ROBINSON BLASTS FELLOW
REPUBLICANS; MORGAN FILES
FOR OFFICE AS GOVERNOR’S
RACE HEATS UP
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As the second week of candidates filing for elective office comes to an end, the race for North Carolina governor heats up as Democrat Mike Morgan files, while Republican Mark Robinson blasts fellow Republicans for not endorsing him, and Democrats Josh Stein and Morgan vie directly for the black vote in Durham.
No doubt by the time you read this, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will have already filed to run as a candidate for governor. In the process, Robinson, an avowed conservative Republican culture warrior, has picked up the endorsements of former President Donald Trump and NC Senate Pro tem Phil Berger.
“I think he is the right person at the right time,” Berger told reporters Nov. 29th. “ I think he works hard, has a great deal of support within the Republican Party.”
Even though Berger was generally laudatory about Robinson’s gubernatorial candidacy, he said nothing about the fact that Republican legislative leaders have been actively trying to take power away from the office of the governor, something that Robinson, if he’s paying attention, can’t be pleased with.
While Robinson was counting Sen. Berger as one of the party faithful who was giving the black Republican his blessing, he was livid that another high profile GOP’er was literally turning his back on him.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced on Dec. 8th that he would be supporting one of Robinson’s Republican primary opponents, millionaire former prosecutor Bill Graham, who is making his second run for governor. Graham is trailing Robinson 8% to 34% in the most recent East Carolina University Center for Survey Research poll.
Several recent polls show that 49% of NC Republicans remain undecided in the race between Robinson and three challengers for the GOP nomination.
“I intend to do everything I can to help [Graham] get the nomination,” Tillis told the conservative National Review. “Mark Robinson’s a good enough guy. I don’t know him that well, but he has virtually no legislative experience, very little business experience,” Tillis said. “We’re a very, very important state and we have to have people with that kind of experience, I think, to continue this track record that we’ve had since Republicans took control of North Carolina when I became speaker. And so for those reasons, I’ve decided to support Bill.”
Well if Tillis was trying not to get Robinson ticked off, he failed miserably. During a Dec. 2nd GOP event in Davie County, the lt. governor lashed out at Tillis and other Republicans who refused to give his campaign their full-throated support.
"I don't have to listen to those in my own party who have watched as my back has been whipped by our enemies, who refuse to stand up with me because they're cowards," Robinson angrily told those gathered. "I don't have to worry about it. Because one day, Jesus Christ is going to ride back to this earth on that white horse. When he does, he's going to bring his vengeance."
Meanwhile, while Robinson was condemning his fellow nonsupportive Republicans with biblical vengeance, two Democrats seeking to further incur his wrath were busy traveling the state meeting voters and sharing their visions and respective platforms.
Former NC Associate Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan continued his journey across North Carolina, meeting voters, speaking at churches and conferences, and doing all he can to ensure that Democrats across the state are fully informed about his candidacy in the March 5th gubernatorial primary.
At press time, his primary opponent, state Attorney General Josh Stein, was expected to file for office by the Dec. 15th deadline.
Stein joined Morgan in Durham November 29th to present his case before the powerful Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People as to why he deserved black voter support during the March 5th primary.
Stein told those members gathered that he was committed to stopping the Republican-led NC General Assembly and the laws it was passing that he felt weakened North Carolina.
Morgan told the group that the has committed his entire life in the state judiciary to ensuring fairness and justice for all.
While Stein and Morgan battle it out, a third Democrat has also joined the race for governor.
Chrelle Booker, mayor pro tem of the town of Tryon in Polk County, has also filed. Booker once ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, finishing with less than 2% of the vote in the Democratic Primary,
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DATE FOR FEDERAL
NC NAACP VOTER ID CASE
EXPECTED SHORTLY
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Yes, North Carolina has already begun to use voter photo identification, but its constitutionality is still under litigation in federal court, and a federal judge is soon expected to determine a trial date before the 2024 elections.
Voter ID was used in the recent local municipal 2023 elections, but as of this writing, Federal District Court Judge Loretta Biggs had not made a decision for a trial date in a pending lawsuit between the NC NAACP and Republican legislative leaders.
The longer Judge Biggs takes to make a decision, the more likely voter ID will be used at least during the March 5th primaries, which are under four months away.
This federal lawsuit has been five years in the making, filed the day after the NC General Assembly passed voter ID legislation in 2018.
For the NC NAACP, the argument is simple - this voter ID law is racially discriminatory just like the one previous to it, even though Republican legislative leaders insist that the 2018 version is much more inclusive. The NC NAACP would like the trial to commence no later than February 2024 so that a favorable decision can affect the both the 2024 primaries and November elections.
Republican leaders, naturally, are taking the opposing position, preferring to delay a trial, and arguing against setting a trial date that is “too soon.” Part of the GOP’s reasoning includes Judge Biggs, a federal judge who has already ruled in favor of the NC NAACP in 2019.
Her ruling then was overturned by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, effectively sending the case back to her jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, in another election case filed in federal court, the N.C. Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee at press time were still seeking a preliminary injunction blocking changes that would affect same -day registration. Those proposed changes are contained in Senate Bill 747, which passed the Republican-led legislature back in November. Republican legislative leaders, the state Republican Party and the State Board of Elections are all opposing the motion for an injunction.
“To the extent that S.B. 747 actually altered existing law, this Court should defer to the General Assembly’s reasonable interpretations of S.B. 747 because the same-day registration provisions do not impose an undue burden on the right to vote or deprive any North Carolinians of their due process rights,” attorneys for the GOP legislative leaders said in their argument to block the injunction.
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