Let's Draft Roy Cooper for Senate in '26

 

"Everything is on the table right now."

--Gov. Roy Cooper, to WSOC, about whether he is considering a Senate run in 2026 against Sen. Thom Tillis

Smart money in North Carolina bets he runs. The smartest money bets he wins.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tillis has to worry that he might not make it through a primary, as the MAGA wing of the NCGOP can't tolerate him.

Tillis as Chameleon

 

With murky core values, compromise became his guiding principle.

--Thomas Mills, commenting on Sen. Thom Tillis

Everybody is dumping on speculating about Sen. Thom Tillis's continued survival as a chameleon politician, whom Mills outs as a flagrant empty suit in a very recent essay on his Substack feed. In Mills's discerning view, Tillis long ago compromised away any values he's willing to actually stand up for. Mills contrasts the Tillis of today to the Tillis who first won his Senate seat in 2006, betting that after his brief feint for principle in the case of Matt Gaetz, Tillis will end up voting for every corrupt and unqualified cabinet secretary that Trump sends up the hill:

If you had told 2006 Thom Tillis, the guy who had just won a state house primary from suburban district, that he would be supporting a convicted sex offender who is selling commemorative coins and bibles for President of the United States, he would have laughed at you. If you told 2006 Tillis that he was about to vote to confirm a woman who has credibly been accused of being a Russian asset as Director of National Intelligence, he would have vehemently denied it. Or if you told him that he would be voting to confirm a vaccine denier to head Health and Human Services, he would say you were crazy. And if you asked him whether a Defense Secretary nominee with no managerial experience and allegations of sexual assault should be confirmed, he would tell you, “Of course not.” And yet 2024 Thom Tillis will probably vote for all three.

 

The After Life of Kirk deViere

 

March 8th, 2022. Gov. Roy Cooper stirred the turgid waters of political insiderdom by injecting himself publicly in a Democratic primary for a Cumberland County Senate seat. District 19 was held by Democrat Kirk deViere, who'd been elected in the Blue Wave of 2018 and who was suddenly in 2022 facing two primary opponents, one of whom -- Val Applewhite -- Roy Cooper endorsed and praised. (The primary in 2022 was on May 17th.) It was obvious to every Democratic operative everywhere that Cooper wanted shed of deViere.

And he succeeded in shedding him. Kirk deViere lost his primary that May. Val Applewhite went on to win the Nov. 2022 election and was recently reelected. 

What did Cooper have against deViere? Went back in the archives and found what I wrote at the time:

A sitting Democratic governor gets himself publicly involved in a Democratic primary by sticking a stiletto between the ribs of a sitting Democratic state senator. I know this sort of thing goes on all the time behind the scenes, but Cooper decided to go public. Val Applewhite was only too happy to publish the endorsement on her Twitter feed.

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan attempts to unpack the politics behind this surprise development (posted to the News and Observer last night). The implications point to deViere's willingness to agree with Senate Republicans on some budget issues, particularly on expanding Medicaid and school funding, and those are precisely the two issues Cooper highlighted in his endorsement of Applewhite: "I need legislators who will expand Medicaid [and] pay teachers more...." DeViere's appointment to the Republican budget conference committee, which put him in direct negotiation with the governor's office, may have triggered the governor's spite.

December 3, 2024. Kirk deViere was back in my newsfeed for staging a pretty gutsy coup and taking over the Cumberland County Commission and getting to be Chair right off the bat and instantly. DeViere just won his seat on the Commission (top vote-getter) last month. (He had previously served one term on the Fayetteville City Council and had run twice unsuccessfully for Mayor of Fayetteville.) He ran this year in a field of 6. The top three take seats. DeViere is a Democrat, but No. 2 behind him was Pavan Patel and No. 3 was Henry Tyson -- both Republicans -- who were already probably teamed with deViere to recruit one additional vote (eventually from Democrat Veronica Jones) to overturn the dictatorship of an Old Guard of powerful, long-serving Democrats. (Among those pushed to the curb was a former chair -- a Black woman -- and a Latino organizer and activist.) The election seems to have hinged on pro-growth and pro-business policies, The insurgents are all young, bright-eyed enthusiasts for opening all doors and cupboards to commercial investment. They were running against a Commission grown unresponsive and sluggish. Previously serving Republicans complained that their severe minority status on the Board rendered them totally powerless to redirect resources and grants to "economic development" (a slippery term that implies deals of all sorts and deal-making not necessarily in the full light of day). The sole two Republican incumbents on the Board opted out of running again in 2024, so frustrated had they become by Democratic inertia. The old Democratic power seemed slow or uninterested. 

