Attorney General Josh Stein (D. NC)
Here’s the latest news out of North Carolina courtesy of Meredith College’s latest poll:
The poll also asked voters their preferences between the likely nominees for president and governor.
Although it is very premature to survey voters on a Trump-Biden matchup in the 2024 general election, our results confirmed what most election watchers believe — we are going to have a very tight contest for North Carolina’s 16 Electoral College votes. Our results had Biden edging Trump by a narrow margin (40-39%) with 17 percent of respondents indicating that they preferred someone else. The results are well within our confidence interval, meaning this race could go either way.
“Given our recent presidential election history in North Carolina, we should expect to see one of the major party nominees win the state by a few points or less,” said McLennan. “The results we have are not predictive of a winner, especially given the volatility we are likely to see during the next year.”
Just as with the general election matchups between presidential candidates, the matchup between Mark Robinson and Josh Stein produced very close results. In our survey, Stein prevailed over Robinson by two points (38-36%), with almost one in five voters indicating that they were not sure. These results are also well within the confidence interval (3.5%).
Stein leads former NC Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan (D. NC) in the Democratic Primary with 38-11% with 42% of Democratic voters Undecided. Robinson leads in the Republican Primary with 41% and with 42% of GOP voters undecided.
Heads up, Biden and Democrats have been eyeing to invest big in North Carolina next year. From CNN on May 20th:
At the top of the ticket, President Joe Biden’s campaign is already drawing up plans to focus on the ban, which outlaws most abortions after 12 weeks, in its bid to win a state last captured by a Democratic presidential candidate in 2008. Former President Donald Trump’s victory there in 2020 was his narrowest of the election, and North Carolina is critical to any Republican’s path to the White House.
The shock waves from the brief but fierce abortion fight – 12 days that saw the bill pass, get vetoed by Cooper, then resurrected by Republican lawmakers – are also expected to reach into next year’s races for governor, state attorney general and both legislative chambers. With Cooper term-limited, the campaign to succeed him is expected to be the most competitive governor’s race of 2024, potentially pitting far-right GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson against Democratic Attorney General and Cooper protégé Josh Stein.
The race to succeed Cooper, who has for years beat back the Republican agenda in North Carolina with his veto pen, will be especially heated if Robinson wins the Republican nomination. Democrats are already highlighting his absence from the legislature during the abortion votes – arguing that he is trying to distance himself from the ban. The Republican had tried to avoid publicly commenting on the issue in recent weeks – a reversal from his usual posture – though he told a conservative radio host the day after Republicans overrode Cooper’s veto that North Carolina continued to “move the ball” on abortion.
Here’s a quick recap on who Robinson is:
It turns out he’s got a long history of something else, too: demeaning successful women.
Robinson, who is currently the state’s lieutenant governor and leading Republican candidate for governor, has lashed out at nearly two dozen women who are public figures in politics and entertainment.
A review of his Facebook posts over the years reveals a pattern of offensive and disgusting language in the way he talks about prominent women, including former First Lady Michelle Obama, singer Taylor Swift and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Click here to see the Facebook posts.
There’s more about Robinson:
Robinson, who is the state’s lieutenant governor, has said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the 1969 moon landing was fake and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job.” He’s “SERIOUSLY skeptical” of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. He falsely accused David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, of being a paid actor. He’s claimed that climate change is based on “junk science.”
And those are just the dangerous theories he’s echoed that have been previously reported.
In lesser-noticed social media posts, Robinson has said that news coverage of police shootings is part of a media conspiracy “designed to push US towards their new world order.” He and his wife both liked a since-deleted Facebook comment that stated, “WWG1WGA are my ‘Identity’ letters,” a reference to the QAnon rallying cry “Where we go one, we go all.” In October 2018, on a day when authorities intercepted pipe bombs intended for President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CNN, Robinson suggested on Facebook that they had done it to themselves. “If you can’t beat ’em, bomb yourself,” he wrote.
He followed that with another Facebook post claiming, “This entire ‘bombing’ story is faker than a $20 Rolex sold on a New York City sidewalk.” Months later, another post on his Facebook page parroted the conspiracy theory that the pipe bomb incident was “manufactured” and “fake.”
FYI:
If the GOP wins more seats in the state legislature next year, or if a Republican governor is elected, then social conservatives would have more wiggle room to pass stricter abortion rules that don’t enjoy unanimous support within the GOP.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican who is running for governor, said earlier this year that if he is elected governor in 2024 he would sign a law fully banning all abortions — with no exceptions for anything, including rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.
Robinson has since somewhat softened his approach, changing his stance in his speech last month when he officially announced his run for governor. He now says he would support a fetal heartbeat ban, which is typically a ban on abortions after six weeks.
He repeated that Wednesday, in an interview with conservative talk radio host KC O’Dea, and again said he hopes the rules continue to become stricter after the 2024 elections.
“It gives ourselves the opportunity to set ourselves up to get ready to continue to move the ball,” Robinson said. “And when I say to move the ball, what I mean is to continue to try to save lives in the womb, and to continue to do the hard work it’s going to take to enhance those lives once those individuals are born.”
Another big race in North Carolina will also be centered around who will be Stein’s successor as Attorney General. That race is growing:
Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry announced on Friday that she is running for North Carolina attorney general next year.
Her candidacy shakes up a Democratic primary for the job that had appeared to swing heavily toward U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson. Now Jackson, who got into the race two weeks ago after the General Assembly, during redistricting, drew his home into a heavily Republican congressional district, will compete with a current top local prosecutor from an urban county that is overwhelmingly Democratic.
Deberry was first elected DA in 2018 and was reelected last year after winning almost 80% of the Democratic primary vote. Her time as district attorney has been marked in part by efforts to alter how cash bonds are used to reduce what she considers unnecessary jail time before trials, and to promote diversion programs for offenders of nonviolent crimes.
“The people of North Carolina deserve an Attorney General who is fair, firm, and consistent. An Attorney General who will go to work for them every day no matter where they come from or who they are,” Deberry said in a news release. “My life’s work has been dedicated to putting the people above politics and the people’s business first,” she said, adding that “as Attorney General of this state, that’s exactly what I will do.”
Duplin County attorney Charles M. Ingram and Fayetteville lawyer Tim Dunn also have announced bids for the Democratic nomination to become North Carolina’s top law enforcement officer. Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop said in August he would seek the GOP nomination. Primary elections are March 5.
Jackson’s campaign has been picking up momentum:
Also, in the Lt. Governor race:
Health and Democracy are on the ballot next year and we need to get ready to flip North Carolina Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Stein, Jackson or any of the Democratic candidates of your choice and with the North Carolina Democratic Party:
Governor:
Josh Stein
Mike Morgan
Lt. Governor:
Rachel Hunt
Attorney General:
Jeff Jackson
Secretary of State:
Elaine Marshall
North Carolina Democratic Party
