State Senator Erica Smith (D-NC) is finishing her second term in the state Senate and will not be returning next year, having run for U.S. Senate and lost in the primary to Cal Cunningham.
On the way out the door, she’s dropping a bomb.
Sen. Smith — while still a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus — just endorsed Sonja Nichols, the conservative Republican running against Sen. Jeff Jackson (D — Mecklenburg).
Sonja Nichols is taking immediate advantage of the high-profile endorsement in her competitive race to unseat Sen. Jackson. Sen. Smith is now the first featured endorsement on Nichols’ website.
With her endorsement, Sen. Smith is effectively pushing back against the major effort for Democrats to take the majority — a goal that is likely out of reach if Sen. Jackson is not re-elected.
Sen. Smith is also elevating a candidate who is opposed to major Democratic priorities such as Medicaid expansion and reproductive choice. Notably, Nichols is also a supporter of President Trump.
Sen. Smith gave no explanation for her endorsement, but Sen. Jeff Jackson was reportedly under recruitment by the DSCC to challenge Sen. Tillis when it chose not to support Sen. Smith. When the DSCC eventually supported Cal Cunningham, Sen. Smith stated, "Sen. Schumer, for whatever reason, did not want an African American running for Senate in North Carolina.”
Sen. Smith also recently surprised her progressive following by voting to approve Republican megadonor Art Pope for an appointment to the UNC Board of Governors. (Sen. Jackson joined almost all the Democrats in voting against the appointment.)
According to her Twitter bio, Sen. Smith plans on running for U.S. Senate again in 2022.
Sen. Jackson is also frequently mentioned as a potential U.S. Senate candidate in 2022.
This story will be updated.
UPDATE 9/17: After a barrage of social media criticism, Sen. Smith has issued a statement on Twitter, copied below. In it, she begins by partially backtracking on her endorsement of Nichols, but then speaks at length about her support for Nichols and says Nichols “shares my core values.”
As of September 20th, Sen. Smith’s endorsement remains featured on Nichols’ website.
Nichols is also promoting Sen. Smith’s endorsement on Twitter, with no pushback from Sen. Smith.
Update 9/18: When reached for comment via email, Sen. Jeff Jackson stated:
“I was surprised. I regard her as a friend. We've sat next to each other on the senate floor for the last two years and we've never had a cross word. She's never told me that she's disagreed with me on anything, ever. We had a perfectly pleasant conversation as of a few weeks ago, the last time we were in session. If she has any concerns, she never expressed them to me. I still have genuine respect for her and I wish her well.
Update 9/22: In response to a question on her Facebook page asking if Sen. Smith had requested that Nichols remove her endorsement from her website, Sen. Smith wrote: “You cannot see beyond your sexist male privilege. Funny that you are not attempting to deal with the real issues. Sonja [Nichols] has freedom of speech- you cannot take that away from her. Stop being a hypocritical bully….. do something better with your time.”
Here is a screenshot of the exchange, which is still on Sen. Smith’s Facebook page: