Candidates in Lynchburg commonwealth’s attorney’s race have been at odds before

Lynchburg’s race for commonwealth’s attorney is stacking an unlikely duo against each other: a prosecutor and a man her office once prosecuted. 

Incumbent Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison, running as a Republican, has worked in the office for 18 years, first as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney. She was elected to the top job in 2017 and reelected in 2021. 

Her challenger, Christopher White, is running as an independent. He’s an attorney who specializes in personal injury and criminal defense law and has been self-employed at Chris White Lawyer LLC since 2016.

White said he decided to run for commonwealth’s attorney because he wants to hold Harrison accountable for what he sees as concerning conduct, ranging from procedural errors to serious infractions that would be considered fraud on the court. At a candidate forum on Sept. 11, White said his concerns about Harrison’s conduct are so significant that he sued her office and pursued the case to the highest court possible. 

According to court documents, the lawsuit stemmed from a criminal case brought against White. He was arrested in December 2021 on a felony charge of rape, according to online court records. A jury acquitted him in February 2023. 

He filed the federal lawsuit that same month against the city of Lynchburg, the city’s chief of police and nine other defendants involved in his case at various levels. The defendants included a prosecutor in the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, but not Harrison.

In the lawsuit, White alleged defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other legal injuries in the “prevailingly unfair” case, as he described it in the complaint. 

According to court documents, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in June 2023. The claim against the prosecutor was dismissed due to the prosecutor’s absolute immunity, which is a legal protection that shields prosecutors from civil liability for actions performed in their official roles.

White appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the district court’s decision in April 2024. White appealed again to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to review the case.

The experience left White feeling like he had a duty to fix the problems he observed, he said in an August interview. 

“The only form of accountability for Ms. Harrison is through this process right here — the elective process,” he said.

Harrison said every professional around her holds her accountable, from the judges she practices in front of to the lawyers in the public defender’s office whom she sees on the other side of the courtroom every day.

“If they saw us doing the things that Mr. White is accusing me of, or if the judges saw it, they all have an ethical duty to report us to the bar,” she said. “And we’ve had zero [state] bar complaints.”

Harrison and White are both in good standing with the Virginia State Bar, with no records of public discipline or suspension, according to the bar’s lawyer directory. 

At the candidate forum, which was hosted by Lynchburg’s Voters League and NAACP branch, Harrison emphasized that the court system is run by checks and balances. Police officers, judges, juries, public defenders and other key players all work in tandem to shape the outcome of a case. 

She characterized White’s accusations as “nonsense ramblings.”

“It’s about vengeance. That’s why he’s running for office,” Harrison said. “It’s not about you. It’s not about service to this community.”

When the forum’s moderators asked White how his leadership of the office would differ from Harrison’s, he said he would make sure that no case was “rubber-stamped,” or approved without critical thought. 

In the August interview, White said that he would dismiss the “riffraff” cases that he believes Harrison’s office wastes resources on. Pursuing cases with insufficient evidence “really amounts to stealing from the community members,” he said, because of how much time and money go into moving a case through the court system.

Lynchburg contributes about $900,000 to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office budget yearly, according to the city’s adopted 2026 fiscal year budget. That’s less than 1% of the city’s general fund. The rest of the office’s nearly $3 million budget is covered by state, federal and other outside grants. 

Harrison said she always equally weighs public safety concerns with the availability of evidence when deciding how a case should proceed. In 2024, her office saw 1,080 cases that involved a felony charge — and each needs to be treated with nuance, she said.

“We are here to uphold public safety, to support our victims and witnesses of crime, to work with our community partners toward whether we can prevent crime,” she said. “But, at the end of the day, our job is — when the crime has occurred — to hold a person accountable.”

Harrison said her accomplishments during her time as commonwealth’s attorney speak for themselves in showing the value of long-term experience. She’s worked with community partners to create an early intervention screening program for domestic violence that helps determine if victims are at risk of further abuse. She’s recruited and coached a strong team of 12 attorneys and more than a dozen supporting staff members, including a gang prosecution expert. She’s built relationships with state legislators and the governor to help shape the future of criminal law. 

She said the success she’s most proud of is creating the region’s first behavioral health docket. The docket focuses on low-level offenders who are likely to return to the criminal justice system if they don’t get the mental health support they need. Their charges are reduced or dismissed in exchange for their commitment to attend counseling sessions, take necessary medicines and check in with their probation officer. The docket began accepting participants in 2024 and currently has seven participants and three graduates, she said. 

“We really have seen some lives change, like a light switch goes off,” she said. “It’s really wonderful to see that something positive can come out of our criminal justice system.”

Each program and community partnership takes years to form and strengthen, which Harrison said makes the continuity of her role all the more important. 

The only local elections in Lynchburg this year are those for constitutional offices, or roles that are defined by Virginia’s constitution, which includes the commonwealth’s attorney race. Two constitutional offices on the ballot are uncontested: Donald Sloan is running for sheriff, and Mitchell Nuckles is running for commissioner of the revenue. They are both incumbent Republicans. 

The other constitutional office on the ballot, treasurer, is contested between Republican Brian Triplett and Independent Brian Witt. 

Lynchburg residents will also vote on their House of Delegates representative for District 52 this election season. Incumbent Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg, is running against Democratic candidate Risë Hayes. Early voting begins Friday.