The 19th: “The most competitive and high-profile governor’s race of 2024 is set to take place in North Carolina — and will center on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, with major implications for the state’s future.”
North Carolina’s Race for Governor Is a Toss Up
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “North Carolina’s open-seat race is clearly the marquee contest of 2024’s gubernatorial races. It starts as a Toss-up.”
Josh Stein Launches Bid for North Carolina Governor
“North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) launched a 2024 bid for governor Wednesday with an announcement video that draws parallels between the 1971 firebombing of the office of his father, a civil rights lawyer, in Charlotte, and two more recent events: the 2017 white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington,” the Washington Post reports.
Stein refers to participants in the latter two events as “a different set of bomb throwers who threaten our freedoms and our future.”
“The video quickly contrasts Josh Stein with North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R), who was elected separately from Cooper and is a likely GOP gubernatorial contender in 2024.”
Raleigh News & Observer: “The news confirms widespread speculation that he’d seek to replace Gov. Roy Cooper, a fellow Democrat, who is term-limited and can’t run again.”
North Carolina Braces for $100 Million Governor’s Race
Longleaf Politics: “As Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) continues to lay the groundwork for a 2024 run for governor, his campaign is signaling that it will take an unprecedented amount of money to win.”
“In a fundraising email, the Robinson campaign said it expects $100 million to be spent on the race — which would be a North Carolina record by a long shot. ‘I’ve been told that the Governor’s race will be the most expensive we have ever seen,’ the email states, asking recipients to chip in.”
“Perhaps it’s simply fundraising hyperbole, but a $100 million governor race is definitely not out of the question. Governor races have steadily grown more expensive over the last few cycles, primarily driven by Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) fundraising prowess.”
What Does Roy Cooper Know That Democrats Don’t?
The Atlantic: “In 2016, North Carolina Democrats went into Election Day thinking they could sweep the competitive races for president, Senate, and governor. Only Roy Cooper won. In 2020, the dynamic was the same: three marquee races, and only Cooper pulled it off. … Figuring out why Cooper keeps winning could have potentially huge implications for determining whether he’s a fluke or a model for Democrats across the South and in other red states.
“Cooper’s races never became national Democratic causes. He has set no major fundraising records. He’s not an otherworldly political talent. And yet his success is already a source of chatter among some political obsessives gaming out the 2024 presidential ticket. Cooper, they told me, could offer a compelling balance to Vice President Kamala Harris as the white male Democratic governor of an important swing state.”
Judge Blocks Law Weakening North Carolina Governor
“A North Carolina judge has temporarily blocked a law, passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, that would curb the incoming Democratic governor’s ability to control statewide and county election boards,” Politico reports.
“Gov.-elect Roy Cooper filed a lawsuit over the new law Friday afternoon, asking a Wake County Superior Court judge to stop it from taking effect while the suit proceeds. The judge granted the stay request and scheduled another hearing on the case next week.”
North Carolina Strips New Governor of Power
North Carolina legislators wrapped up their work on a pair of controversial bills that would deprive the incoming governor of a substantial part of his power to make appointments, and reshuffle the regulation of lobbyists, ethics complaints and elections, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
Outgoing Gov. Pat McCrory (R) has already signed one of the bills.
McCrory Finally Concedes In North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) announced that he’s conceded the election to Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) and will support transition efforts, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
Said McCrory: “It’s time to celebrate our democratic process and respect what I see to be the ultimate outcome of the closest North Carolina governor’s race in modern history.”
McCrory Backtracks on New Bathroom Law
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) “issued an executive order that changes two provisions in the controversial LGBT-protections law, and reaffirms private sector and local government rights to enact their own non-discrimination policies,” the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
“The law has led to substantial opposition from major companies, and hundreds of quantifiable lost jobs.”
However, the “most controversial part of the new law, requiring people use bathrooms of their sex at birth and not their gender identity, remains intact.”
Washington Post: “If this saga has gone terribly for McCrory, it’s been great for Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is trying to unseat McCrory.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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