How important is the governor’s race in North Carolina? NBC News characterized the race in this fashion:
North Carolina is gearing up to host the most pivotal — and most expensive — governor’s race in the country this fall.
Leading in the polls and in fundraising, two statewide elected officials, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, are expected to advance to the general election to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
The stakes are high for North Carolina. With Republicans in solid control of the state Legislature, they have an opportunity to win a trifecta come November.
The stakes will also be high nationally. Of the 11 gubernatorial elections on the ballot this year, just two are occurring in presidential battleground states: North Carolina and New Hampshire.
North Carolina is expected to receive the most attention from national party figures and groups. As the larger state of the two, campaigns are more expensive to run in North Carolina. And voters in New Hampshire cast ballots for governor every two years rather than four.
The governor of North Carolina is the last bastion of the Democratic Party in the state, as the state legislature is grotesquely gerrymandered in favor of the GOP and the state Supreme Court has flipped to the Republican Party as well. It is the bridgehead from which we can slowly win back power in the swing state. If we lose this bridgehead, it will likely be a generation before we will win it back.
North Carolina is clearly the most important governor’s race happening in 2024!
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The governorship of North Carolina has been held by the Democratic Party since 2016. It will be a tight election in 2024 even with the opponent being Lt. Gov Mark Robinson. We need to keep the governor’s seat and break the supermajorities in the state legislature this year!
Josh Stein for North Carolina Governor
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What’s the Big Idea?
THIS RACE IS A TOSSUP, with an R+3 PVI
For a very long time after Reconstruction, North Carolina was an integral part of the Solid South. Through violence, intimidation, and laws such as poll taxes and grandfather clauses, the white ruling class ruled Jim Crow-era North Carolina with an iron fist. The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 is just one example of a bloody suppression history in the state.
When LBJ pushed through Civil Rights legislation, this image of North Carolina started to change. Republicans started winning House seats in the 1960s, and the odious and overt racist Jesse Helms came to ensconce himself in a Senate seat starting in 1972. It seemed like the last hurrah for Democrats when Jimmy Carter won the state’s electoral votes in 1976. North Carolina was solidly Republican after that, and through attrition, we lost many House seats — though the other Senate seat was salvaged for a while.
Things began to change in North Carolina when the Yankees invaded (their version, not mine) the Research Triangle and the Charlotte metro area. There was just enough residual conservative Democratic support plus new arrivals for Obama to win the state in 2008 in a mild shock. At the same time, the Jesse Helms Senate seat was recaptured by Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.
Sadly, other than with executive and judicial races, Democratic candidates have not had success statewide since 2008. Hagan lost her Senate seat in 2014 to now Sen. Thom Tillis. Our next candidate, State Sen. Cal Cunningham, couldn’t keep it in his pants in 2020 in an attempt to recapture that seat. Attempts at forcing out Burr also came up short in 2010 and 2016. Burr was replaced by Rep. Ted Budd in 2022. What looked to be a promising state for us has stalled, if not regressed.
In presidential elections, the best way to describe the state is a pink swing state, where we just cannot seem to find enough votes to win each time. Gov. Cooper won his race 51.5% to 47.0% in 2020, even as Trump won the state 49.9% to 48.6% at the same time. North Carolina is likely to be heavily contested once again, which should help Josh Stein against the nutty Mark Robinson.
Here's where races are won for us in the state of North Carolina.
- Research Triangle: We need gangbusters turnout in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill if we are to have any chance of winning statewide again. We need to scour these counties for every transplant and register them to vote. Previous margins haven’t been good enough, so we need more votes and higher margins here.
- City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County: Again, with a large and diversifying city and suburbs trending our way, it is imperative that we do exceptionally well here. The margins keep growing yet we need to find even more votes here.
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Smaller cities — Asheville, Piedmont Triad, Fayetteville, Wilmington: These areas lean Democratic or are swing areas in the state, and it is important that we either win them or run up the score as high as we can to offset what could easily be a slow-motion collapse in the rest of the state.
