RALEIGH, N.C. — New Beginnings Celebration, a Christian church in New Bern, posted to social media last month that church members “fully support and are behind U.S. candidates, Col. (Laurie) Buckhout and Mr. (Michael) Whatley.” New Beginnings Celebration is led by Pastor Daimon King, a convicted child sex offender, who also offered prayer on Aug. 28, The Associated Press first reported, at the ...

North Carolina Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley speaks during the North Carolina Republican Party Convention at the Koury Convention Center on Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Robert Willett/News & Observer/TNS

RALEIGH, N.C. — New Beginnings Celebration, a Christian church in New Bern, posted to social media last month that church members “fully support and are behind U.S. candidates, Col. (Laurie) Buckhout and Mr. (Michael) Whatley.”

New Beginnings Celebration is led by Pastor Daimon King, a convicted child sex offender, who also offered prayer on Aug. 28, The Associated Press first reported, at the Craven County Republican Party office before a Whatley and Buckhout meet-and-greet.

Whatley, 57, a Republican from Gastonia and the former chairman of both the state and national party, is running for U.S. Senate against former Gov. Roy Cooper, 69, a Democrat from Raleigh.

Buckhout, 65, a Republican from Edenton, an Army veteran and former Trump adviser, is running for the 1st Congressional District against Rep. Don Davis, 55, a Democrat from Snow Hill.

Both Whatley and Buckhout’s teams said King wasn’t scheduled to speak at the Craven County event, and Whatley’s team added that Whatley wasn’t present when King spoke.

But it’s the fourth time he held campaign events involving the leaders of churches with child abuse scandals. And each time, it gives Democrats an opening to bring up Harvey Lee West.

West is the former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party’s 1st Congressional District.

Prior to serving in that role, West was convicted of indecent liberties with a child involving three girls. Under Whatley’s state leadership, West was appointed to serve on the state GOP’s powerful Plan of Organization Committee, The Asheville Watchdog first reported.

Whatley has campaigned with leaders of Word of Faith Fellowship, in Spindale. Former members accuse church leaders of abusing children in order to drive out demons, spawning books, documentaries, television news features and charges against several members.

Current members of the church deny any wrongdoing.

Whatley also campaigned at Victory Baptist Church and School in Sylva, where the now-former church piano player and basketball coach faces 26 counts of crimes involving sex with minors. His case is still pending.

And then came the event on Aug. 28, in Craven County, where King, who is required to register as a sex offender for life, offered the opening prayer.

“Michael Whatley has continued to knowingly appoint, campaign with and elevate convicted child sex predators who spent time in prison,” said Jordan Monaghan, spokesman for Cooper. “North Carolina families deserve better – Roy Cooper is the only candidate who has spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and signing tough on crime laws as governor and will continue in the Senate to protect children and families.”

But Whatley’s team said it was not their decision for King to offer the prayer.

“The event was a local GOP event,” said DJ Simmons, Whatley’s campaign spokesman. “The organizers were the local Chairman, Col. Buckhout, Michael, and Dr. Oz. However, when the event started, the local chair introduced the County Commissioners who all spoke. After leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance, the local chair decided on his own to call for a prayer and he called on King to deliver the prayer from the audience.”

King’s past

King, 60, of New Bern, was convicted in Wake County in 1998 of two counts of indecent liberties with a minor. The News & Observer reported in 1997 that police said King was an Athens Drive High School marching band assistant and had sex with a 15-year-old student.

He served four years and 10 months in prison.

Then, around 14 years later, on March 5, 2010, King re-offended. This time with a young relative.

Convicted of incest, he was sentenced to 1 year and 9 months in prison.

He was released Sept. 18, 2013.

King founded New Beginnings Celebration. It’s not clear when, though a 2019 newsletter shows it has existed at least seven years.

King’s prayer

At the event Aug. 28, a man, who is not Whatley, is on audio obtained by McClatchy calling King to lead the group in prayer.

King asked God to be with the Craven County GOP “with abundance” as they met and said God would “lead, guide and direct everything that happens in this room tonight.”

He prayed that the words spoken at the Craven County GOP would be ”words of honor and uplift integrity and honesty” and to “be bold” “in the face of adversity.”

He also prayed vengeance for “the wrongs and atrocities” “hammered down onto the conservative movement.”

Griffin said Whatley was late to the Craven County event because of two previous campaign events he held in Charlotte and Raleigh that day.

“We do not know King and he will not be permitted at any of our future events,” Griffin said.

King remained at the event following his prayer and was seen in photos and videos behind Whatley, smiling and offering thumbs up to the camera.

