Thoughts on Tuesday (and the future)
For the most part, we at Haymaker HQ had a pretty good election night. A good chunk of the folks we were pulling for WON.
Pat McCrory. The former governor and Charlotte mayor is convincing me that he travels around permanently with a dark black cloud over his head. He got viciously spanked in the GOP primary for US Senate. A few days later, he apparently tested for COVID. The man CAN’T win.
RINO war against Conservatives. We get lectured all the time about how we need to hold our noses and cast a vote “for the team.” In other words, never mind that the GOP nominee’s positions on the issues differ very little from the Dem nominee’s.
Thom Tillis boasted about dumping six figures into the effort to defeat Madison Cawthorn. Phil Berger and Tim Moore raised funds to defeat Cawthorn. Was ol’ Madison voting wrong? He and Dan Bishop were the only consistent conservative votes in the whole NC delegation (with Ted Budd following close behind). With Cawthorn on the losing end Tuesday night, the PACs behind the anti-Madison effort are turning their sights on Lauren Boebert (R-CO), another member of the House Freedom Caucus.
For what it’s worth, the RINO candidate in the race — state senator Chuck Edwards — used a NAZI analogy against Cawthorn on social media. You expect that stuff from far-left Democrats, but not in a GOP primary.
In NC House district 73, Speaker Timmy had his caucus members taking the establishment favorite around their respective districts seeking campaign donations for her. The House’s campaign arm spearheaded a slander attack against the conservative candidate in this race. Thankfully, conservative Brian Echevarria overcame all that and delivered a vicious electoral beat-down to RINO Catherine Whiteford.
In Onslow County, local Republican party officials were celebrating their successful campaign efforts that got establishment candidates reelected. (Aren’t the GOP primaries still Republican v. Republican? Why are party leaders picking sides to campaign for?)
In the three statewide judicial races, you had Justice Phil Berger, Jr. — aka “Baby Berger” — donating money to certain candidates in the judicial primaries and verbally trashing some candidates. I swear, he and his daddy are starting to look more and more like Sheriff Buford T. Justice and his son, Junior, in those “Smoky and the Bandit” movies.
RINOs make no bones about not wanting us around. They like having the ‘R’, next to their name, and they like the word “conservative” being used to describe them at campaign time. (The *little people* really eat that stuff up.) But they have no use for any of the conservative planks in the party platform. None. Nor do they want ANY conservative legislation coming through their respective chambers for a vote.
Conservatism made it cool to be Republican and vote Republican in North Carolina. Now that the party is cruising at the top of the heap, RINOs are trying to return the NCGOP to the days when Republicans were pretty much contained in Charlotte and Greensboro. You could hold the state convention in — maybe — a couple of phone booths. It’s not about changing the world. To them, it’s all about being the one who answers the phone when DC calls.
The big question? How much longer are we going to sit around and take their abuse?
Lying is OK, apparently. It appears that an awful lot of primary voters don’t mind being “represented” by pathological liars. Richard Hudson fabricated a whole “small business” background to cloak his real career as a lifetime political hack. He also sent out mailers insinuating he was endorsed by President Trump. (He wasn’t.) Hudson ended up winning big.
And then there is Greg Murphy. His first campaign for Congress was arguably 95 percent lies. This time, he tried to cover up those lies with even more lies. Nevertheless, he still won big.
Good news for conservatives? It appears that we had some conservatives replacing moderate Timmy-suckups in the NC House. In Moore County, we replaced Allen McNeill with conservative Neal Jackson. Over on the coast, retiring Pat McElraft was replaced by Celeste Cairns, who got endorsed by the conservative Club for Growth in her recent congressional bid. There were some others that ought to give us some hope for the future on Jones Street.
