What Hath the Voters Wrought?

Legislative News by Nelda Holder –

In analyzing this state’s (unofficial) 2020 election results, which included record turnout, I ran across a quote that I found amusing: “North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders must be looking through rose-colored glasses.

That is the only way Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, could see the “red wave” they claim.”

This rather odd statement was from the venerable WRAL-TV in an editorial posted November 12. The Legislature had continued in Republican hands, after all.

But the editorial then explained that due to the effects of gerrymandering in this state, although Democrats won only 43% of the 100-member House, they picked up 53% of the total votes (before certification). And in the Senate, the Democrats picked up two seats to win 44% of the 50 seats, with 48% of the vote. So focus on that 53% and 48%, and you see the evidence of a voter mandate that is at odds with the top priorities of both houses, such as refusing to expand Medicaid and spending generously on education that takes place in private schools, not public.

Add to that the victory in Gov. Roy Cooper’s reelection bid against Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest—a statewide race not hampered by gerrymandering and whose votes exceeded all other statewide candidates. To sum up their point, the WRAL editorial notes that the people of the state “have had enough of the legislature’s wasteful, bargain-basement mediocracy. Being just OK, muddled and middling, isn’t good enough and doesn’t meet the expectations of the electorate.”

Some other examples? Fighting the governor on COVID-19 responses; dragging their feet on fairness to every school child in the state as outlined in the Leandro case settlement; not meeting building needs for local and state schools; and investing in the resources desperately needed by the state’s prison system.

This column has frequently cited these needs and the lack of attention paid to them, but we’re hereby adopting the phrase the editorial coined for the witnessed goals of the returning leaders: “bargain-basement mediocracy.” May they please climb out of the cellar.

But what about the Council of State?

North Carolina’s elected Council of State consists of the governor, lieutenant governor, and eight more individuals heading up various branches of operation. At press time, not all mail-in ballots had been added to the final statewide tabulation, but the shape of the Council of State was definitely changing. Presumably returning will be veterans Josh Stein (D) as Attorney General; Beth A. Wood (D) as NC Auditor (50.88% of the unofficial vote); Steve Troxler (R) as Commissioner of Agriculture (53.87%); Elaine Marshall (D) as Secretary of State (51.16%), and Dale Folwell (R) as Treasurer (52.58%). And assumed to be wresting victory from former Democratic officials will be Mike Causey (R) as Commissioner of Insurance; Josh Dobson (R) as Commissioner of Labor (50.84%); and Catherine Truitt (R) as Superintendent of Public Instruction (51.38%).

And the lieutenant governor?

The lieutenant governor of North Carolina has powers in both legislative and executive branches. With the current lieutenant governor, Dan Forest, running for governor, political novice Mark Robinson (R) of Greensboro won the second highest job in the state and became the first African American Republican to win a major state office since the 1800s, and the state’s first Black lieutenant governor. He ran against veteran legislator Yvonne Lewis Holley (D), a Black member of the NC House. The unofficial results at press time showed a margin of 51.65% to 48.37%.

Robinson came to the attention of the public when a video of his remarks to the Greensboro City Council in 2018 demanding that they protect his gun rights went viral. He successfully translated that fame into victory in a statewide office.

State Supreme Court leadership hangs in the balance

Again, at press time the results of the state election were not final, and perhaps the most likely tipping point in any race was the 3,742-vote lead held by Republican candidate Paul Newby for the position of Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court, which has one chief justice and six associate justices that serve eight-year terms. He was running against the current Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, appointed to the office in 2019 by Gov. Cooper, to the chagrin of the more veteran Justice Newby. So the contest was personal and important.

Beasley has undertaken major advances on behalf of the judiciary system and the citizens it serves, as we have highlighted before in this column. And all eyes are on the final results in this highly important race.

Newby has been the only Republican on the current NC Supreme Court, but if his election is certified it appears he will be joined by two Republican associate justices. Tamara Barringer, an associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, is currently ahead of opponent Mark Davis (also appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Cooper) by some 130,000 votes. And Phil Berger, Jr., currently on the Court of Appeals (and son of the Legislature’s President Pro Temp Phil Berger), appears to have defeated Court of Appeals Judge Lucy Inman with nearly 51% of the early totals.

Let us pause here to lament the fact that we are talking about judicial races by using party labels.

There was a period of time, from 2004 to 2018, when the judicial races did not attach “party” to a candidate’s name, and the state judiciary was not regarded with such partisan distinctions. As we have recently seen so visibly in national politics, judgeships attached to partisan politics do not necessarily emphasize merit, and it has always been this writer’s contention that the move to politicize the state judiciary has been one of the most unfortunate legislative changes wielded in recent years.

Significant changes in remaining state court positions

Again, the preliminary results in judicial races saw five Court of Appeals competitions separated by small margins. The apparent winners at press time were, interestingly, all Republican, and all fielded total votes that gave them thin majorities in the 50.65 to 51.93 percentage range. They include April Wood (R) leading Tricia Shields (D) for Seat 4; Fred Gore ahead of Lora Christine Cubbage for Seat 5; incumbent Chris Dillon (R) retaining Seat 6 over Gray Styers (D); Jeff Carpenter (R) unseating Judge Reuben Young (D)—appointed by Cooper in 2019; and Jefferson Griffin (R) taking away Judge Chris Brooks’ (D) seat by 2019 appointment.

Headed for Washington

Just before press time North Carolina was called for President Donald Trump, who was projected to win with just over 50% of the ballots cast and therefore gain all of the state’s 14 electoral votes.

In the lone Senate seat election, incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis (R) seems set to return to Washington. With a strong lead over challenger Cal Cunningham (D), Cunningham has conceded.

Declared winners across the state in Congressional races give the state eight Republicans and five Democrats—four women and nine men—which constituted a pickup of two Democratic members of Congress (Deborah Ross and Kathy Manning). Democrats took Districts 1 (G. K. Butterfield), 2 (Deborah Ross), 4 (David Price), 6 (Kathy Manning), and 12 (Alma Adams). Republicans won Districts 3 (Greg Murphy), 5 (Virginia Foxx), 7 (David Rouzer), 8 (Richard Hudson), 9 (Dan Bishop), 10 (Patrick McHenry), 11 (Madison Cawthorn), and 13 (Ted Budd).

Nelda Holder is the author of The Thirteenth Juror – Ferguson: A Personal Look at the Grand Jury Transcripts.