NC 2016 Gubernatorial Discussion Thread

[Heisenberg]

Oh look, McCrory is digging in deeper with his defense of HB2:

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This is your Eisenhower Republican, folks.

As I've stated, I don't think he moved to the right, but the country moved WAY to the left on transgender issues since 1995 (when he first took office as mayor).

[Heisenberg]

PPP also had Forest up by 3, but Democrats led the other two top row office races, Stein leads Newton by 4 for AG, and Blue leads Fowell by one for treasurer. I really hope Newton can somehow pull off an upset. I'm not really a fan of him, but I'd like to see Stein defeated because if he wins he'll be a strong member of the NC Democratic bench.

[Heisenberg]

^ Stein has massively outraised Newton. As Newton was one of HB2's biggest advocates, Stein has made that an issue. calling it "Buck's Bill."

Stein's narrow 6% primary victory over a some dude was a bit worrying to me, but he's since resigned from the legislature to campaign full time.

I think NC and MS are the only southern states that haven't elected Republican AG's since Reconstruction.

NC never has elected a GOP AG since Reconstruction, although I'm pretty sure they did have (an unelected) one for two years (a Jim Martin appointee, who lost election for a full term). That makes Mississippi the only former Confederate state to never have a Republican AG since Reconstruction, period. I do anticipate the GOP to pick up the MS AG spot when Hood vacates it.

North Carolina seems to have become pretty polarized. Newton has been performing poorly as he has been tied to the bill. Stein represents the new, progressive urban North Carolina (hailing from Raleigh), while Newton represents the old conservative North Carolina. If Stein wins, he likely becomes Governor in 2024, or Senator in 2022 (I called it), which I hope doesn't happen. I'm no SJW or trans activist, but HB2 was a big mistake for business perspective. The national GOP needs to rush to defend NC (and GA), both are definitely savable and crucial to a presidential victory.

[Heisenberg]

I have sympathies with some parts of HB2, but passing it in an election year was a terrible strategy for republicans. (My endorsement was with Cooper before HB2. McCrory is a blind partisan who needs to GTFO.)

I do have some respect for Cooper, he has been pretty popular and even ran unopposed in 2012 (I wonder who would have won a Cooper vs. McCrory race that year). McCrory was a great Charlotte mayor, and IMO has been a decent (but not exceptional) governor (he has moved a little to the right, but since his years as mayor, people as a whole have moved way left on LGBT issues and things have gotten more polarized and partisan). Yes, I do have sympathies with the religious right (and I think the left is going a bit too far), but the North Carolina Republicans were not smart and screwed things up with the timing, and now it looks like it will sting their party. They certainly should NOT have passed HB2 at that time. They should have either done it in 2014/15 (hoping it would die out by the 2016 election), or taken a gamble and waited until after the election.