The folks on the coast also did yeoman’s work in ousting senator Bob Steinburg. Steinburg had been bought and paid for by Big Solar. He was a vicious campaigner who aimed more for personal destruction than electoral victory. Steinburg promoted a college basketball tournament for Asheville, of all places, that looked a lot like a shakedown-for-cash effort leveled against groups in his district. He threatened WAR against Dare County prosecutors and law enforcement for daring to prosecute his legislative assistant / campaign manager / Girl Friday on embezzlement charges. Steinburg fit the stereotype beautifully of how most native North Carolinians view Yankees.
Congratulations to solid conservative Norm Sanderson for slaying the beast.
covid seems like a good way to say embarrassing things on election night and then run away from them.
The defeat of Solarberg, uhh, Steinberg was sweet, as was the defeat of Catherine Whiteford. Celeste Cairns was not the most conservative candidate in the 13th district race, but we can keep our fingers crossed she will be better than Pat McElraft. One bad sign, though, was when ducking some conservative issues, Cairns explained to voters that she had been advised by McElraft to do so. One of the issues she ducked was on wind turbines.
In the 1st Congressional district, RINO GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy spent over half a million swamp dollars trashing Sandy Smith, but Smith still beat McCarthy’s candidate. While Smith’s connections to the solar boondoggle through her husband are a concern, she is more conservative than the McCarthy candidate, Sandy Roberson, who was a donor to Josh Stein. Billy Strickland was the best conservative in that race, but not as well funded as “the Sandys”
I don’t think Strickland understood the bitter feelings of Franklin and Vance county towards George Holding and Wayne County to whom the former paid at least SOME attention to the latter, while all but ignoring these northern counties. Strickland being a Wayne county Party leader made his candidacy problematic with the northern counties. I do hope Sandy Smith never forgets your comments about McCarthy but the minute she votes for him for Speaker, you will know the score, assuming she upsets the Dems in CD1. Steinburg, wow, there’s a shocker is all I can say. As for Whiteford, if she runs and loses two more times, she’ll tie McCrory’s all-time loss record.
along those lines it was also good to see Peter Boykin loose big 170 to two other people with 2000 votes each. Keep the gays out of the GOP. We should never be the party of immoral degenerates
Say it to my face, bigotry doesn’t belong in the Republican party either but here you are being a generalizing bigot.
Homosexuals do not belong in the Republican party. The Republican party should always be the party of Morality not Immorality
I’m going to get into trouble by somebody for writing this, but I just want to clarify some things.
There was never any conspiracy on behalf of the caucus – including by the speaker – to get donors for Catherine or oppose Brian. Only one member of leadership endorsed for Catherine – Representative Hardister – and that was very much expected.
Nobody called me to donate or not to donate – including Catherine – and I think Mr. Broyhill or any other large donor was also similarly not swayed by the caucus as is claimed here.
I donated to Catherine as a close friend and I’m very glad I participated in my own way in the democratic process regardless of the result.
The only thing I regret is the negative campaigning done – and that includes on Catherine’s side – and I apologize if I inadvertently participated monetarily in this process.
I do not know Brian yet. Someone who works on Brian’s campaign and I are very good friends and we were talking trying to keep the peace in the campaign. Maybe the both of us should have been more vocal.
Catherine is a very good person. Brian is a very good man from what I know of him and is striving to be a man of God.
They both are Christians. Ben – Catherine’s fiancé – is a Christian along with Brian’s family.
The personal attacks within Republican primary – whether or not they are done on a palm card – have to stop. I apologize to the community for any role I may have inadvertently played into that. That was never my intention.
It’s ironic that this post is defending Madison and enjoying Catherine’s loss. Before Madison was getting jammed up, Madison was going to NCFYR meetings and he had publicly supported Catherine – just like I did. If that shouldn’t disprove to the reader here that there is not some big conspiracy on behalf of the caucus to have gotten Catherine elected, I don’t know what will.
To clarify, I have never met Madison, but I do wish him well just like Leader McCarthy did.
