Sex Offender Pastor Gives Prayer at Rally for North Carolina GOP Senate Nominee

A recent campaign stop for Michael Whatley, the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina, opened with a prayer delivered by a pastor who is a registered sex offender, according to state and court records.

Pastor Daimon L. King, 60, leads New Beginnings Celebration church in New Bern and has become increasingly visible in Republican politics, serving as a precinct chairman for the Craven County GOP. He offered the opening prayer at the Aug. 28 event at the county party headquarters, asking God to grant "integrity and honesty" and to correct wrongs "hammered down on the conservative movement."

King's criminal history includes a 1998 conviction for statutory rape and indecent liberties involving a 15-year-old student while he worked as a marching band assistant at a high school outside Raleigh. He served nearly five years in prison. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to having sex with an underage female relative and served close to three years. Under North Carolina law, he must register as a sex offender for life.

The event featured Whatley and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump administration's administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Video posted by Whatley's campaign shows King standing behind the two men, nodding and giving a double thumbs-up. The next day, King wrote on his church's Facebook group that the atmosphere was "charged with prayer and patriotism" and that he and his congregation fully supported Whatley.

A campaign spokesman said Whatley did not know King and that the event was not planned or organized by the campaign, which did not invite any guests. He said King was invited by the hosts, identified as the Craven County Republican Party. Officials with the county party could not be reached for comment. King did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The episode comes with two months left in a competitive Senate race that could determine control of the chamber. It risks undercutting Whatley's argument that his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Roy Cooper, is soft on crime, and could amplify Democratic advertising that has targeted Whatley's association with Harvey L. West Jr., a former GOP official convicted of five counts of indecent liberties with a child.

West, a former small-town police officer, served six years in prison and is no longer required to register as a sex offender. He chaired a congressional district committee in the state GOP when Whatley led the party. Democrats have spent more than $2.3 million on ads featuring a photo of Whatley and West together.

West said he has always been transparent with party leaders about his past and acknowledged he was appointed to other roles when Whatley was chairman. "I'm not going to say Michael Whatley put me up there," West said. "But I wasn't taken off either." He also said he was familiar with King's convictions and warned others in the party when King was considered for a GOP position.

Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, said the revelations could complicate Whatley's efforts to consolidate support from hard-right conservatives, a task made more difficult by anger in Trump's base over the government's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

"The far right has not coalesced behind (Whatley) and these kinds of revelations will make that problem even greater," Cooper said.