"Proven Leadership. Real Results." — Or Just a Really Good Spin Machine?

Patrick E. Harris wants Johnston County to re-elect him as Commissioner and keep him as Board Chairman. In his mailers are polished. His talking points are smooth. But when you actually pull the county's own records not his campaign literature, the county's numbers a pattern emerges: technically true claims, engineered to leave voters with a false impression. In his own video I shared not so long ago he believed in term limits so why are you still running?

Here's what the record actually shows. "We lowered the tax rate from 78¢ to 51¢"

Sounds like a tax cut. Here's what it actually was: a 30%+ tax increase. Don't forget the added Fire Tax rate.1150.

In 2025, county property revaluations sent average home values up 70.6%. The rate that would've kept tax bills flat revenue-neutral was 49 cents. Harris and the board set it at 52 cents instead. Result: the average $100,000 homeowner went from paying $670 a year to $887 a 32% increase in the same budget the board publicly bragged about as a historic tax cut.

Then Vice Chairman Patrick Harris, on the record, defending it: "this budget helps position Johnston County for smart growth without overburdening our taxpayers."

Tell that to the family whose tax bill just went up a third.

"First AAA bond rating in 2023"

True: in that same borrowing round, the county took on $196 million in new debt and $129 million of it, for the Clayton High rebuild, was a limited obligation bond that never went to a voter referendum. No vote. Just seven commissioners, pledging county buildings as collateral.

Today, roughly 10.1% of the entire county budget goes to debt repayment. Paid for by the same taxpayers who just got hit with that 30%+ property tax increase.

A shiny credit rating just means the county is good at paying its debts on time. It says nothing about whether piling up that debt especially the part nobody voted on was the right call.

"Balanced budgets with conservative spending"

The FY2025-26 budget wasn't just balanced. It grew 9.6% from a $402 million proposal to a $412.4 million adopted budget, with commissioners tacking on over $10 million themselves. Call it a lot of things. "Conservative" isn't one of them.

The Part That's Actually True:

Credit where it's due: Novo Nordisk's $4.1 billion Clayton expansion and Vulcan Elements' roughly $1 billion Benson facility are real, and together they represent close to 2,000 real jobs. That part of the platform holds up. Worth saying plainly, because the rest of this piece hits a lot harder when you're not exaggerating the parts that are actually true.

What's Not on Any Mailer:

His brother runs the county's 911 department. Morgan D. Harris was promoted into the 911 Director role in early 2025, years into his brother's tenure as a sitting commissioner. Johnston County's own personnel policy prohibits employing immediate family of a sitting commissioner into permanent positions. Nobody's explained how this promotion squares with that rule.

Two of his businesses are gone, and his campaign bio doesn't say why. How Many Times Do We Have to Say This? This is a pattern. Not a mistake. Not an isolated bad headline. A pattern; number after number, dressed up to sound like the opposite of what it is. A tax hike sold as a cut. A voter-less $129 million loan sold as fiscal discipline. A budget that grew sold as conservative. And a family member running a life-and-safety department, sold as nothing at all because it was never mentioned.

Johnston County deserves commissioners who tell them the truth in plain numbers, not commissioners who count on nobody checking.

Attached is the NEW updated campaign for HARRIS. Reference it yourself as that is what a voter shall do.

That is all!

Carry on!

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