Primaries are intended to ferret out who people who associate with a certain group want to represent them in the final election to represent them. Brian got the nod of his community very strongly (definitely more strongly than whoever wins the PA Senate nomination). However, neither Catherine nor Parish Moffitt were campaigning on any principles that grossly antithetical to the GOP party platform. All three candidates – for most part – were true to the Republican Party. If they were not, at least 20 percent of the electorate would not have supported all three of them (with Brian getting almost 60 percent of the vote).
Reveling in the losses of people in Tuesday’s elections is not going help us win general elections, and that does include Madison Cawthorn. If you think someone better represents your values than someone else, vote for them. I hope Catherine’s and Parish’s voters will support Brian in the general election. I hope Madison’s voters will support Chuck in the general election. I highly doubt that process is made easier by gloating about how “sweet” their losses were.
people claiming to be Christians means absolutely nothing to plenty of people calling themselves christian pastors that are clearly on team satan and same goes for people calling themselves christian and supporting anti christian values like LBGT issues
Really, Hershel? I know of at least six donors in eastern NC who would disagree with you. None could understand why they were being asked to fund this young girl running in. a district nowhere near them. Rep. John Sauls of Lee County is just one example of a legislator taking her around to the donors.
The House Caucus director was caught red-handed meddling in the District 73 race on behalf of Catherine. He defended himself by saying he was ordered by higher-ups to do so.
Nice try.
Brant,
I’m not discounting what you are saying. However, what you are saying is news to me, and on Ballotpedia there are three max donors (with an error because I asked for a refund for reasons I explained on an earlier thread then I re-donated). I don’t see donors on that list that I don’t know of, and I don’t see any donors I don’t know of from Eastern NC.
What I can tell you though is the conversations I had. People who were close to leadership were telling me that the caucus was staying out of that primary – as they should with almost all primaries. After Brian went on Fox News and said he said over $100k, I never expected as a matter of fact Catherine would beat Brian. Money wins elections, whether we want to say that out loud or not.
I don’t know what Rep. Sauls had said to potential donors. If you say you have something on recording, I believe you. I’m just not privy to that or have any knowledge before this thread of what you’re bringing up.
In a Republican primary, differences on issues are extremely important and it is up to candidates to point out those differences. This is not “negative campaigning” but on the contrary campaigning on issues. What is really below the belt is a personal attack on an opponent on something in their personal life, as opposed to political issues. Lying about issues, as McCrory was very prone to do, it also below the belt.
Conservative voters want elected officials who will stand up strong on conservative issues and not sell out to the left. Many Republicans were aghast at some of Whiteford’s antics during the BLM insurrection, which were indicative of her being a RINO or worse. But there were other issues and I will just mention one of them.
North Carolina has been afflicted with the Green New Deal, HB951, pushed by the climate alarmists. We need to escape from that disaster, so we do NOT need to be electing climate alarmists / Green New Dealers. As conservatives we cheered the defeat of hardcore climate alarmist Sen. Bob Steinburg and the retirement of his equivalent in the House, John Szoka. We also cheer the fact that climate alarmist Catherine Whiteford did not advance to take Szoka’s place in pushing far left Green New Deal policies.
It is all about issues, not personalities. I have met Whiteford and found her a pleasant and nice person. She just thinks more like a Democrat than a Republican and we do not need that in an elected official.
That National Committeeman Broyhill was a big contributor to Whiteford is new information. It is time to look at his contribution record overall. Maybe we need a conservative challenger next time he comes up for election if he has a pattern of giving to candidates on the party’s left.
Climate alarmist? I can’t speak for Catherine, but I was joking around with her in my last few texts with her that we should thank the Republicans for making pool season longer. Honestly, Friday night was an awesome night to go swimming for the first time this season in the Charlotte area. If you like pool season here in NC, vote Republican!
I get Catherine is not a hard right social conservative who wants to stone the unbelievers (neither am I), but I can unequivocally say she doesn’t care about climate change like the alarmists do.
