Under the Dome: NC’s health director steps down; ballot challenges prompt 17-hour protest
Good morning and welcome to the Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Emily Vespa. First up, a dispatch from Kyle Ingram.
Standing outside between the North Carolina State Capitol building and the offices of the state Supreme Court, a group of bundled-up organizers planned a simple (yet lengthy) protest of Republicans’ attempts to throw out votes cast in November’s Supreme Court race:
Reading aloud the names of all 60,000 voters whose ballots were challenged.
“We really need to do something to focus on these voters,” Beth Kendall, one of the organizers, said. “Because they’re real people — and they’re just getting lumped into this.”
The challenges come from Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, who appears to have lost his race for the high court to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs. She leads by 734 votes following two recounts of the results.
Griffin argues that the state improperly allowed over 60,000 potentially ineligible voters to participate in the election and he’s asking the courts to invalidate those ballots.
“It’s 100% anti-democratic,” Kendall said. “... People are very wary of politics in general and whenever you do things like this, it just shows it to be less transparent.”
The reading began at 6 a.m. on Tuesday with plans to continue until 11 p.m.
While Kendall said the group likely wouldn’t be able to finish reading all 60,000 names within this time frame, they still planned to release a video within the next few days in which they say all of the names.
TOP STATE HEALTH OFFICIAL STEPS DOWN
North Carolina’s state health director and chief medical officer, Dr. Betsey Tilson, will step down Friday after more than seven years in the role.
“It’s time for me to rest a little, renourish my public servant soul, so that I can come back to whatever is next with a full soul,” Tilson said in an interview Tuesday.
During Tilson’s tenure as a top official at the state Department of Health and Human Services, she helped lead the department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Helene. The pandemic was especially challenging to navigate because what we knew about the virus was rapidly evolving, she said.
Tilson also spearheaded efforts to reduce gun violence, increase access to contraception and address social needs linked to health outcomes, including through North Carolina’s first-of-its-kind Healthy Opportunities Pilots.
The program, launched in 2022, uses Medicaid funding to pay for social services such as housing support or healthy food delivery in three regions of North Carolina. It’s premised on the theory that improving people’s overall health and wellbeing can reduce their health care costs.
As of November 2024, over 35,000 people had enrolled in the pilots. An interim evaluation found the pilots led to fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations among enrollees, and it saved an average of $85 per person monthly in health care spending. Tilson said the program’s success stories are some of the most memorable moments from her time at the department.
“It still brings tears to my eyes when I hear those stories,” Tilson said. “To know that I was part of something that truly changed someone’s life, it is just the most profound experience to be able to have, and just [an] absolute privilege.”
Dr. Kelly Kimple, acting director of the Division of Public Health, is serving as the interim state health director and chief medical officer, a NCDHHS spokesperson said.
WHAT ELSE WE’RE READING
Former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s chief of staff was shot in the neck on New Year’s Day in Winston-Salem, WUNC reports. A spokesperson for the conservative advocacy group that called attention to the incident said she’s recovering.
Today’s newsletter was by Emily Vespa and Kyle Ingram. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
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This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
