This story originally ran in The Assembly.
On April 13, Victoria Hardin told Mike Hardin, the district attorney for Moore and Hoke counties, that their 17-year marriage was over.
During an altercation at their house three weeks later, she claimed he pushed her and bruised her arm, and then barricaded himself in the primary bedroom. He called 911, and the Southern Pines Police Department responded. There’s no police report because criminal charges were not filed, a spokesman for the department said.
But Mike Hardin filed acomplaintrequesting a domestic violence restraining order a few days later, accusing his wife of using her position as a family law attorney to harass and embarrass him so he’d agree on child custody. He claimed he was a prisoner in his own home and that he had lost 26 pounds in three weeks due to stress.
The May 4 incident was the culmination of an escalating legal battle between the couple, in which his wifedescribesthe Republican prosecutor as abusive, controlling, and erratic. She claims in court papers that her husband’s behavior has been so threatening that she slept in a separate bedroom with her cellphone and car keys. She said she didn’t immediately leave the house for two reasons—she fears her husband will try to prevent her from seeing their preteen son and she has been unable to find a place of her own.
Mike Hardin, 53, has been a prosecutor for 28 years, and previously served as the chief assistant district attorney for Scotland and Hoke counties. In 2016, he unsuccessfully ran for a district court judge seat in Cumberland County. In March 2020, hewona hard-fought primary election as district attorney for the newly formed judicial district for Moore and Hoke.
Last year, he filed acomplaintwith the North Carolina State Bar against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. He argues that Stein had a conflict of interest and had violated several rules of professional conduct in his representation of prosecutors in a federal lawsuit over a state law dealing with felon voting rights.(Hardin’s complaint was dismissed inOctober, according to a letter from the State Bar that Stein’s spokeswoman provided.)
Now he is running unopposed for a second term. He has touted himself as a “Donald Trump conservative.” On social media, he describes himself in six words: “Husband. Father. Christian & Career Prosecutor.” There are numerous photos on his social media platforms featuring him and his wife.
Victoria Hardin, 50, is a former prosecutor and now has a family law practice,Hardin Law Firm, with offices in Carthage and Fayetteville, according to her website. She was front-and-center in her husband’s campaign for district attorney. “Although our home may be messy, our personal life is not,” she wrote in a January 12, 2020 post on her husband’s campaign Facebook page. “My Husband and I are stable. We don’t lie. We do not present ourselves to be something we are not. We don’t abuse drugs or alcohol. We pay our taxes. We are committed to our marriage, our faith, and our family.”
In court papers, she paints a much darker picture.
She claims that her husband has made her life a living hell since she asked for a divorce last month, falsely accusing her of infidelity, interrogating her while she is in the shower, hacking into her password-protected electronic devices, and attempting to financially ruin her by taking $173,000 from their joint account.
News outlets in Moore and Hoke counties have not reported the allegations, and the only public mention of them has been through a May 9 Facebook post fromJD Zumwalt Jr, a Republican critic of Hardin. “Shouldn’t you have to publicly explain those accusations if you intend to remain in a position of public trust—A position in which you are expected to protect women from the very types of actions you are being accused of?” Zumwalt wrote.
In February 2020, Hardin accusedZumwaltof working with then-incumbent Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger in spreading misinformation about him and his primary challenger, Arthur Donadio (Krueger decided not to run for re-election and endorsed Donadio.)
In an interview, Mike Hardin denied all the allegations, accusing his wife of making false allegations in public documents.
“I deny that I’ve ever been abusive to my wife,” he said. “And I think anyone who knows me would say the same, and I would challenge her to have one single witness come forward and say I’ve ever been abusive to my wife.”
“Ms. Hardin had hoped that the parties would be able to resolve the legal matters arising from their separation privately and cooperatively,” Victoria Hardin’s attorney, Alicia Jurney, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, that was not possible. The pleadings and motions Ms. Hardin filed speak for themselves, and she has no further comment at this time.”
‘Burn Everything Down’
The legal battle officially began on April 24, when Victoria Hardin filed a complaint in Moore Superior Court, seeking joint custody of their preteen son.
