Weekly Recap: UNC protests, lawmakers under fire in Kentucky trip, congressional runoff candidate ends bid
Welcome to all new and existing Anderson Alerts members! This is your weekly recap.
It's been a highly active keep in North Carolina politics. Here's what you need to know...
Kentucky trip gone wrong
An email invitation to the “Inaugural Kentucky Bourbon and Churchill Downs” event confirms some basic details provided by an anonymous Reddit poster who accused some North Carolina legislators of rude and drunken behavior.
The invitation, which I obtained in partnership with The Assembly, was sent by a group called Greater Carolina— a 501(c)(4) affiliated with House Conference Chair Jason Saine.
“I was not at any event that has been described in the anonymous post. I have no other comment,” Saine wrote in a text message to me on Monday. A day later, Saine confirmed he attended the event but said it was “not like what was described” on Reddit.
The invite welcomed recipients to join the gathering from April 25-27 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Louisville. Sarah Newby, the finance chair for the North Carolina Republican Party, was listed as the contact person, although her job title was not given on the Feb. 13 invitation. Newby, the daughter of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Matt Mercer, a spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party, said Sarah Newby wouldn’t be commenting on the matter. “I have seen the posts and can confirm it was not an NCGOP event or affiliated with the state party,” Mercer said in a statement.
On Reddit, a user who identified as a bourbon distillery representative posted over the weekend that 33 North Carolina officials behaved poorly as guests at a recent event.
“Their arrival was marked by loud, unruly conduct that disrupted other guests and tarnished the atmosphere we work hard to maintain,” wrote the Reddit user ItIsCroy. “What was perhaps most disturbing was their lack of accountability for their actions. Despite being extremely rude, disruptive, not tipping the bartenders and tour guides, and even VOMITING in our bathroom sinks, not a single apology was offered.”
Jonathan Felts, a spokesman for Greater Carolina, said no taxpayer money was used to fund the trip. Felts declined to name legislators. He said one attendee got motion sickness on the bus on the way to the event and vomited at the site. “The person and friends/colleagues helped to clean it up,” Felts wrote. And he said Greater Carolina left a generous tip.
The Reddit poster accused Felts of lying, telling me, “The whole vomit thing was a lie on their end. He wrote so many lies in that one circumstance. He wasn’t there. I was there. Other distillery employees were there. We saw and acted on everything. It’s horribly insulting that he is publicly announcing that we are nothing but liars.”
In addition to Saine, these other lawmakers are believed to have attended:
Rep. Kyle Hall
Rep. Jake Johnson
Rep. Jeff McNeely
Rep. Ray Pickett
Sen. David Craven
Hall, Johnson, McNeely, Pickett and Craven didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Of note: Pickett serves as vice chair of the Alcoholic Beverage Control committee. McNeely also has ties to leaders of the Greater Carolina group. David Coble, the group’s director, is also the president of his LandMark Solutions consulting business. State campaign filings show McNeely’s campaign paid Coble’s business $5,000 last year for mail advertising.
According to a source familiar with the trip, other attendees included lobbyists Robert Doreauk, Doug Miskew, Clark Riemer and Alexandra Warren.
Daughtry ends congressional bid, effectively making Knott a congressman
In a stunning move, attorney Kelly Daughtry ended her congressional bid on Thursday, giving former federal prosecutor Brad Knott a win in the 13th District, which was redrawn last year from a 2022 tossup to safe GOP seat in 2024. She also encouraged her supporters to back Knott, the only other candidate in the runoff.
Daughtry spent over $4 million on her own campaign, but was dealt a body blow when former President Donald Trump endorsed Knott last month.
“In light of President Trump's endorsement of Brad Knott for the Congressional seat in District 13, it has become clear that a pathway to victory is no longer feasible,” Daughtry said in a statement. “I believe in the democratic process and respect the endorsement of our President. The time has now come to suspend my campaign.”
Knott said in a statement that he was grateful for Daughtry’s support and encouraged voters to still show up for him on May 14, as there will still be a runoff election.
UNC protests
On Tuesday, protests at UNC-Chapel Hill over the war between Israel and Hamas reached a boiling point after pro-Palestinian protesters broke through a barricade and replaced an American flag with a Palestinian one.
Shortly thereafter, campus police and interim chancellor Lee Roberts, stormed the quad in front of Wilson Library to restore the American flag, which had been flown at half staff to honor four officers who had been killed in Charlotte a day earlier while serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm.
As UNC officers tried to form a perimeter around the flagpole, several protesters began throwing filled water bottles at them. Shortly after the American flag was restored, protesters again took it down. A group of fraternity students worked to keep the flag from touching the ground. Tensions eventually simmered as the flagpole stood flag-less.
I wrote about the drama in a story for the New York Times, and videos from the protests are available here.
North Carolina’s gubernatorial candidates have weighed in on the campus protest.