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Eastern Plains Black Belt: This area has been shrinking in population for decades as rural Black voters move away. It is important to get those remaining to turn out and support Stein to win the state. There is also a key House race in this area, which I have already covered here.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we will lose North Carolina.
- West of I-85: These areas (other than Asheville) are the core of the GOP support in the state. This is where former Rep. Madison Cawthorn and other odious representatives are from. If these places vote at a higher rate than the cities, we are in deep trouble.
- Outer Banks: This is retiree country, and also growing ever more conservative as military veterans move here to be near the huge bases in southeastern North Carolina. We don’t want these areas to show up as much as others in the state. If they have high numbers, we are in for a world of hurt.
- Lumbee Tribe/Sandhills Region: This area trended sharply to the right under Trump, and I doubt they are coming back to us any time soon. The area is socially conservative, rural and of the working class — all of which point to higher Trump support despite the diversity of the area.
- Rural Areas Between Charlotte/Piedmont Triad/Research Triangle: These regions of the state abandoned us long ago, and we need to keep down the margins as much as possible. Luckily, the area is primarily rural, but that just means that the GOP can count on a lot of votes from this region.
Who is Josh Stein?
Josh Stein went to Dartmouth for his education, and then spent some time teaching in Zimbabwe. He eventually graduated from Harvard Law School. Returning to North Carolina, he interned for a state representative and managed the John Edwards campaign for a successful 1998 Senate run. He drew the attention of then AG Roy Cooper and was appointed to an office under Cooper’s purview. He ran for and won a state senate seat in 2008 and won again in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
He chose to run for Attorney General himself in 2016, which is an office a Republican hasn’t won for over 100 years. He won re-election narrowly in 2020, and now is running to be the governor of North Carolina.
Most of this information comes from his campaign website.
- Veto Pen. The governor has a weak veto power which can be overridden by a three-fifths majority in the state legislature. Thanks to Turncoat Tricia Cotham, the GOP has such a supermajority. If we break that supermajority, Stein will be able to veto the worst legislation sent to him by the state legislature.
- Appointment Authority. Stein can appoint competent people to over 2400 positions in government or the judiciary in North Carolina, and most of them can be made without approval from the state legislature. The major positions require state senate approval still, but he can fill vacancies until the next session of the state legislature.
- Pardon Power. The governor has wide reaching pardon powers at his disposal. Stein would use the power correctly instead of pardoning his cronies or have conflicts of interest. Hypothetically speaking, he could use it to protect those providing or seeking abortions. He could also use it to pardon those convicted of marijuana offenses.
- Leading the National Guard. Stein will call the National Guard for natural disasters and in the case of other legitimate emergencies. He will make sure that the dual federal/state missions of the National Guard are fulfilled. Do you trust that Mark Robinson would do the same?
- Medicaid Expansion. North Carolina just recently expanded Medicaid, and the program and progress is likely fragile. Stein will continue implementing this expansion and try to improve upon it, including in rural locations which are becoming health care deserts. Stein will overhaul the mental health, behavioral health, and drug treatment systems in the state.
- Abortion Rights Ally. Much of the damage has been done already, but Stein will be a veto on further damage to women’s rights in the state. He will work to protect abortion seekers, those using IVF, and contraception access in the state.
- Education Advocate. Stein may not have a state legislature on his side when it comes to education, but he can still wield some power to shape education in the state. He can call for more funding, as NC is 49th out of 50 states in per pupil spending. He can audit and slow-walk the voucher schemes passed through the state legislature.
- Climate Crisis. Stein will put North Carolina on a path toward carbon neutrality by 2050. He will work to prepare the state for the impacts of climate change and natural disasters by investing in resilient infrastructure. He will continue to lead the transition to a clean energy economy that creates good-paying jobs and keeps North Carolina communities healthy and safe.
- Defending Democracy. Stein will make sure the rightful winner of the state gets the electoral votes in the 2024 election. He will veto further attempts at restricting the right to vote or other voter suppression schemes. He will do what he can to oppose the power grab by the state legislature over the powers of the executive branch.
