North Carolina's GOP governor, Pat McCrory, is now hopelessly tethered to the anti-LGBTQ law he signed within hours of its passage last week, while his Democratic challenger, Attorney General Roy Cooper, has completely distanced himself from it. The AP—the largest news organization in the world (i.e. this will be read far and wide)—details how the new law, HB2, has overtaken the state's race for governor.
Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, seeking re-election in what's anticipated to be one of the nation's most heated and expensive campaigns, is doubling down on a sweeping law he signed last week preventing local governments from protecting people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity when they use public accommodations such as hotels and restaurants. People also would have to use multi-stall bathrooms that match their birth certificates at state agencies and public schools and universities.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, the governor's Democratic challenger, announced Tuesday that his office won't defend this "national embarrassment" against a federal lawsuit filed by two transgender men, a lesbian law professor and civil rights groups. [...] Citing criticism from a growing list of major corporations and sports organizations, he said: "It will set North Carolina's economy back if we don't repeal it." [...]
The campaigns of McCrory and Cooper already have raised more than $13 million combined and the Republican Governors Association has reserved $4 million in ad time for the fall. Cooper has leveraged Democratic frustration over the Republicans' control of state government into a formidable campaign operation, outraising McCrory three reporting periods in a row.
McCrory has now whined repeatedly about a "vicious nationwide smear campaign," as he did again in a video released Tuesday evening. Cooper hit back almost immediately after the video's release.
"It is unfortunate that Governor McCrory has decided to mislead North Carolinians about the facts of this law. His new law clearly strikes down protections that existed for employees of state agencies, universities, and local government across the state.
"Instead of misleading North Carolinians, he should do his job, focus on repealing this law, and reverse the damage being done to our economy."
McCrory ran for governor as a relatively moderate pro-business former mayor of Charlotte, the very city responsible for passing LGBTQ protections that his law has now obliterated. The more he's forced to defend this heinous law, the further off-message he gets—his entire platform, in fact, is being blown to smithereens before a national audience. And the more revenue the state loses, the more people will see McCrory as a turncoat; though closer to the truth, this battle has revealed his true colors: a right winger, full stop.