#ncpol: LtGov GOP field for 2020 already getting crowded
It’s the worst kept secret in Raleigh that Dan Forest is leaving the lieutenant governor post to run for governor in 2020. A gaggle of Republicans is out there already positioning themselves to replace him.
We’ve already told you about NC Rep. Mark Brody (R-Union) and former Mecklenburg County commissioner Jim Puckett. We also learned former congresswoman Renee Ellmers is eyeing the seat. (Sources tell me her candidacy is looking more and more certain.)
Another name to throw on the list: Neal Robbins, an attorney, the current publisher of The North State Journal, and a former aide to Richard Burr and Pat McCrory. Robbins currently works at the same law firm as former commerce secretary and DEQ secretary John Skvarla.
So, that is a strong possibility of a field of FOUR on the GOP side. (And there are at least four more names I’m hearing being bandied about.)
Representative Mark Brody is a fine man and Good Conservative. He has served us well in the House, I am sure that he will serve us well as the Lt Governor.
Ummmmm, no to Ellmers. It’s the “Fool Me Once” principle at work here.
2 conservatives and 2 RINOs. Better for conservatives to unite behind one.
Do not confuse having worked for Burr and McCrory as evidence of being a RINO. Neal Robbins is the real deal – and starting a state-wide paper that doesn’t take their talking points from the DNC is probably the smartest and toughest challenge anyone interested in the future of the conservative movement in NC could have taken on.
Hope you’re right, but this isn’t a good environment for anyone with McCrory/Burr connections to run…..conservatives have been burned so many times, not in a mood to take chances with someone they don’t know. Quite honestly, some of us even harbor doubts about Forest, given his silence on some of the more egregious outrages perpetrated by Berger and Moore, even if his stance on HB2 keeps him viable.
The North State Journal is a RINO newspaper, not a conservative newspaper. That tells you all you need to know about RINO Neal Robbins.
NOT ELLMERS!