Who is Mark Robinson?
Mark Robinson grew up in a broken home and was even in the foster care system for a while. He was in the Army Reserve, and then went to North Carolina A&T while working in furniture factories to make a living. He originally wanted to study history and become a teacher. That changed when he started reading Rush Limbaugh, and started attending Greensboro City Council meetings. One of his speeches on gun rights went viral, and he started talking on the national conservative circuit. He ran for Lt. Governor in 2020, and won that race. His rise was very quick in the North Carolina GOP.
Hoo boy. Read this section at your own risk, because Robinson makes TRUMP look sane. Though Trump did call him “Martin Luther King times two” at a recent North Carolina rally.
- Holocaust Denier and Anti-Semitic. Robinson wrote the following about the Holocaust on Facebook: “this foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash” and “There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the '6 million Jews' they murdered”. Here are some more remarks Robinson made about Jewish people on Facebook: He claimed that the Marvel movie Black Panther was "created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic Marxists" that was "only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets" (using a Yiddish word for "Black people"). He also agreed with the following statement: “The Rothschild family was one of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse" and a cabal of “Jewish international bankers” rules every country's central bank.”
- Calls for Political Violence. Robinson has made several calls for political violence in his social media posts and his speeches. To the NRA, he said, “I’ll tell anybody, I got them AR-15s at home and I like to go target shooting and all that. That’s not what they’re there for,” Robinson said. “I’m not ashamed to say it, I’m probably not supposed to say it, but I’m gonna say it anyway — I got them AR-15s in case the government gets too big for its britches,” he continued. “‘Cause I’m gonna fill the backside of them britches with some lead.” Robinson defended the Kent State Massacre of 1970, in which National Guardsmen killed several students at Ohio's Kent State University who were protesting the Vietnam War. “Tell our enemies on the other side of the aisle that will drag this nation down into a socialist hellhole that you will only do it as you run past me laying on the ground, choking on my own blood because I will not give up this nation to you!” Robinson bellowed. “It is not yours. You did not build it, you did not defend it, and you will not own it. We will. The Christian patriots of this nation will own this nation and rule this nation and help freedom survive for future generations.”
- Praise for Dictators. Robinson delivered remarks at a conference hosted by Moms for Liberty in which he encouraged the reading of the writings of several 20th-century dictators, stating, "Here's the thing....Whether you're talking about Hitler, whether you're talking about Mao, whether you're talking about Stalin, whether you're talking about Pol Pot, whether you're talking about Castro in Cuba, or whether you're talking about a dozen other despots all around the globe, it is time for us to get back and start reading some of those quotes."
- Conspiracy Theorist. Robinson, who is the state’s lieutenant governor, has said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the 1969 moon landing was fake and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job.” He’s “SERIOUSLY skeptical” of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. In lesser-noticed social media posts, Robinson has said that news coverage of police shootings is part of a media conspiracy “designed to push US towards their new world order.” He and his wife both liked a since-deleted Facebook comment that stated, “WWG1WGA are my ‘Identity’ letters,” a reference to the QAnon rallying cry “Where we go one, we go all.” He suggested that the 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria was orchestrated by billionaire Democratic philanthropist George Soros. This Republican state official has also routinely pushed the “New World Order” conspiracy theory, which involves forced depopulation programs, a secretive ruling class of reptiles and “elite globalists” on a satanic mission to bring about the “End Times.” Finally, in 2020, Robinson asserted that COVID was a "globalist" conspiracy to defeat Trump, and dismissed the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, "The looming pandemic I'm most worried about is SOCIALISM."
- Election Denier. Robinson denies that President Biden won the 2020 election. He has met with Ginni Thomas and the radical sedition group Frontliners for Liberty in March 2021, just weeks after 1/6. He went on to defend the violent attack on the Capitol again in remarks on education, though he did also state that the “small minority who did very bad things should be punished”. As recently as December 2023, Robinson was also downplaying the violent attack on the Capitol, telling a local GOP club that it was “this minor little thing.”