Dec. 3rd, when he became Chair
of the Cumerland County Commission

So former Senator Kirk deViere, a businessman and Florida native with an advertising agency and an eye for real estate development, along with the very successful real estate entrepreneur Pavan Patel and the commercial real estate broker Henry Tyson, built something of a wave to win their seats (though all six candidates finished with less than a thousand votes separating them), radically changing the direction of Cumberland County government. The trio of deViere, Patel, and Tyson on December 3rd recruited the vote of veteran commission member (and Democrat) Veronica Jones to get the 4-3 bipartisan majority to elect deViere Chair, kicking out of power the old Democratic Chair, a Faircloth of Cumberland. It made the papers.

The deViere insurgency was apparently no small surprise to Cumberland County. Cumberland has been a dependable Democratic stronghold, anchored by Fayetteville and Fayetteville State University, with pretty much a Democratic monopoly on local government. DeViere had the sparkle of bright prospects in his pitch to voters -- of government wide open for business. His website is pretty explicit: "I will work to streamline regulations, provide incentives for small businesses, and ensure adequate resources are available, fostering a robust business climate...." I consider that the confession of a deal-maker. 

Democrats Choose a New Minority Leader in the NC Senate

 

Sydney Batch with her husband
J. Patrick Williams and their two sons

The unthinkable has happened. Democrats in the NC Senate dumped their long-time leader Dan Blue in favor of Sen. Sydney Batch, also from Wake County. The word out of Raleigh is that the senators decided on a secret ballot for the voting, and Blue, reading the waves, stepped down rather than have the vote go against him. Apparently, at 76 he just wasn't putting up the muscular opposition to Phil Berger's bullying majority that his fellow Democrats wanted. Will Sydney Batch do better? Remains to be seen.

So who is Sydney Batch? I first followed her in 2018 when she ran for the seat in House Dist. 37 and won in that year's Blue Wave (here, scroll down). She lost the seat in 2020 to Republican Erin Pare. (Lesson: MAGA voters wreak havoc down-ballot when Trump is on the ballot.) When Democratic Sen. Sam Searcy left his Senate seat (Dist. 17) in January 2021, Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Batch to the rest of his unfinished term. She won reelection to that Senate seat in 2022 and again this November.

Batch is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, with both a master's degree in social work and a law degree. She and her husband J. Patrick Williams opened their own law firm in 2005. She has wide and intense experience in child welfare advocacy and family law.

The Race for DNC Chair

DNC Chair Jaime Harrison has said he is not running for reelection. Which set off something of a footrace.

 

The 4th One (So Far)

Ben Wikler

Ben Wikler of the Wisconsin Democratic Party announced very recently for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He's the 4th to announce (see below). He's chaired the Democrats of Wisconsin only since July of 2019. Before that he was a senior advisor to MoveOn. January 2012, Wikler and a single collaborator launched a radio show and podcast, The Flaming Sword of Justice, but it didn't take off. In November 2013, he relaunched his show as The Good Fight, an hour-long weekly podcast and radio program (which MoveOn sponsors). According to its website, The Good Fight "brings you a mix of comedy, activism, and David versus Goliath battles told from the behind-the-slingshot point of view." 

Wikler also has a track record as organizer and money-raiser. In March 2007, he became Campaign Director for Avaaz, "the globe's largest and most powerful online activist network" (according to The Guardian). He helped grow the org to over ten million members. He ran campaigns on climate change, poverty, human rights, and also managed the technology and communication teams. 

And before Avaaz, he was the start-up producer for the short-lived talk radio Al Franken Show, and he helped write a couple of Franken's books. Served as press secretary for Sherrod Brown's U.S. Senate campaign and was the first editor-in-chief of Comedy 23/6, a comedy news website. 

His understanding and experience in mass media is obviously both extensive and desirable in a national party chair. Plus he's credited with keeping the Trump wave in Wisconsin from swamping down-ballot Dem candidates. (After Wikler won the Wisconsin party chair election in 2019, he dived into grassroots organizing, developed a field team of 13 regional organizers "to get volunteers out on doors.") Trump won Wisconsin this year under Wikler's leadership, though Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin won reelection. Wikler's running on a platform of "It Could Have Been Worse" might not be a winner, but his emphasis on boots on the ground would be a good trait to have in a DNC Chair. Plus he sounded a lot like the sainted Howard Dean in his announcement:

"When the polls are within the margin of error, we win by the margin of effort," Wikler said in a video launching his campaign. "And what has made a difference in Wisconsin can make a difference everywhere. We need a nationwide permanent campaign, a 50-state strategy in every state and every territory across the United States."

