The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: north carolina
Will North Carolina's Extremist Republicans Drive Away Business -- To Connecticut?

Will North Carolina's Extremist Republicans Drive Away Business -- To Connecticut?

Will all North Carolinians pay the price for Republicans nominating a gubernatorial candidate who favorably quotes Adolf Hitler, compares LGBTQ+ people to “maggots” and “flies,” and thinks a six-week abortion ban is awesome but not quite awesome enough?

In a less benighted time, we might have confidently said, “Hell yes. That’s not the America I know. The America I know overcharges everyone for prescription drugs, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.” But MAGA has metastasized to the point where the morally outrageous is now just more of the same.

Of course, there are outrages and then there’s “holy fuck, what did that dude just say?” North Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson’s public pronouncements fall squarely in the latter category. And at least one blue state looking to boost its tax base has noticed.

As much of America continues to devolve into a “Mad Max”-style dystopia where every character is played by Mel Gibson, Connecticut has decided it’s time to call bullshit and coax some Tar Heel State businesses north.

WRAL-TV, Raleigh, North Carolina:

Democratic Senate leaders in the Nutmeg State wrote to officials in Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development, urging them to “explore opportunities to attract businesses from the state of North Carolina to relocate to Connecticut.” They cited North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, his history of inflammatory comments about LGBTQ people and women, and his desire to restrict abortion access as the impetus for the effort.

In the letter, Connecticut Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and other legislators stated, “We are constantly looking for chances to diversify and strengthen our state's economy, and we believe there is a unique opportunity to reach out to businesses in North Carolina.”

To review, current North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, whom the state’s Republicans overwhelming chose earlier this month as their gubernatorial candidate, is a font of feral nonsense. He’s quoted Hitler favorably on Facebook. He’s called women who get abortions—even if they’ve been pregnant for just 24 hours—murderers. And he’s advocated for a complete ban on abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

And that’s not all!

The Washington Post:

There was the time he called school shooting survivors “media prosti-tots” for advocating for gun-control policies. The meme mocking a Harvey Weinstein accuser, and the other meme mocking actresses for wearing “whore dresses to protest sexual harassment.” The prediction that rising acceptance of homosexuality would lead to pedophilia and “the END of civilization as we know it”; the talk of arresting transgender people for their bathroom choice; the use of antisemitic tropes; the Facebook posts calling Hillary Clinton a “heifer” and Michelle Obama a man.

Okay, then!

Of course, Democrats, both in North Carolina and nationwide, naturally see Robinson’s bid as a boon for their own electoral prospects. So it stands to reason that business-minded progressives outside the state would see an opportunity as well.

WRAL-TV:

The LGBTQ community is a frequent target of Robinson’s speeches; he said last year that “God formed me” to fight against the push for LGBTQ rights and visibility. He has also questioned whether women can be leaders, whether the Holocaust was as bad as is commonly accepted, and whether Jewish bankers secretly control much of the world economy.

“These remarks not only undermine the values of inclusivity and tolerance of our nation, but should also raise significant concerns about the business environment and social climate in North Carolina under potential leadership that condones or ignores such divisive rhetoric,” the Connecticut lawmakers’ letter said. “In contrast, Connecticut prides itself on its commitment to diversity, equality, and fostering an environment where businesses can thrive while upholding ethical standards and respect for all.”

And it’s not just Democrats who are noticing the bitterly cold winds of change that could soon force North Carolinians to both winterize and Hitlerize their homes. The far-left North Carolina Chamber of Commerce is alarmed, too, calling the recent primary results a “a startling warning of the looming threats to North Carolina’s business climate.”

In a post-primary newsletter, the Chamber wrote, “While we celebrate the victories of Chamber-backed candidates, many of the races we were watching turned for candidates that do not share our vision for North Carolina.”

And the Chamber has good reason to be alarmed. According to one analysis, before it was repealed, North Carolina’s 2016 anti-trans bathroom bill was poised to cost the state $3.76 billion in business over the span of a little more than a decade. And one recent study found that having more LGBTQ+ people in a state is associated with higher economic growth. Meanwhile, there’s also compelling evidence that diversity within companies leads to improved innovation and market growth.

Of course, Robinson isn’t the NC GOP’s only headache. CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz recently cornered Republican superintendent of public instruction nominee Michele Morrow, who both hates public schools and has called for the public execution of former President Barack Obama.

Needless to say, outside her skeevy echo chamber, Morrow wasn’t nearly as forthcoming about her outré views on presidential executions:

So Morrow wants to kill a former president and thinks public schools are socialism centers. That’s nitpicking and nothing a newly anointed Robinson couldn’t smooth over with a bit of well-placed promotion.

If he wins, maybe he can try out one of these slogans:

  • Come to North Carolina, Where the Tax Breaks Are Real but the Holocaust Isn’t
  • North Carolina: First in Flight From That Gay Conversion Camp Your Parents Sent You To
  • North Carolina: 120 Years of Regress, From Kitty Hawk to Shitty Talk Radio
  • Kiϟϟ Me, I’m From North Carolina
  • North Carolina: You Will Carry Your Incest Baby to Term, Peasant!