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Cultural Cuckoo.
Robinson is also a regular proponent of conspiracies claiming the music industry is being run by Satan and the Illuminati. He has called Beyoncé’s music “satanic” and described Jay-Z as “demonic” and sent by Satan to turn people away from Jesus. That’s the tamest part about them too. He also promoted various conspiracy theories, including claims that the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby
were orchestrated by "the Illuminati
"; that Ellen DeGeneres was "proudly serving in Satan's army"; and that the 2016 Summer Olympics
featured "occult symbols." In one instance, Robinson
warned on Facebook that the reality-TV shows “American Idol,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “Chopped” are a sign of an impending New World Order. He said they remind him of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s “Show Trials. Where people were lined up and judged then executed.”
- He-Man Woman Hater. Robinson has accused actresses involved in the #MeToo movement of soliciting sex. He also has said "The only thing worse than a woman who doesn't know her place, is a man who doesn't know his.". Next, he also claims "I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn't vote...". His next offensive statement is “We are called to be led by men. God sent women out … when they had to do their thing, but when it was time to face down Goliath, [He] sent David. Not Davita, David.” Finally he says, “Feminism was planted in the ‘Garden,’ watered by the devil, and is harvested and sold by his minions.”
- Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk. Robinson has made many controversial statements about race. He claims that BLACK people owe reparations to white people. Robinson called the Civil Rights Movement a communist plot to "subvert capitalism" and "to subvert free choice". He has also called Martin Luther King, Jr. a "communist" and "ersatz pastor". In a 2013 post, he said that the slogan "white pride" was not racist, writing: "I am TIRED of blacks and Mexicans running around shouting about being proud of their race." In other posts, Robinson mocked Chinese accents; referred to African Americans using ethnic slurs (including "muddle headed negroes," "apes," and "a monkey"). He has also written many more controversial statements, so many that I cannot cover them all. Here’s a link to even more about prominent Black figures.
- Religious Bigot. Robinson has been consistently vocal about his denigration of LBGTQ+ Americans. After the Pulse Nightclub shooting, he wrote, "Homosexuality is STILL an abominable sin and I WILL NOT join in 'celebrating gay pride’. He’s also stated, “There is no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality or any of that filth. And yes, I called it filth. And if you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me about it.” (Later, facing backlash: “We will not be intimidated. … The language I used, I am not ashamed of it.”). Again, he has made so many controversial statements that I cannot cover them all.
- Transphobic Remarks. In addition to the comments above, Robinson has saved particular vitriol for Americans who are nonbinary or transgender. On nonbinary people, “Nonbinary people, meanwhile, should use the restroom “outside with the dog.” On transgenderism, “[If] all of a sudden Saturday you feel like a woman and you want to go in the women’s bathroom in the hall, you will be arrested, or whatever we got to do to you.” Robinson accused people "who support this mass delusion called transgenderism" of seeking "to glorify Satan". He has given many speeches on the topic that are extremely anti-trans.
- Islamophobic Remarks. Robinson has accused American Muslims of being "INVADERS" who "refuse to assimilate to our ways while demanding respect they have not earned". He has also said this about Islam: “Sad Fact: ‘Religious freedom’ in this country now means Muslims are free to do as they please and anyone who says anything about it is a bigot.” In 2017, Robinson referred to Linda Sarsour, a hijab-wearing American political activist and co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March, as a “mummy wrapped anti-American blabber mouth.” “Someone should open an Islamic theme park. That would be a blast,” he posted in June 2017. In 2016, he wrote that Muslims “sure LOVE ‘peace’ …. they like cuttin’ folks into pieces and blowin’ folks into pieces….”
