Some readers may be aware that the national democratic socialists have published a “post-mortem” to explain why they lost so severely during the 2024 election cycle.
WRAL reports that the report spoke favorably of the manner in which Governor Stein has led the state of North Carolina:
It said Stein was smart to “focus less on abstract issues and identity politics, and connect with voters on the issues they say matter most, including the economy, disaster relief, and addressing housing affordability.”
Morgan Jackson, a longtime Democratic strategist in North Carolina who worked on Stein’s 2024 campaign, said they knew Republicans would make crime and immigration big pieces of that campaign and were ready to counter that messaging.
One of Stein’s first campaign ads in 2024 said that “fentanyl must be stopped at the Mexican border” and featured two local sheriffs endorsing him.
It should be noted that Stein has only been governor for 16 months. However, identity politics is deeply embedded in the democratic socialists’ approach; and Stein supports it. He might not discuss it very much, but the manner in which state agencies are managed and the veto pen is deployed speak volumes. He is a big supporter of racial identity politics and the LGBTQ agenda.
He might talk a good game about disaster relief, but the people of western North Carolina have faced enormous red tape from the state after Helene.
Housing affordability? He has done nothing to address the real drivers of increased housing prices– corporations buying single homes, Joe Biden’s stoking of inflation and other issues. He views housing affordability as a justification for bigger government and higher spending.
He might say he wants Fentanyl stopped at the border, but he did everything he could as State Attorney General to interfere with Trump’s efforts to solidify border security. He might pose for photographs with socialist local county sheriffs, but he did nothing as State Attorney General to eradicate the problem of revolving door justice.
In other words, the national Democrats are implicitly recommending that their candidates deceive citizens as Governor Stein has.
The NC Governor’s power and authority has always been weak. In the last 10 years it has been diminished even more. These power shifts reflect the vision of North Carolina’s founders, who deliberately made the state’s governor weak and its legislature strong to prevent abuses.
Josh Sein is a weak leader who has had his veto overridden several times.
The Republican control of the Supreme Court makes it less likely Stein can interfere with legislative appointments .
His record on storm recovery is no better than Roy Coopers’, which was awful.
Hopefully he won’t have a second term.
I agree with every statement you make, Fred. However, I don’t know if the Republicans will have a candidate who can defeat Stein if he runs for re-election.
(It is always possible he might be tapped to run on the Democrats’ national ticket or for US Senate in 2028. They seem to like the way he is able to deceive voters.)