Okay, maybe those need some workshopping.

Meanwhile, Connecticut—and presumably other blue states as well—is ready to jump in and take advantage of the yawning decency gap between its own government and North Carolina’s.

“Connecticut is an open and welcoming community, proud to protect our socially progressive values and boasting an incredible quality of life,” said Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner-designate Dan O’Keefe in a statement. “We invite companies of any size to come to Connecticut and make it here.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mark Harris

Alleged 2018 Election Fraudster Wins GOP Primary In North Carolina

Pastor Mark Harris — whose previous primary election win in 2018 was tossed out after an alleged election fraud scheme — has once again won the Republican nomination for a newly drawn US House district deemed as safely Republican.

FiveThirtyEight's Nathaniel Rakich tweeted that Harris officially won the Republican primary to replace outgoing Rep. Dan Bishop (R-North Carolina), who is now the GOP nominee for Attorney General in the Tar Heel state. Harris won the competitive primary in spite of a controversy from 2018 that resulted in the bipartisan North Carolina State Board of Elections calling a new election the following year.

In 2018, Harris narrowly won the general election in the Ninth Congressional District by a little more than 900 total votes against Democrat Dan McCready. However, Leslie McCrae Dowless — a consultant who worked for his campaign — was alleged to have illegally handled absentee ballots, which is a felony. Dowless was described as a "shady character" by Harris' son, John, amid allegations that he engaged in similar underhanded practices with absentee ballots in 2016.

"Witnesses told state officials that Dowless, with help of his assistants, gathered hundreds of absentee ballots from Bladen County in 2018," the AP reported. "Those workers testified they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes for local candidates."

After investigators compiled a mountain of evidence suggesting Dowless was engaging in underhanded efforts to compromise absentee ballot voting, Harris pivoted from urging election officials to certify his victory to calling for a new election. He ultimately avoided criminal charges in the investigation.

"Through the testimony I've listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called," Harris said at the time. "It's become clear to me that the public's confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted."

But now, with his primary victory on Tuesday night, Harris is poised to cruise to a general election victory in the new district in spite of the scandal that rocked his political career six years ago. This is especially true given how GOP-friendly the district has become after the North Carolina Supreme Court adopted a map regarded as one of the most biased redistricting efforts in recent memory.

In late 2023, the Brennan Center for Justice reported that the Tar Heel State's highest court reversed a prior 2022 decision rejecting maps that were deemed unfair to voters of color. That decision notably came after a 2022 election in which two conservatives won two additional seats on the court, granted in response to a request from Republican state lawmakers. The new, more conservative court concluded that gerrymandering was a "political" question and that the judiciary didn't need to involve itself.

While the old maps each had seven predominantly Republican districts and seven Democratic districts, the new maps effectively erased four of those Democratic seats.

"The new map easily ranks, along with Texas’s, as one of the two most extreme congressional maps currently in place," the Brennan Center wrote. "Indeed, the Republicans’ new North Carolina gerrymander is so durable that even an exceptionally strong Democratic wave year (think 2018) would not dislodge it. Even under the rosiest of foreseeable scenarios, Democrats win at most four of 14 seats. Put another way, Democrats could win a solid majority of the ballots cast for Congress, but their candidates would win less than 30 percent of seats thanks to Republicans’ carefully engineered gerrymander."

In addition to Harris' victory, Republican Mark Robinson's victory in the GOP gubernatorial primary also made headlines on Tuesday night. Robinson has called the LGBTQ+ community "filth," and likened them to "maggots" and "flies." He also said the Covid-19 pandemic was a "globalist" plot to oust Donald Trump from the White House.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Tricia Cotham

GOP Gerrymander Rewards Turncoat Democrat In North Carolina

North Carolina Republicans just unveiled new gerrymanders that would not only entrench the party in power but would also reward a turncoat Democrat whose inexplicable party switch handed the GOP a veto-proof supermajority in April and ushered in a new era of ultraconservative governance.

As a result of that switch by state Rep. Tricia Cotham, Republicans were able to quickly pass a host of far-right priorities despite vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Those bills, among other things, severely restricted abortion access, curtailed voting rights, and gave the GOP greater control over both state courts and North Carolina's elections.

Cotham's decision to change parties came as a shock because she had campaigned as a mainstream, pro-abortion rights Democrat and won a safely blue district in the Charlotte area just last year. Local Democrats had no reason to expect anything else: Cotham had previously served as a reliable member of the state House caucus for several years until leaving for an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2016.

But just three months into her new term, Cotham claimed she was leaving the Democratic Party because of a progressive backlash when she missed a key vote that enabled Republicans to loosen gun safety regulations. She also said that Democratic lawmakers had repeatedly disrespected her, something Democrats have steadfastly disputed.

However, subsequent reporting cast significant doubt on Cotham's justifications for her change. Republicans had encouraged her to run in the first place, according to The New York Times, and GOP-aligned interest groups supported her with substantial donations ahead of last year's primary. The Assembly also reported that Cotham had a history of petty personal grievances with Democratic lawmakers rather than any sort of deep ideological differences.

