MAGA SCHOOLS SUPT.
CANDIDATE CONSIDERED
‘LOOMING THREAT’
By Cash Michaels
An analysis
If Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is elected governor next November, there’s a very real possibility that he’ll have a partner in government who shares his MAGA conservative vision of education for North Carolina.
Her name is Michele Morrow, and when the smoke cleared after the March 5th primary last week, Ms. Morrow, a Donald Trump supporting/home schooling far-right MAGA activist, shocked North Carolina’s political observers by defeating Republican conservative incumbent Supt. of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt, 52 to 48 percent in the unofficial results from the GOP primary.
She claimed that Truitt was responsible for “our students' minds are being poisoned with politically biased, racially divisive, sexually explicit and academically weak content.”
The win certainly rattled the Republican political and business establishment, which had endorsed the one-term, classroom experienced Truitt.
“Tuesday’s primary election results were a startling warning of the looming threats to North Carolina’s business climate,” the NC Chamber of Commerce wrote in a newsletter to its membership after the primaries. “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.”
The Chamber warning to its membership added, “…in Republican races, populist candidates enjoyed great success.”
There is little question the Chamber’s dire missive was referring to Morrow as being one of those “…looming threats” and “populist candidates [who] enjoyed great success.”
Just like with Mark Robinson, Ms. Morrow, 52, a married mother of five who lives in Cary, leaves a trail of controversial, and some say bigoted statements against LBGTQ and Muslim citizens, along with other negative indications about how she feels about diversity.
Where Morrow and Robinson both solidly link up is in their stated devout opposition to the truth about American racial history being taught in North Carolina’s public classrooms. Robinson has given lip service about doing something to stop it.
Morrow, if she’s elected the next state superintendent of public instruction, can do something about it.
On her campaign website, Morrow touts herself as "…the only candidate in the race for State Superintendent of public Instruction with a proven record of winning the fight for conservatism,’ adding that she is a “Lifelong Christian Conservative.”
Professionally, Morrow has been a rural registered nurse in Texas, and a missionary ‘in some of the poorest areas in Mexico.”
Currently, Morrow’s website says she works as “a child advocate with an organization dedicated to protecting children from pornography.”
Politically, Morrow’s experience takes on a different tone.
She lost in her 2022 bid for a seat on the Wake County Board of Education.
Rhetorically, Morrow has urged parents not to send their children to public schools, calling them “socialism indoctrination centers” because they push a “woke agenda.” Like Robinson, Morrow says she’s opposed to what she thinks is “Critical Race Theory” being taught in public schools because it “teaches children to hate our country.”
For the record, most experienced educators confirm that Critical Race Theory is only taught in colleges and universities, not secondary public schools, and only documents how systemic racism has tainted historically American institutions.
Morrow has also vowed to fight to remove DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) policies from the state public education system.
She attended the Jan. 6th Capitol insurrection to protest the 2020 presidential election results, but says she did not enter the U.S. Capitol Building to riot.
Morrow has promoted various conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine. On January 24, Morrow issued a press release declaring her endorsement of former Pres. Donald Trump for president in 2024.
Among other “NC Christian Faith Leaders,” Morrow is endorsed by former state Rep. Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus), who cosponsored the infamous bathroom bill, advocated that teachers be armed in the classroom, and supported police shooting Black Lives Matter protesters, calling them ‘vermin” and “thugs.”
Morrow has previously said that she advocates that teachers carry concealed weapons in the classroom.
If Morrow is elected as superintendent of public instruction in November, and Mark Robinson is elected governor, one of his constitutional powers will be to appoint the eleven members of the NC Board of Education.
One of Morrow’s constitutional responsibilities as superintendent would be to act as the secretary to the state board. That means she would attend meetings, update members on what’s happening in education across the state, and make recommendations. But she would also responsible for overseeing the state’s public school systems.
Morrow would report to “Governor” Robinson 30 days before the NC General Assembly convenes. In short, the two would work very closely together in shaping state educational policy.
Morrow faces Democratic primary winner Maurice “Mo” Greene, former superintendent of Guilford County Schools, in November.
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MORGAN “HONORED AND
THANKFUL” FOR CAMPAIGN
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
It was a long shot from the beginning, but retired NC Associate Justice Mike Morgan ended his attempt to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary for NC governor on March 5th with his trademark grace and dignity.
