Under the Dome governor’s race: Robinson supports UNC Chancellor Roberts, plus candidates on ICE
Welcome to your governor’s race edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, Capitol bureau chief at The News & Observer.
We are six months away from Election Day, and about a week away from a runoff election for two Republican statewide races to determine who faces Democrats in the general election for lieutenant governor and auditor. All 10 Council of State positions, which includes the governor, are up for election.
The Democratic candidate for governor, Attorney General Josh Stein, will be followed by either Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop or Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson.
For lieutenant governor, it will be Democratic state Sen. Rachel Hunt versus whichever Republican wins the May 14 runoff: Jim O’Neill, who is Forsyth County’s district attorney, or Hal Weatherman, who was former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest’s chief of staff and campaign manager. I have a story coming very soon about that runoff.
The governor and lieutenant governor do not run as a joint ticket, and for Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s entire two terms, the LG has been a Republican: Forest and now Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is Stein’s opponent in the governor’s race.
With the General Assembly now in session, we can likely expect Robinson and Stein to share their opinions on pending legislation, given that whichever one wins will be sent the bills to sign or veto.
Stein and Robinson on the ICE bill
This past week, the Republican-sponsored bill requiring sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved quickly through committee and passed the Senate, as my colleague Avi Bajpai reported.
Bajpai wrote about the planned bill about a month ago as well, and asked both Stein and Robinson about it then.
Stein’s response included: “If someone is convicted of a crime, especially a violent one, we will hold them accountable. As the state’s top law enforcement officer, my focus is on real solutions to keep people safe here in North Carolina. I’ve listened to sheriffs and local law enforcement officers’ concerns and urged the legislature to give them the funding they need to keep us safe.”
Robinson’s response spoke directly to the bill:
“I strongly support HB 10 that would require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE because North Carolina cannot be a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.” He goes on to say he thinks Stein “denies the immigration crisis, falsely claims sanctuary cities don’t exist in North Carolina, and supports liberal sheriffs that refuse to cooperate with ICE. This is wrong, and if I am elected governor, we will never be a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.”
Robinson comments on flag at UNC incident
In a video released on social media on April 30, Robinson reacted to the UNC protesters taking down a U.S. flag.
Robinson, like Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, praised Interim UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts for putting the American flag back up after it had been removed and replaced with a Palestinian flag during protests of the Israel-Hamas war.
In a video on social media, Robinson said law enforcement officials and Roberts “sent a strong message that that’s not going to be tolerated on that campus. And I hope that type of strong message continues. And I’d love to see that continue all across the state.”
New podcast on Monday
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 it was recorded before a live audience at the N.C. Museum of History. My guests are Republican Sen. Vickie Sawyer and Democratic Sen. Natalie Murdock. We had a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the protesters at UNC-Chapel Hill to the law enforcement officers killed in Charlotte to transportation policy and the new legislative session.
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