Cotham's move was still bewildering, though, because her current district supported Joe Biden by a 61-38 margin—inhospitable turf for any Republican, let alone a former Democrat who had enraged her onetime supporters. (Last year, Cotham herself easily defeated her GOP opponent 59-41 in the 112th District.)

Now, however, Cotham's district would be radically reshaped (and renumbered as the 105th), so much so that it would instead have voted for Donald Trump 50-48—a 25-point shift in partisanship from its present incarnation. But should Cotham decide that this boon is an insufficient reward for enabling the GOP's agenda (even her revamped district would remain competitive and, like so much suburban turf, it's trending toward Democrats), she also has the option of once again running for Congress.

In addition to their new legislative maps, Republicans also released a pair of proposals that would gerrymander North Carolina's congressional districts in extreme ways, so much so that this perennial swing state would likely wind up with a House delegation made up of 11 Republicans and just three Democrats.

Notably, though, both of those plans would also place Cotham's base of suburban Mecklenburg County in a safely red open seat (numbered the 8th on one map and the 9th on the other). While Cotham fell far short in her previous House bid, finishing a distant third in the Democratic primary, with just 21 percent of the vote, her new allies might very well smooth her path to the GOP nomination.

Cotham has not yet indicated what she plans to do next year. However, her overnight transformation into a MAGA Republican has earned her a warm reception from GOP leadership and right-wing media for betraying her former party and the voters who elected her. Given the GOP's warm embrace of opportunists—including Trump himself—Cotham may find herself richly rewarded indeed.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Mark Harris

North Carolina Republican Whose 2018 Victory Proved Fraudulent Runs Again

Republican Mark Harris, who has run unsuccessfully for political office and has a documented history of sexist, homophobic, antisemitic, and Islamophobic comments, announced on Tuesday that he will run for an open North Carolina U.S. House seat in 2024.

In a nearly five-minute announcement video, Harris, whose 2018 House race victory was overturned due to evidence of election fraud, baselessly accused Democrats of having “manufactured a scandal to steal the election” from him five years ago and of stealing the 2020 election from President Donald Trump.

“Well, in 2024, President Trump is making a comeback. And so am I,” Harris tells viewers. “I feel called to serve my nation and I’m willing to make the sacrifice needed to do it.”

According to theCharlotte Observer, Harris plans to run in North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District. Incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Bishop is running for state attorney general.

The former president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Harris, who is the senior pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Mooresville, North Carolina, defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger in the 2018 Republican primary in the state’s 9th Congressional District, after failed campaigns for U.S. Senate in 2014 and U.S. House in 2016, but his general election victory was overturned.

Initial results had shown Harris narrowly defeating Democratic nominee Dan McCready, but a state investigation found evidence that campaign operative McCrae Dowless had illegally collected vote-by-mail ballots and had altered or destroyed those that were not Harris votes. The state board of elections did not certify the results, and a new special election was ordered. Harris denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of the scheme, though his own son testified before the board of elections that he had warned his father about Dowless and his methods. Harris did not opt to run in the 2019 special election for the seat, citing medical issues.

On his 2024 campaign site, Harris’ campaign is already touting his anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ views:

Mark fervently believes in the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural end. A pivotal figure in the pro-life movement, he asserts that every life is invaluable. Mark is also a stalwart defender of traditional family values, having led the charge for the 2012 marriage amendment and consistently advocating for measures that uphold the foundations of our families.

He has a long record of opposition to women’s rights and claims, “God instructs all Christian wives to submit to their husband.”

In a 2013 sermon on “God’s plan for biblical womanhood,” first flagged in 2018 by the progressive super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, he argued that a “woman of valor” is created to be “a supporter, a nurturer, a caregiver,” and complained:

You and I know that in our culture today, girls are taught from grade school, that we tell them that what is most honorable in life is a career, and their ultimate goal in life is simply to be able to grow up and be independent of anyone or anything. We tell young girls to not be connected humanly as they are designed to do naturally, but instead disconnected, so as to be able to do anything they want any time they want. But nobody has seemed to ask the question that I think is critically important to ask: Is that a healthy pursuit for society? Is that the healthiest pursuit for our homes? Is that the healthiest pursuit for our children? Is that the healthiest pursuit for the sexes in our generation?

(Disclosure: The American Independent Foundation is a partner organization of American Bridge 21st Century.)

In other sermons, he complained about the legalization of no-fault divorce, falsely said that most people who make the “decision” to be LGBTQ+ do so due to having experienced abuse, and claimed that legal abortion is to blame for mass shootings.

In 2018, CNN KFile reported that he had given sermons calling Islam dangerous and the work of Satan and arguing that Middle East peace required that all Jews and Muslims convert to Christianity. “There will never be peace in Jerusalem until the day comes that every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” he said in 2011.

As a candidate in 2014 and 2018, Harris called for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. He proposed in 2014 that Social Security benefits be reduced for future retirees who were then under the age of 50.

According to the Cook Political Report, North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District is solidly Republican.

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.