Harvey Lee West

Early into Whatley’s run for U.S. Senate he faced backlash for his ties to a convicted sex offender, West.

West, 55, pleaded guilty in 2000 to five counts of indecent liberties with a child and served more than seven years in prison.

In 2012, The News & Observer reported West was selected to represent North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District as an alternate delegate at the Republican National Convention. News of his position and his criminal past led to his resignation as an alternate.

But earlier this year, The Asheville Watchdog reported that West continued to climb the ranks within the state GOP, becoming chairman of the party’s 1st Congressional District beginning in 2019 — the same year Whatley became state chairman — and that under Whatley he was appointed to the Plan of Organization Committee.

West nearly immediately resigned his chairmanship, and told WRAL he warned Whatley about his past.

After West’s resignation the GOP voted to bar people convicted of sexual abuse, violent felonies or child abuse from holding party office, The N&O previously reported.

Several members told The N&O they fought for this clause for years but were met with opposition by leadership under Whatley.

Word of Faith Fellowship

In February, Whatley was photographed with members of Word of Faith Fellowship, including many of its leaders like Robin Webster, the daughter of founder Jane Whaley; and Gerald and Linda Southerland, who serve as pastors.

Whaley travels around the country to President Donald Trump‘s rallies as part of a group of women from North Carolina that Trump often shouts out at his rallies.

Former members accused the church of being a cult and made allegations that members, including children, have been physically and sexually abused, the Associated Press reported. One man said members tried to beat homosexual demons out of him for more than two hours, the AP reported.

The photo was taken at a Rutherford County GOP event where Whatley said he met with volunteers and voters.

In 2024, The Daily Courier in Rutherfordton reported on accusations that the county’s GOP leadership had been taken over by Word of Faith Fellowship members who were working to influence elections in the area. Endorsements from the leadership required pledging absolute loyalty, critics told the Daily Courier.

Whatley returned to Rutherford County on Aug. 8 and thanked the GOP for its support.

“I would not have been state party chair if it weren’t for Rutherford County, and I wouldn’t have been RNC chair, and I wouldn’t be your nominee today,” Whatley said. “So I love this place.”

“Michael won his first campaign for NCGOP Chair with 50.8% of the vote,” Griffin said. “For those who are mathematically challenged, that means he won by less than 1%. Consequently, he has thanked approximately 76 GOP county parties, including Rutherford, Gaston and others, and noted he would not have won that first race without their support.”

The rest of Griffin’s statement redirected attention to Whatley’s campaign opponent, Cooper, and McClatchy’s coverage of the two men.

Cooper’s record

Whatley’s team never acknowledged the victims or answered questions about why the team hasn’t done more to vet the people and places around his campaign.

But they did shift focus onto former Rep. Cecil Brockman and Chad Turner.

In 2018, Cooper attended a gala for The Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce, whose acting board president was a registered sex offender. Turner, who goes by several names, was convicted in South Carolina in 2000 of lewd conduct with a child under 16 and was required to registered as a sex offender for a minimum of 10 years.

Brockman, 41, a Democrat from Greensboro, served in office until October 2025, when the SBI arrested him on charges of two counts of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory rape of a child aged 13–15. Cooper called for his immediate resignation.

The Whatley team also redirected attention to the release of 3,500 inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic that they have repeatedly cited to argue rapes and deaths of North Carolinians at the hands of the inmates are on Cooper’s hands.

At the time, Cooper refused to sign an executive order to release the inmates, and the state was sued by several civil rights groups. A judge sided with those groups, saying he would likely find that the jails, under pandemic conditions, had become unconstitutional, and releasing 18,000 prisoners was on the table.

State officials agreed to release 3,500 in a compromise and all of those were either approaching the end of their sentence within the year, or had already been released because their sentence had just ended.

Victory Baptist Church

Whatley also campaigned at Victory Baptist Church in Sylva.

In February 2025, Mickey McConnell McMahan, then 67, was charged with 26 counts involving sex crimes with minors.

McMahan was a church piano player and basketball coach accused of grooming and sexually assaulting young girls at the church between the 1980s and 1990s.

Victory Baptist Church, which was accused at the time of covering up the allegations against McMahan, gave a statement to The Sylva Herald and Ruralite saying it takes the allegations against McMahan very seriously and condemns the conduct.

However, they added that the allegations were 30 years old and most members weren’t around then.

“The current leadership of the church and school cannot speak to what anyone may or may not have known back then,” Jay Pavey, an attorney and member of the church, told the Herald.

On July 11, Whatley posted that he visited the church to discuss faith and service. He posted a video with Pastor Joseph McGaha, who called him North Carolina’s “next senator.”

_____