Weekly Recap: What you need to know from the first week of candidate filing
Rep. Patrick McHenry announced his retirement, a lawsuit challenging NC's congressional map was filed and Sen. Thom Tillis has endorsed a gubernatorial primary challenger to Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
Let’s dive into the week that was in NC politics…
McHenry retirement creates open 2024 congressional seat
On Tuesday, North Carolina U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry announced that he won’t seek reelection in 2024, creating an open seat in the newly enacted 10th Congressional District.
“This is not a decision I come to lightly, but I believe there is a season for everything and— for me— this season has come to an end,” McHenry said in a statement.
The move took some by surprise, while others seemed well aware of what would happen. Within minutes of McHenry’s announcement, businessman Pat Harrigan put out a video announcing his run for McHenry’s 10th Congressional District seat and abandon his primary bid against House Speaker Tim Moore in the 14th district.
As of Friday, Diana Jimison was the only Republican besides Harrigan vying for the seat, though others, including state Rep. Jason Saine, are considering a run.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP’s gubernatorial frontrunner, endorsed Moore and Harrigan for their respective bids.
2024 treasurer, insurance commissioner shakeups
NC Rep. John Bradford announced on Friday that he’d no longer run for state treasurer, leaving the party without any candidates in the race. Bradford instead entered the 8th Congressional District race, looking to prevent pastor Mark Harris from securing the party’s nomination.
State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who filed gubernatorial paperwork earlier in the week, has said he has been privately encouraged to drop of out the governor’s race and instead seek reelection as treasurer.
Folwell told me he's pressing forward with governor's run, even after Bradford’s exit. "I have filed and [am] going to win."
Rep. Wesley Harris, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for treasurer, took to social media to chastise what he considered minimal Republican interest in the treasurer’s office.
“The GOP see the Treasurer's crucial role in state gov as just a political stepping stone—meanwhile our campaign has endorsements from 155 elected officials all across NC because they know I'll be in this job to govern, not to put a notch on my resume,” Harris wrote on X.
The day Bradford announced his switch, Republican Party activist A.J. Daoud declared his bid for treasurer and ended his campaign for state auditor.
But that wasn’t the only Council of State drama this week.
On Sunday, Democratic insurance commissioner candidate David Wheeler said he’d drop out of the race on Tuesday to make way for state Sen. Natasha Marcus. Wheeler said Marcus was being propped up by Attorney General Josh Stein.
“Tonight I learned [Stein] has asked Sen Natasha Marcus to run for Commish of DOI,” Wheeler wrote on X. “As such, I'll withdraw on Tuesday.”
Marcus didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on a possible insurance commissioner run.
Tillis snubs Robinson
Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis endorsed businessman Bill Graham over Robinson for the open gubernatorial seat.
“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 told National Review. “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.”
Robinson responded by calling Tillis North Carolina’s version of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who has been known for his disdain of former President Donald Trump.
“Let’s be clear about what this is,” Robinson said of Tillis’ opposition to his campaign. “The RINOs are coming after me. Bill Graham is nothing but a pawn who’s been suckered into spending millions of his own money on a personal vendetta against me that’s being driven by consultants and a RINO senator who was censured by his own party.”
Congressional lawsuit
A group of voters filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to strike down North Carolina’s newly enacted congressional map. Under the voting plan Republicans approved along party lines last month, Republicans would get three to four additional U.S. House seats currently held by Democrats (You can read about the winners and losers under this map here).
The lawsuit came 40 days after Republicans enacted the voting map and hours after the start of candidate filing. It argues that the voting lines in Congressional Districts 1, 6, 12 and 14 violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the map as a whole shouldn’t be allowed to be implemented.
📖 5 essential reads
North Carolina Republicans’ Favorite Democrat (Lucille Sherman // The Assembly)
McHenry Opens A New Path to Washington (Jim Morrill // The Assembly)
$1B grant will help make high speed rail a reality from Raleigh to Richmond (Charles Duncan // Spectrum News)
Senator Thom Tillis Endorses Attorney Bill Graham in N.C. GOP Gov Primary, Dealing Blow to Frontrunner Mark Robinson (Audrey Fahlberg // National Review)
Manning decides not to run again in North Carolina (Mary Ellen McIntire // Roll Call)
👀What to watch this week
On Monday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will join Gov. Roy Cooper in Raleigh to tout a $1 billion federal high speed rail grant to connect Raleigh to Richmond, Virginia.
On Tuesday, Robinson and Trump will co-host an event at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago Club home in Palm Beach, Florida.
This is the final week of candidate filing. You can follow along with my running list of candidates here. Candidate filing ends at noon on Friday.