I do want to ask though. Am I a RINO, Reaganite? My contribution history is all public information and my postings here are all discoverable.
real conservatives do not care about your money if you think we do then you would be a RINO
Real conservatives agree with Donald Trump on Peter Boykin and not your hateful comments – regardless of how many votes he got.
yes you are a RINO if you want the Republican party to be the party accepting degenerate immorally. God created Men to be with Women that is how humanity is designed by God to function
also Donald was a democrat for lots of his life and he endorsed Dr. Oz that was defending abortion the other day so he is not the best judge of character. Your comparison kind of failed hard there. Try harder next time
In 2020, Whiteford led a group of YR’s down to campaign for Szoka, the primo climate alarmist / green new dealer in the GOP delegation in the NC House. I heard her with my own ears expressing support for Szoka’s climate stands.
Broyhill’s activities do not surprise, he’s from the Robin Hayes wing of the Party, after all. In fact, while I kind of like Kyshia Lineberger, it was her close association with him that caused me to not vote for her.
I voted against Ed Broyhill quixotically in 2020 because of his association with Kyshia. One of 9%, but it was well worth it. Kyshia blocked me on the Facebook when I still had it because she wanted to defend Obama supporter and admitted rapist Kobe Bryant when I truthfully noted him as such the day of his passing. We don’t need RINO Kyshias in our party (feel relieved for whoever her husband was that finally divorced her.). That being said while I unfortunately voted for the wife of the pedophile in 2020, there wasn’t a good choice in that election, and I didn’t know the background issues then as I do now. I didn’t go to the NC GOP convention this year – it’s meaningless.
My opinion on Ed Broyhill has changed for the better. I still haven’t met him, but guilt by association gets way too messy as I’m trying to point out here, and as I’ve learned in the past couple of years. There are not two clean camps of RINOs and non RINOs in the NC GOP. We also need way better candidates for party offices (I’m not referring to Ed Broyhill), but until then I’m done with politics for party positions.
It’s entertaining to hear people complain about the lack of civility in the party and then call others RINOs. Hypocrite much?
Feel free to call me whatever but I PROULDY call Doc Murphy, Tillis, Burr hypocrites….that IS, after all, what they are!. Don’t run on one platform and do a 180 and expect me to give you a pass.
not sure really who you are addressing but the big tent mentality will only build a weakened party better to shrink and rebuild a strong foundation and then grow than to just welcome riff raff with open arms and weaken the parties values overall
Lucille Sherman, reports:
:NC Senate Republicans are expected to propose Medicaid expansion alongside numerous other heath care access measures as early as this week”
CAN ANYONE EXPAIN THIS ONE?
WHY do we elect republicans in NC any way? May as well have Coop lead/manage/dictate/govern the entire process…that’s what’s occurring? !!
Any wonder the super majority was lost?
Whatley, Berger have a response????
.
Senator Norm Sanderson specifically campaigned against Medicaid expansion in his primary this year. So did a number of state reps, including House Freedom Caucus chairman Keith Kidwell.
Phil Berger has done a Jekyll and Hyde conversion from the conservative he used to be. He led the liberal effort to repeal our bathroom privacy law (HB2) and the liberal effort to impose the Green New Deal (HB951) on North Carolina. Now, he is in Roy Cooper’s hip pocket on the socialist Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
Unfortunately, we have Democrat suck-ups in leadership positions in both Raleigh and Washington. Mitch McConnell, Phil Berger, Kevin McCarthy, and Tim Moore are all swamp creatures of the worst order who will betray Republican voters in a heartbeat.
On Medicaid expansion, the House GOP caucus voted unanimously not to do it, but Tim Moore is bound and determined to try anyway. I think we will see more Senators like Sanderson bucking Berger on Medicaid expansion, but there are some special interest robots like RINO Senator Jim Perry who will support Medicaid expansion as a payback to his special interest buddies.