Most recently, NYTimes columnist Michelle Goldberg called Wikler "the obvious candidate to rebuild a broken and demoralized Democratic Party."

The First 3 

Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) chair Ken Martin. The longest serving chair in the 75-year history of the DFL. The Minnesota DFL has won every statewide election since Martin was elected chairman. Martin was only a senior at Eden Prairie High School when he joined Paul Wellstone’s campaign for U.S. Senate. Wellstone inspired Martin to pursue a political career dedicated to the principle that “we all do better, when we all do better.” According to Politico, Martin is the current front-runner for the job, considered "a safe pair of hands." Just what Democrats need: someone safe. Ugh.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. 48th Mayor of Baltimore, 1999 to 2007. The 61st Governor of Maryland, 2007 to 2015. Served as the 17th Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, 2023 to 2024. O'Malley is about as "establishment" as you can get. 

New York state Sen. James Skoufis. The youngest, 37, of all the announced candidates (at the moment). Currently representing the 42nd District of the New York State Senate since 2023. Skoufis previously represented the 39th District (2019-2022) prior to redistricting. Attractive for his youth, Skoufis may be waaaay too provencial and without national profile for this job.

Who might join the race?

Chuck Rocha

 

Chuck Rocha. A cowboy-hat-wearing Democratic strategist from Texas, Rocha has been teasing a run for DNC chair on social media. In 2020, he advised the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, and he founded a political action committee to turn out Latino voters. In an appearance on CNN on Nov. 20, Rocha called himself “the only senior national Democratic operative without a college degree” and said he wanted the party to return to representing “the common man.” His goal, he added, was to make Democrats “fun again.” (Source: Simon J. Levien)

Michael Blake. Blake is already a candidate for Mayor of New York City in a crowded race, but sez he might switch over to this race. A former New York State assemblyman, he lost a U.S. congressional race in 2020. Served as a party vice chair from 2017 to 2021. Obscure and a New Yawker too boot. No chance in hell.

Max Rose. Former Army officer who earned a Purple Heart in Afghanistan. Former U.S. representative from Staten Island, New York. Served one term, voted as a moderate. Failed twice to retake his Congressional seat. Nope. 

Mallory McMorrow. A rather glamorous Michigan state senator. She earned viral fame in 2022 when she gave a fiery senate floor speech denouncing the Republican treatment of the LGBTQ community as a “hollow, hateful scheme” after a colleague accused her in a fund-raising email of wanting to “groom and sexualize” children (see the video below). That speech earned her a speaking slot at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where she was one of a number of officials to brandish an oversized prop book of Project 2025, the conservative policy playbook developed by Trump.

Pete Buttigieg. We couldn't hope for anyone more articulate, logical, calm. But he hasn't said he was interested.

POSTSCRIPT 

Very interesting and revealing taped interview with "frontrunner" Ken Martin of Minnesota, interviewed by Simon Rosenberg, The Hopium Chronicles. I was distracted by his hair. Looks like such an obvious toupee, and why should I care? I shouldn't. I'm a bad person.

The New Watauga CoCommish A House of Cards?

 

Last night, two new Republicans were appointed to fill the empty seats on the Watauga CoCommish created by Big Daddy Ralph Hise's gerrymandering local bill: Tim Hodges and Emily Greene. Tim Hodges lives in current Commish Dist. 4, so he's double-bunked with Ronnie Marsh, who was just elected in November. Emily Greene lives in current Commish Dist. 5, so she's double-bunked with Todd Castle who also just won in November. In other words, these two appointments could almost be considered "honorary," since their appointments can only last for two years, and neither Hodges nor Greene will run (we assume) a primary against the very people who appointed them last night.

Newly appointed County Attorney Nathan Miller tried to explain away the stupidity of provisions in the Hise restructuring bill, asserting to the packed house in the Commish Boardroom that the two appointments must come from the old commissioner districts formerly represented by Braxton Eggers and Todd Castle and that they also must belong to the same political party. In other words, "We get to run for election under the new Hise districts, but we get to appoint new commissioners under the old district map." Which is on its face absurd.

Whatever. The point remains that current Commish districts 1 and 2 have no representative on the board and districts 4 and 5 have two each. The voters of districts 1 and 2 have been egregiously harmed, and any one of them, or a group of them, would have standing to sue to bring down this house of cards.