Within minutes of the incident, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson decried the protesters’ actions. He said in a statement, “This nonsense should never have happened to begin with and it needs to end right now. Especially after what we saw last night in Charlotte– our police officers need to be treated with respect and lawlessness needs to end. If I have the honor to serve as your governor, this lawless nonsense ends on DAY ONE.”
Two days later, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, who is Jewish and has loved ones with ties to UNC, provided me with the following statement: “The right to free speech is fundamental, and students should be able to exercise it peacefully. But any antisemitism, violence, or other acts of hate are unacceptable. The safety of all students is critical.”
A look at the runoff for lieutenant governor
On Friday, I profiled the GOP runoff for lieutenant governor between political operative Hal Weatherman and Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill.
A few notable takeaways:
Weatherman has been far more active on the campaign trail and is leaning heavily into an endorsement he received from Robinson.
O’Neill is presenting himself as an experienced leader best equipped to make public safety a priority.
Both candidates acknowledge the limitations of the office, but Weatherman is making more campaign promises to voters.
At an April 22 event in Cary, O’Neill compared himself to his 150-pound Rottweiler. “At the end of the day, I best represent the personality of my own dog: a 150-pound Rottweiler,” he told voters.
Legislative action
North Carolina saw a number of bills advance this week. The three that stood out the most to me:
In a party-line vote, the Senate on Thursday approved House Bill 10, which would require local sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. The measure now goes to the House for a concurrence vote. It'll then likely be vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper and overridden to become law. It’s the third attempt by Republicans to pass such a measure. Previous bills in 2019 and 2022 passed along party lines, but didn’t survive Cooper’s vetoes. This time around, Republicans have a supermajority in both chamber
After 70 minutes of debate, the Senate voted along party lines in favor of House Bill 823. The bill would clear a nearly 55,000-person waitlist for school vouchers in the 2024-2025 academic year for K-12 public school students looking to get an at least partially subsidized private schooling alternative. Democrats say Republicans should instead prioritize public schools first, while Republicans say parents of all socioeconomic backgrounds ought to be able to send the kids to the school of their choice.
A budget technical corrections bill is breezing through the legislature. One thing lawmakers won’t change: an erosion of public records laws they enacted last year to allow themselves to sell, destroy or disclose communications as they see fit. Former state lawmakers are also able to fully control their own records. Democratic state Sen. Graig Meyer on Thursday questioned why the GOP didn’t revert back to older public records laws through the technical corrections process. Republican Sen. Ralph Hise said the changes Meyer wants can't happen in a budget technical corrections bill since "that would not be a technical correction, that would be a clear policy change."
A podcast appearance
When Brian Lewis and Skye David asked me to be on their “Do Politics Better” podcast, I was torn. On one hand, I didn’t want to become a story or look backwards in life. On the other hand, some hard truths about the state of our political news media needed telling. And I knew I’d be the only one willing or able to give a blunt firsthand account.
Shortly before the interview started, the FTC outlawed non-compete provisions in hiring agreements for nearly all U.S. workers, dealing a major victory to broadcast journalists. For context, I rang in the new year with my first column in over six years, where I highlighted how non-compete provisions from a former employer impacted me and why they should be done away with.
So with the FTC ruling announced, I decided to open up more than I had planned. And this past Thursday, the episode dropped. I appear around Minute 13. I’ll let you judge for yourself how it went.
I hope folks will come away with a better understanding of the challenges reporters face inside and outside the newsroom.
Tweet of the Week
📖 7 essential reads
There was a lot of news this past week, and I couldn’t get to it all. From the sad to the outlandish, these are some of the stories that stood out:
4 law officers serving warrant are killed, 4 wounded in shootout at North Carolina home, police say (Erik Verduzco and Peter Smith // The Associated Press)
Biden, after meeting with families of officers killed in NC, says the nation is grieving with them (Colleen Long and Steve Peoples // The Associated Press)
Biden visits Wilmington updates (Madison Lipe, Molly Wilhelm, Jamey Cross, Gareth McGrath // Wilmington Star-News)
Six arrested among 36 pro-Palestinian protesters detained at encampment at UNC following call to disperse (Emmy Martin // The Daily Tar Heel)
Bill to eliminate Opportunity Scholarship waitlist moves forward (Mebane Rash // Education NC)
There's still a final challenge to NC's photo ID voting law. The federal trial starts Monday (Steve Harrison // WFAE)
Kristi Noem’s VP chances appear as dead as the dog she killed. There are other reasons too. (Natalie Allison, Adam Wren, Alex Isenstadt // Politico)
Thank you
Between coverage of the UNC protests and my appearance on the Do Politics Better politics, I see lots of new people have joined the Anderson Alerts family. Thank you so very much for your support and continued readership. If you ever have any news tips, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.
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I shall return to your feed as news occurs. Judging by North Carolina standards, I’m sure that won’t be long.