NC governor’s race: Stein, Robinson court Lumbee, Robinson’s speech, latest on Cooper’s future
Welcome to the governor’s race edition of our Under the Dome politics newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, and Democratic candidate for governor, Attorney General Josh Stein, were in the same area campaigning this weekend during Lumbee Homecoming.
Robinson’s campaign announced Saturday that he would have a meet and greet during the Lumbee Tribe’s homecoming in Pembroke. The Republican National Committee opened a community center there in 2022, The Robesonian reported.
There is only one Native American member of the General Assembly: Republican state Rep. Jarrod Lowery, who represents Robeson County. Before Lowery’s 2022 election, the only legislative member who is Native American was former Rep. Charles Graham, a Democrat.
Stein, meanwhile, posted on social media on Saturday afternoon that he had enjoyed being part of the Lumbee Homecoming events.
Stein and Robinson are rarely in the same place outside of monthly Council of State meetings held in downtown Raleigh. Both have offices in Raleigh within blocks of each other. The Council of State meeting scheduled for July 9 has been canceled.
Robinson’s latest controversial church speech
Robinson made national news for his controversial comments in a church speech again this week.
Robinson gave a speech about freedom on June 30 at Lake Church in Bladen County, where the pastor is also a county commissioner. Robinson was talking in the context of World War II at first, but then references police, too, and not just war when he talks about fighting “wicked people.”
I watched the church’s two-hour long livestream of the service that includes Robinson’s full speech and a sitdown conversation with the pastor who said the devil is behind President Joe Biden. My story also includes reaction from Robinson’s campaign, Stein’s campaign and the White House.
Biden, Harris and Cooper still getting mentioned
Much of the political world’s focus this past week has been fallout over President Joe Biden’s debate performance with former President Donald Trump. Biden went immediately back out on the campaign trail, first to Raleigh and making his way to Madison, Wisconsin, on July 5 for a rally and sit down interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. Biden doubled down on saying he is confident he’ll stay in the race and defeat Trump, even as polling has showed him in a close race trailing Trump, who is now a convicted felon after a hush money trial.
Some Democrats have called for Biden to step aside, so the news cycle continues as those politicians continue to talk about it. If Biden were to step aside as Democrats including Virginia Sen. Mark Warner have suggested, Vice President Kamala Harris would likely replace him, and the next step after that would be picking her VP. Which brings us to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who is finishing out his second term and has not announced what he wants to do next beyond “public service.”
After Cooper and other Democratic governors met with Biden and Harris on Independence Day Eve, Cooper issued a statement that he will continue to work helping deliver North Carolina votes to the president.
CNN reports that top national Democrats are looking at Cooper as a possible choice for VP if Harris were to become the nominee instead of Biden. As I’ve noted in previous reporting, Cooper and Harris have known each other for many years, are both former attorneys general and longtime public supporters of each other.
But Biden seems definitive — at least as of Saturday evening when I filed this newsletter — that he is not leaving the race.
Stay informed about #ncpol
Don’t forget to follow our Under the Dome tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. Our new episode posts Monday morning, and I’m joined by Avi Bajpai, Korie Dean and Emmy Martin. We talk about our recent coverage of abortion, Robinson and how the General Assembly controls the outcome. Plus what people at the Raleigh Biden rally said about the president.
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