Weekly Recap: GOP budget holdup, casino uproar and a first governor's debate
Sate lawmakers advanced several bills this week. One notable exception: the budget. Senate Republicans are now seeking another avenue to advance gambling expansion, despite resistance in the House.
It’s been an incredibly busy week in North Carolina politics. Let’s break it down:
🎰Budget hits delay over gambling expansion
Budget negotiations hit a new snag this week. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger wanted the creation of casinos in rural parts of North Carolina to be added into the state budget. He said he had an understanding with House Speaker Tim Moore that it would be included with majority support. Moore said, however, that he lacked the votes within the chamber, let alone his 72-member GOP caucus, to make gambling expansion possible.
Over the weekend, negotiators have worked out a possible solution: Taking Medicaid expansion and gambling expansion out of the state budget and including them in a separate bill.
“GOP demand for passage of their backroom casino deal in exchange for a state budget and Medicaid expansion is the most brutally dishonest legislative scheme I’ve seen in my 3+ decades,” Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “People are right to be suspicious. Something has a grip on Republican leaders and it’s not the people of NC.”
According to Moore, 30 Republicans refused to support a budget that included gambling expansion, suggesting at least 42 Republicans would support a standalone bill. If all members are present, the GOP would need at least 19 Democrats on board with the standalone bill. Even that may not be enough, however, as Cooper could still choose to veto the plan.
CBS17 obtained a draft copy of the standalone bill, which didn’t include legalizing video lottery terminals in bars and restaurants, though that could become a part of a final bill.
The bottom line: The budget language is ever so close to emerging, but this has been the case for weeks. Regardless, it appears we can very well see a budget any day now. Will this finally be the week where the GOP-controlled legislature gets its act together on a now 12-week overdue budget? We shall see.
🎙️Takeaways from the first Republican debate
Five Republicans are presently running for governor. Three attended a Cary debate on Tuesday night held by the Wake County Republican Party.
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, State Treasurer Dale Folwell and former healthcare executive Jesse Thomas addressed a small crowd, while Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and former state Sen. Andy Wells didn’t attend.
You can read my more in-depth takeaways from the debate here. The two biggest things to know: Folwell highlighted his biggest hurdle in the campaign: enthusiasm. Meanwhile, all attendees sought to make a stark contrast with Robinson, arguing that the lieutenant governor would hurt the party’s chances in a general election.
“We should be sick and tired of losing,” Thomas said of recent GOP gubernatorial defeats. “This means that a vote for Mr. Robinson in the primary is like throwing a vote away because he is unelectable in the general due to his outrageous and bigoted statements.”
Republicans have only held the Governor’s Mansion for four years since 1993, when Gov. Pat McCrory served from 2013 to 2017.
During a four and a half minute opening statement, Folwell pulled out six props from behind his seat to illustrate his life story, a sign that he’s struggling to succinctly articulate his theory of the case as a candidate for governor.
Walker, a former pastor and Greensboro-area congressman who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate last year, said he believes he’s best fit to take on the eventual Democratic nominee because, unlike other GOP candidates, he believes he has a policymaking track record.
⚖️Stein gets a challenger, Supreme Court gets a new justice
The Republican gubernatorial primary isn’t the only one with new developments. As of Monday, North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Michael Morgan was no longer on the state Supreme Court. A day later, he announced he’d challenge Attorney General Josh Stein for the Democratic nomination for governor.
Cooper has endorsed Stein’s candidacy. On Monday, Cooper appointed Court of Appeals Judge and former voting access advocate Allison Riggs to replace Morgan.
Riggs also announced on Monday that she’d run in 2024 to keep her seat on the high court. Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin is also vying for the seat.
🗳️Republicans advance bill to gain influence over state, local elections boards
On Tuesday, North Carolina House Republicans voted a bill out of the chamber’s Rules Committee that stands to greatly impact election administration in the state.
Under Senate Bill 749, the North Carolina State Board of Elections would move from a 3-2 Democratic majority to a 4-4 evenly split board. Meanwhile counties, would drop from five members to four, becoming evenly split politically at 2-2. The governor’s appointment powers would be fully transferred to the legislature under the bill.
The proposal would have also move the State Board of Elections, having it become an entity housed within the Secretary of State’s Office— a move Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall strongly opposes.
The bill now goes to the House floor, where a vote is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday After clearing the House, it would move to the Senate to sign off on changes the House made to the bill. Cooper has pledged to veto the bill. After a likely override allows the bill to become law, Republicans are likely to see a legal challenge to the new law.
Mark Harris, whose 2018 campaign was upended by absentee ballot scandal, mounts congressional comeback
North Carolina pastor Mark Harris announced on Tuesday that he’ll again run for Congress, his third attempt since 2016 and first since his 2018 run ended with an absentee ballot scandal in which supporters of his improperly gathered and submitted voters’ ballots.
During the 2018 election, Harris received 900 more votes in the 9th Congressional District than Democratic challenger Dan McCready. But absentee ballots Bladen and Robeson counties appeared to be suspicious, bringing Harris’ victory into question.
As the state investigated the matter, Harris’ son gave devastating testimony that resulted in his father saying a new election ought to be called.
Now, in his announcement, Harris is claiming Democrats stole the election from him and created a “manufactured scandal.”
The state elections board, which was led by Democrats, unanimously ordered a new election in 2019. It also voted by a 7-2 margin to hold off on certifying the November 2018 election in order to look into voting irregularities.
In July 2020, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, a Democrat, cleared Harris of wrongdoing and said he wouldn’t be charged in relation to a criminal election fraud investigation into the 2018 congressional election.
McCrae Dowless, a GOP operative for Harris’ 2018 campaign, was charged by federal prosecutors with absentee-ballot tampering in North Carolina. Dowless was sentenced to six months in federal prison, but had lung cancer and was never taken into custody. He died in 2022 before he was set to go on trial for more than a dozen state criminal counts.
📚5 essential reads
EXCLUSIVE: NC Senate releases bill that authorizes 4 more casinos in state (Michael Hyland, Rodney Overton // CBS17)
NC Senate votes to take nearly a thousand acres out of Guilford town (Colin Campbell // WUNC)
Wide-ranging strategy could solidify GOP dominance in the state legislature (Rusty Jacobs // WUNC)
Suspect charged with assault, gun on educational property in connection to second UNC lockdown (Emmy Martin and Ethan E. Horton // The Daily Tar Heel)
It’s hard to find a big city with voter turnout as low as Charlotte's. Would nonpartisan elections help? (Steve Harrison // WFAE)
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I shall return with another alert as news develops, particularly on the budget and gaming.