In her complaint, she described her husband’s behavior as “abusive and aggressive” and said he had made threats to “burn everything down” and to “ruin” her. She said Mike Hardin had told her he would keep their son away from her, leading her to file the action.
Victoria Hardin also accused her husband of intruding while she was taking a shower and standing over her while she was using the restroom. She said her husband had “behaved in an erratic and unpredictable manner” that caused her “to feel unsafe” since she told him she wanted to end their marriage.
That behavior included constantly filming her and their son, she said, and falsely accusing her of cheating on him with a doctor who lives in Florida. (She has denied the allegation.) Her attorneys allege he impersonated his wife in an April 25 text message to the doctor, and has threatened legal action against him.
Mike Hardin also built a “shrine” to their marriage in the primary bedroom, including a wedding announcement, a wedding photo album, photos of their son as an infant, and monogram coasters. He turned down all family photos in the house, she said.
In other court documents, she claims her husband has a drinking problem and has shown his gun collection while intoxicated to guests. She said he once accidentally discharged one of his guns. The bullet struck a sofa.
Victoria Hardin said their marriage has been troubled for years, resulting in a brief separation in December 2008 and another attempted separation in October 2022. She said supporting her husband’s political ambitions had saddled her emotionally and financially. His “lavish lifestyle and campaigns” caused her to experience “panic attacks, anxiety and other health issues,” she wrote in response to her husband’s restraining order complaint.
“Although the parties constantly argued, Defendant/Wife felt compelled to maintain the public persona of a dutiful wife for the purpose of protecting Plaintiff/Husband’s political career,” she wrote.
Mike Hardin, however, says his wife is the abusive one: constantly attacking him about his weight and appearance and pushing him to step down as district attorney and work for her law firm. When she became angry, she would throw objects across the room and knock things off tables, he said. He said he has been afraid to leave his room without a video recorder.
Pillars of the Community
On the morning of May 4, Victoria Hardin said she was packing decorative pillows and lamps into her car. Mike Hardin was “enraged.” He began pulling artwork from the walls, causing damage, and moving furniture into the primary bedroom.
He had recently installed a deadlock on the door. Victoria Hardin said she had no key to the lock.
Mike Hardin was heading out to go shooting and was carrying several rifles. Victoria Hardin says that made her afraid, so she called 911. Officers with the Southern Pines Police Department arrived. No arrests were made, and they soon left.
She said that her husband had taken two lamps—the only light sources in the bedroom where she was sleeping—and placed them in the primary. After the officers left, she saw that Mike Hardin had stepped away from the bedroom. She tried to get her lamps back.
She alleges in court documents that Mike Hardin then “barged down the hall and there was a scuffle.” Mike Hardin pushed his wife and bruised her arms, Victoria Hardin alleges.
She didn’t report the alleged assault to police, “even though she has been in fear of” her husband, because she “did not want to harm” his political career.
Mike Hardin toldThe Assemblythat his wife only made that allegation after he sought a restraining order against her.
After the altercation, Victoria Hardin said her husband locked himself in the primary bedroom, where he called 911. He also called Kristy Newton, former district attorney for Scotland and Hoke counties, demanding that she tell his wife not to remove items from his room, she alleges.
Mike Hardin said his wife is simply using the legal system to smear him, knowing it might attract media attention because of his position.
“Can you imagine living in a house with someone for a month that you knew was having an affair with someone else, who was a divorce lawyer trying to get you out of the house and you’re the elected DA and you’re trying to figure out how you’re not going to get yourself in trouble because she keeps calling the police and making salacious allegations?” he said.
(In court documents, Victoria Hardin repeatedly denies she had an affair; she declined through her attorney to comment further.)
The restraining order is now moot after a judge issued a consent order on May 10 granting temporary joint custody. That order also prohibits the two from harassing, assaulting, or intimidating each other. The judge also ordered them to stay away from each other and only contact each other through a co-parenting app.
Victoria Hardin has since left the house.
Mike Hardin is still running unopposed for a second term. His campaign had $101,840 in cash, according to his latestcampaign finance report.
Tom Adams, former president of the Moore County Men’s Republican Club, has known the Hardins for years. He said he had not heard of the abuse allegations when reached Thursday evening, and that he hopes things will be resolved amicably.
“They’re both pillars of the community,” he said.
