Democratic congressional nominee LaKesha Womack was served with a criminal summons at a campaign rally over allegations that she failed to return a rental car nearly seven years ago. The North Carolina candidate is challenging Republican Rep. Tim Moore and now faces a court appearance one week after Election Day. Womack has questioned the timing of the summons and suggested the case could give her opponent an advantage.
Womack said she received the summons while attending an October 11th rally in Polk County, two days after first learning about the pending charge. She’s running in North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of Mecklenburg, Gaston, Cleveland, Rutherford, Polk and Burke counties. Moore previously served as speaker of the North Carolina House and won election to Congress in 2024.
The case concerns a 2019 Toyota Corolla rented from Budget Car Rental that Womack allegedly failed to return by an October 23rd, 2019, deadline. The criminal summons was originally issued January 14th, 2020, and returned unserved the following month. Mecklenburg County court records show that it was subsequently reissued and marked served on October 11th, 2026. Her appearance in Mecklenburg County District Court is scheduled for 9 a.m. November 10th.
According to court records reviewed by The Charlotte Observer, which reported on the case, the summons lists the vehicle’s value as $20,000. That amount refers to the alleged value of the Toyota. The Observer reported that willfully failing to return a rented motor vehicle valued above $4,000 at the time of rental constitutes a Class H felony under North Carolina law.
Womack addressed the rental car in an online video earlier this month, acknowledging that she’d failed to return it on time. She said she was homeless during that period and lacked a stable address where legal notices could reach her. According to the Observer’s account of the video, Womack said she believed the matter had been resolved and didn’t know criminal proceedings were pending.
Watch Womack discuss the rental car case with the local NAACP chapter here:
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In an email to the newspaper, Womack questioned why she was learning about the case so close to the November 3rd election. “It feels like a terrible coincidence that my court date is scheduled the week after the election,” she said. “I’m not an attorney so I don’t know how these things work, but I would hate to believe that this was brought forward to give my opponent an unfair advantage by implying I’m a felon.”
Womack said October 9th was the first time she learned of the pending charge. “I’m not sure why it took so long to bring the issue to my attention,” she told the Observer. “I am very active in the community and would have appreciated the matter being brought to my attention before we were this close to voters casting ballots.”
The Democrat declined to tell the newspaper whether the vehicle was eventually returned or recovered, or whether she plans to contest the charge. “I have retained counsel which is why I am unable to comment on the details of the case,” she said. Asked what she would tell voters concerned about the matter, Womack directed them to her campaign platform: “I would ask voters to look at my platform, to see who and what I’m fighting for and I feel confident that they will see this for what it is.” She added, “No matter what I’m going through personally, I’m going to keep showing up and fighting for an economy that works for everyone.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.