Weekly Recap: What you need to know from a busy week of candidate filings
Takeaways from North Carolina's candidate filings
It’s been a hyperactive week in North Carolina politics. Here’s what you need to know from the week that was…
Surprise endorsement
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday shook up a congressional race by endorsing Addison McDowell, a little-known lobbyist running for the seat of retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning.
I detailed how the endorsement came to be, highlighting how Donald Trump Jr. helped set up the meeting, as U.S. Sen. Ted Budd put McDowell over the finish line.
The news sent shockwaves through the state, especially as the former president had given a shout-out to Bo Hines, whom he had supported in 2022, at a gala in New York on Saturday. Trump told the crowd, “Bo Hines is here. He’s going to be a congressman very shortly.”
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker is also vying for the seat, but had fallen out of Trump’s good graces after repeatedly refusing to bow out of last year’s U.S. Senate race against Budd.
Republican combat veteran Christian Castelli, plastic surgeon Mary Ann Contogiannis and High Point Mayor Jay Wagner are also vying for the seat.
Double-digit primaries
Two Republican primary races have a score of candidates, with the lieutenant governor’s contest having 11 candidates and the Triangle’s 13th Congressional District race having 14 candidates.
Candidates will be listed on ballots in alphabetical order starting with the letter ‘D.’
13th Congressional District GOP Primary Race:
Kelly Daughtry
Marcus Dellinger
David Dixon
Brad Knott
Steve Loor
Josh McConkey
James Phillips
Siddhanth Sharma
Matt Shoemaker
Eric Stevenson
Fred von Canon
Kenny Xu
Chris Baker
DeVan Barbour
GOP Lt. Gov. Primary Race:
Rivera Douthit
Jeffrey Elmore
Allen Marshburn
Marlenis Hernandez Novoa
Jim O'Neill
Sam Page
Ernest Reeves
Hal Weatherman
Seth Woodall
Deanna Ballard
Peter Boykin
Democrats’ ground game
Of the 120 seats for NC House, 50 for NC Senate, 14 for U.S. House, 10 for Council of State races and four statewide judicial contests, a Democrat will be running in all but four of the 198 races I’ve been tracking: 3rd Congressional District, 6th Congressional District, NC House District 65 and NC House District 67. Of those races, one Republican automatically wins without any primary or general election challenges: state Rep. Jason Saine.
Meanwhile, Republicans left open 33 legislative seats. Of those, 24 Democrats automatically wins without any opposition:
Sen. Gale Adcock
Sen. Gladys Robinson
Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed
Sen. DeAndrea Salvador
Sen. Joyce Waddell
Rep. Deb Butler
Rep. Vernetta Alston
Rep. Marcia Morey
Rep. Zack Hawkins
Rep. Abe Jones
Rep. James Roberson
Rep. Frances Jackson
Rep. Cynthia Ball
Rep. Renée Price
Rep. Amos Quick
Rep. Kanika Brown
Rep. Mary Belk
Rep. Terry Brown
Future Rep. Julia Greenfield
Rep. Carolyn Logan
Rep. Becky Carney
Future Rep. Aisha Dew
Future Rep. Jordan Lopez
Future and former Rep. Brian Turner
Dem, GOP frontrunners not agreeing to primary debates
On Thursday, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson formally entered the gubernatorial race. He’s competing against State Treasurer Dale Folwell and trial lawyer Bill Graham, whom substantially trail Robinson in the polls. Robinson said he won’t debate them.
“I’m not gonna allow those guys to use me to get a stage,” Robinson told reporters.
On the Democratic side, Attorney General Josh Stein declined to commit to any debates, telling reporters, “I am at this point very actively traveling around the state listening from North Carolina voters. I think we need to listen before we talk, but I’m always happy to talk.”
Stein faces four primary opponents, with the most prominent rival being former NC Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan. The other Democrats running are Chrelle Booker, Gary Foxx and Marcus Williams.
No Berger primary challenge
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page was seriously mulling a primary challenge to Senate leader Phil Berger. Page sought to appeal to conservatives who strongly opposed Berger’s efforts to expand gambling in the state.
On Wednesday, Axios reported on a shadow campaign seemingly aimed at getting Page to oust Berger. The report was met with great frustration from Berger’s campaign.
Berger and Page privately met on Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon, Page submitted his paperwork for lieutenant instead of primarying Berger.
Asked if he had cut a deal with Berger, Page replied, “I don’t make deals with criminals. And I don’t make deals with anybody else.”
Hours later, Berger’s campaign submitted a complaint with the State Board of Elections, accusing a clandestine group of unlawful electioneering activity.
“The law does not allow individuals to anonymously interfere with the North Carolina elections by paying to send attack messages to voters from an unregistered political committee,” the letter says.
It’s worth noting that as Berger advocates for greater transparency and exposing potential unlawful activity, he helped lead an effort just months ago to amend the budget in such a way that now enables lawmakers to sell and destroy communications as they see fit— an erosion of open records laws overwhelmingly supported by a public that wants lawmakers to be accountable.
On Thursday, I re-upped a public records request I made that had gone unanswered for nearly three months.
Berger’s office replied, noting that the request should’ve been made to their office instead of the Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble. (I do also still have other pending requests with Berger’s office) aimed at bringing to light records related to casinos and changes to the state’s open records laws.
Democratic infighting
Two Democratic incumbents saw last-minute primary challenges, with their opponents coming out of the shadows on the final day of candidate filing on Friday.
Democratic state Rep. Michael Wray of Northampton County is facing a challenge from Rodney Pierce, a Halifax County social studies teacher and historian.
Meanwhile, James Adams of High Point filed a challenge to Democratic state Rep. Cecil Brockman of Guilford County. Adams is a former president of the High Point branch of the NAACP.
Wray and Brockman are known for working across the aisle to the frustration of some in their party. Brockman has also frustrated his caucus by being routinely missing in action, absences on 44% of voting days this year.
Election 2026
1,055 days: That’s how far in advance of the 2026 general election Democratic U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel announced his plans to run U.S. Senate.
Nickel made the announcement in Cary on Thursday, telling reporters he wouldn’t seek reelection to the U.S. House next year due to redistricting.
Candidate list
My running candidate list is now complete. The comprehensive list of candidates is available here for your viewing.
Welcome newbies!
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I shall return to folks’ feed soon with another edition.