Wilson Whirlwind
North Carolina elections officials were split over whether to allow Wilson County sheriff candidate Bobby Knight to run in the GOP primary.
I’ll say it now: I can’t stand talking about the weather. It’s one of my stranger pet peeves (and I do have many).
But it’s looking like a nasty storm will hit this weekend. Stay off the roads if you can help it. And in the words of former Gov. Pat McCrory, “don’t put your stupid hat on” (more history on McCrory’s many memes here).
Want updates on snow conditions over the weekend? Go follow Ethan Clark on X.
If you make it to the bottom of today’s newsletter, you won’t be disappointed. I may have done the single most important data-driven reporting of my young career. But before we get to that, I must begin by unpacking a complicated election protest.
🧑⚖️ Roll Call
Untangling a messy sheriff’s race
Democrats don’t want to repeat a 2024 mistake
Legal Aid sees staffing cuts
One candidate’s divisive food obsession
I’m Sorry, Wilson!
The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted along party lines this week against casting away a sheriff candidate in Wilson County.
In a 3-2 vote, the Republican majority allowed Bobby Knight (not the ill-tempered basketball coach) to run for sheriff in the GOP primary, even though he switched his party registration to the Democratic side for five hours on the first day of candidate filing last month.
Knight says he mistakenly switched parties while trying to update his address and sought to swiftly correct the problem when he discovered it. Knight’s opponents argue that the party switch was deliberate and that he only changed back to Republican after he realized who was running in the Democratic primary. State law says candidates must be members of a party for 90 days before they can file to run in that party’s primary.
Since then, state and county elections administrators have been in a contentious jurisdictional fight over how to interpret that law.