The Braxton Eggers Era In Watauga Gets Worse

 

Nathan Miller, 
County Attorney to be

When Big Daddy Ralph Hise gerrymandered the Watauga County Commission, he simply vacated two office-holders in Commish Districts 1 and 2 while allowing new elections in Districts 3, 4, and 5. Those elections were won by lopsided Republican majorities, and now those three Republicans get to appoint the reps for Districts 1 and 2 tonight.

We have learned that the Republicans intend to appoint two more Republicans to the other two seats. Neither lives in the commissioner district they are being appointed to represent. District 1, which is largely downtown Boone and the campus of AppState, is majority Democrat. It gets as its county commissioner a Republican who doesn't live in Boone. District 2, which leans Democratic, gets a Republican who doesn't live in that district. Representative government?

It gets worse. The two new Republicans who will be appointed tonight are actually double-bunked with incumbents Ronnie Marsh and Todd Castle, respectively, in Districts 4 and 5. While Districts 1 and 2 will have no resident reps, Districts 4 and 5 will each have two. Among other things, this seems plain screwy.

Democrats, who up until 5 p.m. today, held a 3-2 majority on the County Commish, will now be shut out entirely. How is that fair? How is that not simply an abuse of power?

Braxton Eggers Will Be the Next Chair of the Watauga County Commission

 

The Watauga Board of Commissioners will have a complete turnover of power on Monday, December 2nd, at its regular evening meeting, when returning Republican Commissioner Braxton Eggers will be formally elected chair of the board by the other returning Republican Todd Castle and newly elected Republican Ronnie Marsh.

The new Republican board will also be appointing Nathan Miller as county attorney, and they plan to pass a resolution giving Miller some eyebrow-raising powers of his own. Miller is well known to the authors of this blog for the lawsuit he initiated targeting the voting rights of AppState students (and see here), for the long-running harassment of elections expert and AppState professor Stella Anderson, and for exacting retribution against the town of Boone by unilaterally changing how sales tax revenues are distributed -- among other public and legal activities he engaged in while chair of the County Commission and then as a lawyer for the Watauga GOP. According to the board packet for Monday's commissioner meeting, the Republicans intend to pass a resolution granting Miller what looks like a free hand to act like a member plenipotentiary of the commission, with no guardrails.

The language in the resolution granting Miller a free hand:

The County Attorney is authorized to initiate and pursue legal action for the County on any matter, including but not limited to imminent domain, contractual breaches, declaratory action, and such other matters as the County Attorney deems advisable and in the best interests of the County, without need of further Resolution or Ordinance to be adopted by the Board of Commissioners....

"...and such other matters as the County Attorney deems advisable...." Whoa! From his recent history, we know that Nathan Miller deems a lot of stuff very advisable for his particular partisan disposition.

That's where we're starting the Braxton Eggers reign. Can't wait to see the additional chapters.

What I'm Thankful For

 

Watching Trump pick the people who'll help him loot the treasury and subvert the Constitution could -- and actually does -- depress the hell out of the sunniest Little Mary Sunshine, but Watauga County said no to Trump in a resounding way. Kamala Harris won Watauga by almost 2,000 votes. In fact, every Democrat on the statewide ballot won easily in Watauga, from the more than 7,000-vote winning margin for Josh Stein to the 338-vote margin for Sarah Taber, that astoundingly qualified woman who ran for Agriculture Commissioner. Congresswoman and Elevator Monitor Virginia Foxx lost her home county (as usual!) by over 2,800 votes.

It was a clean sweep for Democrats in Watauga. Seeing that blue dot in northwestern North Carolina on statewide voting maps is a framable memento to hard work and progressive vision.

The only offices Republicans could win here were Republican judges running unopposed and the three Watauga County Commission seats. The winning Republican commissioner candidates had big, corrupt help from Boss Hogg Hisownself, Ralph Hise, who obligingly gerrymandered the living hell out of our commission so that Republicans could take all three seats. If you're on a low-salt diet, you might want to avert your gaze from the salt those three are about to rub into that wound: For those three products of gerrymandering get to appoint the other two members of the commission (no kidding). That's what a Ralph Hise power-grab looks like.

But note this well: A local referendum to restructure the county commission back to something approaching fairness passed with over 71% of the vote, which was a massive rejection of Hise's gerrymandering. Hise took care of that in advance, putting a clause into his local bill that no changes can be made to his scheme until at least the next national Census.

And incidentally, Ralph Hise lost his senate race in Watauga by 1,700 votes. It was the other counties in his senate district that reelected him. Blame them.