- Obama Derangement Syndrome. Robinson has promoted birther conspiracies about Barack Obama. Robinson called Obama "a worthless, anti-American atheist". He has posted that Barack Obama was a "top ranking demon". He has misgendered Michelle Obama in many social media posts, such as this one. In October 2018, on a day when authorities intercepted pipe bombs intended for President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CNN, Robinson suggested on Facebook that they had done it to themselves. “If you can’t beat ’em, bomb yourself,” he wrote. He followed that with another Facebook post claiming, “This entire ‘bombing’ story is faker than a $20 Rolex sold on a New York City sidewalk.” Months later, another post on his Facebook page parroted the conspiracy theory that the pipe bomb incident was “manufactured” and “fake.”
- Christian Nationalist. During a campaign speech earlier this month, Robinson declared that he was elevated from relative obscurity to the lieutenant governor’s office in 2020 because he was chosen by God. “God has opened the door,” Robinson said. “It’s my job to walk through it.” Robinson is a regular participant in “pastor gatherings” organized by the American Renewal Project, an organization run by Christian nationalist political operative David Lane. Robinson declared that the United States has been, is, and always will be a “Christian nation” and that anyone who doesn’t like it is free to leave: Robinson proclaimed that the solution to stopping school shootings is to have public schools teach that Jesus is the only way to salvation.
- Forced Birth Maniac. Robinson is against all abortions without exception, except for when he needed to pay for one. Referring to abortion, he also wrote that the African-American community "murders its children by the millions." He also has said, “I don’t care if you’re 24 hours pregnant. I don’t care if you’re 24 weeks pregnant. I don’t care. If you kill that young’un, it is murder.” Robinson also states, “If I had all the power right now, let’s say I was the governor and had a willing legislature, we could pass a bill saying you can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.”, “Once you make a baby, it's not your body anymore - it's y'all's body.", and “Abortion is a scourge that needs to be run out of this land."
- 2nd Amendment Zealot. Robinson sits on the board of the NRA. After the 2018 Parkland shooting, Robinson mocked the teenage survivors, repeatedly disparaging them in personal terms, calling the Parkland survivors "spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN"; "spoiled little bastards"; and "media prosti-tots". He has additionally stated that mass shootings are "karma" for abortion, and has baselessly placed blame for them on gun safety activists.
- Climate Crisis Denier. Robinson frequently denies the climate crisis is happening. "We have now allowed those folks to dictate what we do based on pseudoscience, junk science that has not proven a single solitary thing,” he said in a speech last year at a Baptist church. He’s also said, "These people that are at the college telling your young people that it's the climate change is gonna kill us all — these people, I'm gonna say it right now, they are liars,” he said, raising his voice to a shout. “Liars!”
- Wants the ACA Fully Repealed. Mark Robinson called the ACA "a concentrated effort to enslave everybody" on a show where the "Bloodlines of the Illuminati” is shown on screen. NC expanded Medicaid to 600,000, but he called for a full ACA repeal "with no replacement."
"I just want REPEAL! When it comes to insurance/healthcare the federal government can kick rocks,” he wrote on Facebook in 2017. “Healthcare’ is neither a ‘right’ or a ‘privilege,’ it’s a RESPONSIBILITY that lies with the individual.” In another instance, he posted a photo on Facebook that showed “Repeal and Replace” but put a line through “and replace.” “The Federal Government DOES NOT Need To Be Involved With Health Insurance,” he wrote to go along with the photo.
- Dismantling Education. Robinson has nothing but disdain for public schools. On the elementary school curriculum, Robinson said: In those grades, we don’t need to be teaching social studies. We don’t need to be teaching science. We surely don’t need to be talking about equity and social justice.” He has also said, “Before you know it, traditional public schools might be a thing of the past.” His book talks about the need for voucher programs and more charter schools. “We might see a mass exodus from the public schools entirely,” the book states.
“If those public schools are not doing the job for our students and people to go elsewhere that should be their right.” He is for cutting the education budget of “bloated bureaucracy”. Robinson is for corporal punishment as well.
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Book Banning and Curriculum Police. Robinson set up a snitch line. The taskforce titled “Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students” (F.A.C.T.S.) will receive complaints from parents, students and others about perceived bias, inappropriate material or indoctrination they see or experience in schools through a portal on Robinson’s website.
