David R. Lewis (born March 6, 1971) is an American former politician of the Republican Party who served as a member of the North Carolina General Assembly from 2002 to 2020, representing the state's 53rd House District. His district encompassed most of Harnett County including the City of Dunn and Towns of Angier, Coats, Erwin, and Lillington.
Additionally, Lewis formerly served as the National Committeeman for the North CarolinaRepublican Party.
In August 2020, he pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a bank.[2]
He is a tobacco farmer and co-owner at Quality Equipment, LLC.
Political career
Gerrymandering
Lewis was the co-chair of the elections committee, responsible for the voter identification legislation as well as his work on the most recent round of redistricting in the State of North Carolina. This redistricting has been challenged as
an instance of partisan gerrymandering.
In his role as NC House redistricting leader, Lewis said that he wanted the maps drawn “to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats because [he did] not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”
[4] In addition, he stated: “I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country.”[5]
Vote Rigging
During a fraud investigation into the 2018 U.S. House race in North Carolina's 9th district where a Republican operative conducted large-scale electoral fraud, Lewis introduced a bill that would put Republicans in charge of every election board in every election year.[6] On July 24, 2020, Lewis announced that he would be retiring at the end of his term and would not seek re-election.[7][8]
Resignation
Lewis resigned on August 20, 2020, when he was charged with making false statements to a bank and failure to file a tax return.[9]
Lewis defeated primary challenger, Teddy Byrd, in the September 10th, 2002 Republican Primary garnering 54% of the vote. On November 5, 2002, Lewis won election to the North Carolina House of Representatives by defeating Larry C. Upchurch (D).[10]
On November 2, 2004, Lewis won re-election to the North Carolina House of Representatives by defeating Louise Taylor (D). Lewis did not face a Republican challenger in the primary election.
On November 7, 2006, Lewis won re-election to the North Carolina House of Representatives by defeating Frank Stewart (D). For the second election in a row, Lewis did not face a Republican challenger in the primary election.
On November 4, 2008, Lewis won re-election to the North Carolina House of Representatives by defeating Joseph Lindsey Tart (D). For the third election cycle in a row, Lewis did not face a Republican challenger in the primary election.
On November 2, 2010, Lewis won re-election to the North Carolina House of Representatives by defeating Abraham Oudeh (D). For the fourth consecutive election cycle, Lewis did not face a Republican challenger in the primary election.
Lewis ran for re-election in 2012. He ran unopposed in the May 8, 2012 Republican primary for the fifth consecutive election cycle and defeated Joseph Langley (D) in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.
Lewis ran for re-election in 2014. He ran unopposed in the May 6, 2014 Republican primary for the sixth consecutive election cycle and defeated Susan Byerly (D) in the general election which took place on November 4, 2014.
Lewis beat primary challenger, William "Chuck" Levorse, in the March primary garnering 79% of the vote. On November 8, 2016, Lewis won election to the North Carolina House of Representatives by defeating Jon Blum (D) with 61% of the vote.[11][12]
On August 26, 2020, Lewis pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a bank and failing to file his federal income tax return.[14] Federal investigators produced evidence that Lewis had stolen funds from his campaign account in order to prop up his failing farm. Specifically, Lewis opened a new bank account with the name "NC GOP Inc" and then wrote checks totaling $65,000 to that new account from his campaign account. This was evidently an attempt to make it appear as if the money was being transferred to the North Carolina Republican Party. Although he faced sentencing guidelines of up to 30 years in prison, prosecutors allowed Lewis to take a plea deal. He was let off with no prison time.[15]
On August 17, 2021 he was sentenced for misappropriating campaign funds and failing to file his 2018 federal income tax return. Lewis was sentenced to 24 months supervised release in which one year was for the false return count, and is to serve one day active sentence for each count served concurrent.