“I congratulate Attorney General Josh Stein, along with Governor Roy Cooper, on Mr. Stein's primary election victory,” Morgan posted on his Facebook account after it was clear that he would not pull off what would have been one of the most extraordinary election victories in campaign history.
“The strategies which Attorney General Stein and Governor Cooper crafted, in the gubernatorial race as well as other contests on the primary ballot, were executed to perfection,” Morgan continued, hinting that he was up against a Democratic Party machine there was no getting around..
“I am honored and thankful to have had the opportunity to run for the highest office in this great state. My candidacy, while insufficient to win the nomination for Governor, nonetheless won the votes, minds, souls, and optimism of many North Carolinians who continue to yearn for a level playing field for all people and a change from the status quo. I am humbled by the support and dedication which was demonstrated for my campaign, and I am renewed that we collectively maintain our pride in our effort."
The reaction to Morgan’s Facebook post was warm and encouraging.
“I am immensely proud of you for your presence and character displayed during your gubernatorial candidacy. I want to believe that more doors will open for you to successfully lead and shape our political landscape to a place of level fairness. All the Best ..”
“The people need you in an office. I hope to see your name on the ballot again. We are proud of you!”
“Continue to use your VOICE for what you believe. I can't wait to see what happens in your NEXT CHAPTER.”
On primary night, out of a five-candidate field, Morgan unofficially placed a distant second to Stein’s 70 percent, with just 14% of the vote. But that 14% was the result of tremendous hard work on the part of Morgan, his wife, and his campaign as he traversed the four corners of the state, meeting and greeting people at churches and community events, large and small, sharing his vision of the North Carolina he would work hard for if given the chance to represent the party next November.
Justice Morgan, who spent 44 years in state government (34 years of that on the judiciary) joined the race for the Democratic primary for governor “late,” in the minds of many political pundits who felt that by the time he left the state Supreme Court to oppose Stein, the party nomination was already a done deal.
Stein, a two-term state attorney general who is close to the outgoing Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, had announced his candidacy early in January, for the expressed purpose of warning off any other possible candidates. That strategy worked only to the extent that other well known Democratic politicians gave Stein the room he needed to establish his claim as heir apparent to Cooper.
And it certainly helped Stein that Gov. Cooper endorsed him, and apparently sent signals to the rest of the party that Stein was his “guy.”
Justice Morgan, however, ignored any such pronouncements - said or unsaid - and in September, left the state’s High Court to mount his campaign for governor.
Many observers, some admirers of Morgan, fretted his move, saying that he waited too long to challenge Stein, and that by the time he did, most of the Democratic Party’s leadership were already committed to the attorney general.
One pundit had written that he wished Morgan would have announced a candidacy for state attorney general instead, given his many years on the judiciary.
But Morgan refused to hear any of it, and with next to no campaign war chest to speak of, mounted his challenge to the presumed Democratic frontrunner.
Morgan’s campaign was able to produce one extraordinary autobiographical video that told his story as a young Black student growing up in segregated New Bern in the 1960s, integrating the all-white school system, and learning the value of working with others in the community for the common good.
Morgan was the son of New Bern’s first black mayor, and his mother served on the local school board, so public service was in his blood.
Weeks before the March 5th primary, both Morgan and Stein were interviewed by the N.C. Black Publishers Association per its election coverage.
On the last question of the telephone interview, both men were asked “ Win or lose, you have to help bring the party back together. What will you say?”
“First I want to say how much respect I have for Justice Morgan and his decades of service to the state and our people,” Stein said then. “And I’m not going to attack any fellow Democrat because the stakes are too high for North Carolina.”
“Whether it’s Justice Morgan or me,…or anybody who gets the Democratic nomination come March 5th, we all have to come together because [Republican candidate] Mark Robinson is simply wrong for North Carolina, and we have to do that.”
Morgan was also circumspect, if not optimistic about his chances of winning.
“I would say to those who would not vote for me ….that I am going to be the leader for all North Carolinians. My whole campaign has been about uplifting all North Carolinians. I respect the fact that there are those who did not support my candidacy. I understand the fact and respect the fact that there are those who support my chief opponent. When I win, that’s what I am going to be, especially as the Democratic nominee, a nominee for governor who everyone can be proud of going forward to being the next governor of our great state.”
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