ALE receives gambling complaint as new flyer targets Taylor

By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com

North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement has received a complaint about a suspected illegal gambling operation at a Sanford property owned by Republican state House candidate Charles Taylor, multiple outlets have reported.

At the same time, flyers calling attention to Taylor’s social media activity as well as the gambling controversy have been distributed in a number of ways, including by mail. The flyers identify a sponsor that doesn’t appear to be registered as a political action committee in North Carolina.

Taylor is currently a member of the Sanford City Council. He’s running for North Carolina House District 51, which covers all of Lee County and part of Moore, against unaffiliated business owner April Montgomery.

The ALE complaint comes as Taylor is pursuing a libel lawsuit against Sandhills Citizens Alliance, a political action committee whose campaign literature accused him of operating an illegal gambling business at the property. That literature was sent by mail earlier in October.

ALE confirmed to the North Carolina Tribune that it “received one complaint” about the property at 2101 Tramway Road and sent it to a district office that covers Lee County for assignment to an agent. Taylor’s ownership of the property came into focus in mid-October, when Raleigh news outlet The Assembly reported that it was home to a video gambling operation it called potentially illegal and that Taylor had failed to disclose his ownership of the property on a Statement of Economic Interest filed with the North Carolina State Ethics Commission.

Taylor countered in his lawsuit that he’s merely the owner of the property, not the business, and that there was no ethics investigation – only a complaint the commission lacked jurisdiction to investigate. Taylor filed an amended SEI on October 15 disclosing the previously omitted properties and two limited liability companies.

Asked Friday about the ALE complaint, Taylor told The Rant that he had “heard nothing from ALE regarding any of my rental properties.”

Meanwhile, the SCA has defended its criticism in the face of Taylor’s lawsuit, saying its activities “deserve the highest level of protection under the First Amendment” and calling the lawsuit an attempt “to distract voters from serious problems he has gotten himself into.”

“(Taylor) owns a building that by multiple independent accounts hosts an illegal gambling operation. That is what our organization has said, and that is what he should be worried about,” the SCA said in a statement issued Wednesday.

North Carolina law prohibits not only operating illegal video gaming machines but also allowing them to be operated. The SCA argues that language could make Taylor responsible for activity at the property even if he doesn’t operate the tenant’s business. Whether Taylor knew about or permitted any illegal activity has not been established.

The SCA raised multiple questions in its statement, including whether he knew who the building’s tenant was when he made the purchase in December 2025, how he came to purchase the building for what the SCA claims is “60 percent of the county’s assessed value,” and how he paid for it. The full SCA statement can be read here.

Meanwhile, a separate set of campaign flyers targeting Taylor’s social media activity has begun circulating in Sanford in the final days of the 2026 campaign.

In addition to mentioning the gambling controversy, these new flyers – which say they’re paid for by something called “Character Counts” – call attention to comments Taylor reportedly left on social media accounts that appear to be owned by adult performers.

The Rant has independently verified the social media interactions depicted in the flyers but has chosen not to reproduce those screenshots, which are not necessary to understand the political campaign against Taylor. Taylor made his X account (formerly Twitter) private on Thursday.

But Character Counts doesn’t appear as a campaign committee on the North Carolina State Board of Elections website, and Lee County Elections Director Jane Fawcett told The Rant her office has no local filing with that name. North Carolina law generally requires individuals and organizations making independent expenditures exceeding $100 to support or oppose a candidate to report those expenditures. Separate state laws govern the identification of sponsors on printed political advertising.

The Rant has reached out to the North Carolina State Board of Elections with questions about whether any filings exist for Character Counts and whether the mailers appear to comply with disclosure requirements, but has not received a response.

Beginning Wednesday, Character Counts flyers were placed on vehicle windshields at at least three locations known to The Rant. Numerous reports of similar flyers appearing in mailboxes followed on Friday.

The literature says Taylor’s “lustful tendencies” are at odds with his “claims to be ‘a man of integrity’” and says “Christians and North Carolinians deserve better.”

In a statement given to The Rant on Friday, Taylor blamed “left-wing dark money groups” for the attacks and said he’s a target because he “will be a reliable vote for Lee and Moore County’s conservative values. I’ll vote to protect life, crack down on filth in schools, and promote our Christian values in every vote I take.”

He went on to say Montgomery – whose campaign has not been publicly linked to either the SCA or Character Counts – “will not.”

Asked whether he had evidence that either group was affiliated with the political left, Taylor said he didn’t know who was behind Character Counts.

“It’s dark money. No one knows who the person is behind Character Counts,” he said.

Asked whether he had evidence connecting Montgomery or her campaign to either group, Taylor pointed to her support from Democrats, saying she had received the party’s endorsement and appeared on its endorsement card. He didn’t provide any evidence connecting her campaign to the groups or their literature.

Montgomery said only that she’s proud of the support “across the political spectrum” her campaign has built.

“My goal continues to be earning the support of independents, Republicans, and Democrats because I will represent all of them when I go to Raleigh,” she said.

Saturday is the final day of early voting in North Carolina. Election Day is Tuesday.