As Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina inches down in the polls—from a five-point lead in March to a three-point lead now—he's finally turning on HB2, the law dictating which bathrooms transgender individuals can use, reports Jennifer Bendery.
“Yeah, I’ve got issues,” Burr told The Huffington Post when asked if he has problems with his state’s new law, also known as HB 2.
“The legislature botched what they were trying to do,” he said. “It was far too expansive.”
Of course, Burr didn't have “issues” with it in April. First, he saw no economic downside to it. Then he testily declared he wasn't going to get into "that crap." (Nice word choice, Burr.) But hey, when you drop by a couple of points against your Democratic opponent, Deborah Ross, and new polls show how unpopular HB2 is among Tar Heel voters—voilà, it's time to throw your own state lawmakers under the bus in order to save your hide.
“When HB 2 began hurting working folks and businesses started leaving our state, [Burr] couldn’t be bothered. Now that he thinks it’s hurting his re-election chances, he’s changing his tune,” Ross spokesman Cole Leiter said in a statement.
The Senate blockade of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland also isn't playing well in the state, according to PPP:
58% of voters in the state think Merrick Garland deserves confirmation hearings for his nomination to the Court, compared to only 24% of voters who are opposed to that. By a 17 point margin voters say they're less likely to vote for a Senator who is opposed to hearings
Burr's HB2 comments come in the wake of a sustained campaign by state GOP lawmakers to muzzle criticism of the law. Looks like they didn't have a big enough stick to silence their own U.S. senator.
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