time people have underestimated a Black woman. Ask Donald Trump about his recent experience with New York AG Tish James.”
The winning Democrat in the March 5 primary will face Republican Charlotte-area Congressman Dan Bishop in the general election.