- Deadbeat and Bankrupt. Robinson has declared personal bankruptcy three times, and has been sued numerous times for failure to pay debts. He failed to pay taxes for seven years, and has had liens placed on him as recently as 2012. He has claimed he has paid all of his back taxes, writing it off as being ‘not very good at math’.
- Campaign Finance Violations Galore. Upon review of Robinson’s 2020 campaign expenses, Hall said he found “illegal cash donations; contributions in illegal amounts and from illegal donors; illegal cash withdrawals; illegal credit card charges and illegal expenses; illegal disclosure of financial transactions,” all of which he described in detail in his original complaint to the Board. Such violations equal $500,000 or more, which is breathtakingly large for any campaign.
- Charity Chicanery. Robinson and his wife own a charity, Balanced Nutrition, that aims to provide balanced meals to child care centers. The charity is supposed to be nonprofit, but has an unbalanced budget and too high administrative costs. Robinson’s wife also told clients that it would shut down during Robinson’s campaign for governor, but she told her clients that it would not shut down. The state DHHS is investigating his charity further.
How Can You Help?
North Carolina needs some help from across America to defeat Lt. Gov Mark Robinson. He is the logical terminus of the MAGA movement and about the nuttiest politician this side of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. As a concerned citizen, you could donate to AG Josh Stein, volunteer for him, or choose to boost him on social media.
There’s this one weird trick both the GOP and the Democratic Party can use in North Carolina, though it benefits the GOP more because corporations like Republican policy more.
That being said, the individual money race is still important for both candidates. Josh Stein raised $2.19M in the last reporting period, which ended in February. He also has a hefty $12.71M saved up to unleash on Robinson — and that figure is likely higher now! For his part, Robinson raised $745k during the same time period and has a smaller $4.46M saved up for his campaign. Stein still needs donations, as this race is one we cannot afford to lose!
If you live in North Carolina, there is a feeling of excitement as Biden looks to campaign in and contest the state in the 2024 election. Volunteering for Josh Stein helps our other statewide candidates, our President, and of course our candidates down the ballot too! Let’s go out there and flip North Carolina like we did in 2008!
A last way you can help any campaign is through promoting their message on social media. This is more important than you might otherwise think, because surveys show that most people get their news off of social media feeds now. That means they are wallowing in disinformation and misinformation unless we help set the record straight. Robinson is one of those candidates where the record needs to be set straight.
Josh Stein has a healthy 61.2k followers on what was once Twitter. That’s fairly good for a state wide official who isn’t the governor, but we can definitely get that number higher. He’s using it mostly to highlight his vision for North Carolina, as others have been doing a good job of attacking Robinson and all that the opposition represents. Here is a little more background on Stein and his family.
Stein also has a robust Facebook following, with 46.4k users choosing to follow this candidate. He doesn’t use it nearly as much as his Twitter account, but it still gets plenty of updates and posts on it. Here, he is standing up for women’s rights, which has been a powerful message for our side thanks to the Dobbs decision.
Help spread the word today by following Josh Stein and boosting his campaign in the critical realm of social media.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has won statewide before, so writing him off is not the smart play. We’ll have to hold him accountable for each one of his asinine statements and deluded conspiracy theories, and we have to do it in a way that makes him not appear as a victim. No doubt he will attempt to sanitize his image now that he is on the precipice of running the state. We MUST NOT allow that to happen!
Attorney General Josh Stein also has won statewide twice before, so he is the perfect foil for Robinson. He will not take this race lightly, as he knows how difficult it is to win statewide in North Carolina as a member of the Democratic Party. He has a vision for a better North Carolina than Mark Robinson does. Even if he is faced with a hostile state legislature, holding the governor chair still is important, and Stein can still do amazing things from that perch.
Josh Stein for North Carolina Governor
Campaign Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | DONATE | Volunteer
The governorship of North Carolina has been held by the Democratic Party since 2016. It will be a tight election in 2024 even with the opponent being Lt. Gov Mark Robinson. We need to keep the governor’s seat and break the supermajorities in the state legislature this year!