State election board’s bull-in-a-china-shop exits stage right

Before the nation was captivated by Donald Trump’s blunt talk, North Carolina had state senator Bob Rucho. 

Rucho wasn’t exactly a doctrinaire conservative.  He left us scratching our collective heads many a time. But he never shied from opening his mouth and roaring.

Rucho goes back to the time when Phil Berger actually tried to be a conservative foil to Thom Tillis and Pat McCrory.  Rucho had a penchant for speaking his mind quite bluntly in a way that often wadded up the undies of the drive-by media and the political chattering class.  He was the perfect attack dog for the Senate leaders of the time.

Rucho retired from the senate but still maintained his ties to political Raleigh.  When Team Berger decided to remake the state board of elections, Rucho – a frequent leader on redistricting and other related election issues in the senate – was called on to join the revamped, remade body.

In the wake of the cliffhanger election battle between Sam Page and Phil Berger, we have once again been exposed to the style that made Rucho famous / memorable during his time on Raleigh’s Jones Street:

Bob Rucho, a Republican member of the State Board of Elections, is stepping down from that role in part over recent contributions made to two sheriff candidates who are running for reelection this year, state officials said Thursday.

State Auditor Dave Boliek, who oversees state elections, “talked to Rucho and resignation was mutually agreed on,” Randy Brechbiel, a spokesman for the auditor, said Thursday in a text message.  

State law bans state board members from giving to candidates. Since joining the board in May, Rucho has made donations to at least two candidates, campaign finance records show. The contributions, totaling almost $1,300, were for Catawba County Sheriff Don Brown and Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell. Brechbiel confirmed to WRAL on Thursday that those contributions were central to the resignation. 

Efforts to reach Rucho for comment weren’t immediately successful. 

Angela Hawkins, a Republican appointee who has been serving as chair of the Wake County elections board, was sworn in Thursday to replace Rucho. 

“I’m thankful for Bob Rucho’s service on the State Board of Elections,” Boliek said in a statement. “He led on election integrity and helped make it easy to vote and hard to cheat in North Carolina’s elections.”

Rucho’s resignation comes as the elections board faces mounting scrutiny over whether it can be trusted to handle a possible recount and legal challenges coming in the too-close-to-call primary election between state Senate leader Phil Berger and Republican challenger Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.

State law also bans elections board members from making public statements supporting or opposing individual political candidates. In two recent Facebook posts Rucho has defended state Senate leader Phil Berger, who is currently in a too-close-to-call primary race against challenger Sam Page, including one post in which Rucho criticized Page.

Rucho is a former state senator who was a top lieutenant of Berger’s, entrusted with top leadership roles in the legislature. Campaign finance documents show he gave at least $1,500 to Berger’s reelection campaign in the 2024 cycle, which is before he was on the elections board. It’s unclear if Rucho contributed to Berger’s campaign this year; complete campaign finance records from the 2026 election cycle aren’t yet public.

There is precedent for similar board shakeups. In 2018 the Democratic chairman of the elections board, who had been appointed by then-Gov. Roy Cooper, resigned after making social media posts criticizing Republican President Donald Trump.

Boliek, a Berger ally who WRAL reported has staffed his office with former Berger aides, has also come under scrutiny for his ties to the Senate leader. Boliek has long defended his ability to ensure elections are overseen fairly and independently. […]