Schietzelt Will Breeze Through His Primary

 

Part of a series examining the candidates recruited by North Carolina Educators on the Ballot (NCEOB) --  progressives running as Republicans to primary incumbent Republicans in the NC House.

 

The Republican Incumbent in H 35

Mike Schietzelt has been in office barely a year so far and is running hard for reelection in House District 35, which the Civitas Partisan Index rates R+0, or "Toss-Up." District 35 is a jagged carved-up mess across northern Wake County meant to give Republican candidates something more than a zero chance to prevail. Schietzelt barely won it in 2024 with a margin of only 1,800 votes over his Democratic opponent Evonne S. Hopkins (who is back again this year for the rematch, if Schietzelt survives his primary). The Libertarian candidate in '24 took 1,500 votes, which demonstrates a potential to bollox the major party, and there's a Libertarian candidate again in 2026.

To look at Schietzelt's website is to see before your astonished eyes a moderate Democrat from approximately 1978 -- affable family man who finds building community and strengthening public schools the greatest virtues of civic life, an ex-Marine who became a lawyer and who is most definitely not into puritanical cruelty and wedge issues, and besides that, he's fun! He once upon a time played in live bands on cruise ships and took his expert horn-playing with him into the Corps, where he became a member of The Commandant's Own Drum and Bugle Corps stationed at the Marine Barracks in Southeast Washington, where he often performed for dignitaries and at special events including burials at Arlington. 

But you start looking deeper, and you start going uh-oh, we may be in trouble.

Duke Law School.

Clerked for Chief Justice Mark D. Martin of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Worked for the John Locke Foundation, researching and publishing on issues related to the criminal code.

The first Constitutional Law Fellow of Regent University School of Law's Robertson Center for Constitutional Law.

 A Lecturer at Regent, taught courses on the First Amendment and religious liberty.

Schietzelt wrote one of the amicus briefs in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, advocating for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which is exactly what the Supreme Court did. 

An intellectual conservative with a theological bent! Churches uber alles. He has argued the rights of churches to fire because of gayness and to preach a political message from the pulpit. Schietzelt is medieval like that.

But I'll give him this (and take note of the conditional phrasing): Schietzelt sponsored a bill that would have increased starting teacher pay to $50,000 and provided a 22% increase in salaries, and that language was actually incorporated into the House budget proposal, which the NC Senate has stubbornly refused to accept, which is why North Carolina is the only state in the nation with no budget.

The NCEOB Primary Challenger

Wake County Math Teacher Michele Joyner-Dinwiddie was until recently a registered Democrat, but for purposes of this primary she's a liberal Republican focused on fully funding school maintenance and reinstating salary incentives for teachers who earn more advanced degrees.

She has started a Facebook group but she has no website nor other campaign infrastructure. She's on LinkedIn as Michele Joyner

The Democrat

Evonne S. Hopkins is a North Carolina Board Certified Family Law Specialist with some 20 years experience and the founder of the "boutique" Raleigh Law Center specializing in family law. She is married with two children. She earned joint JD/MBA degrees from the University of San Francisco in 2003 and a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in philosophy from Rollins College in 1998. She volunteers with “The Child’s Advocate,” a project of Legal Aid, representing children in high conflict custody cases, work that earned her Legal Aid’s 2023 Pro Bono Hero Award.

Hopkins appears to be well set up to both raise money and to use it effectively in getting boots on the ground to do door-knocking. Attorney General Jeff Jackson added his weight to her campaign launch way back last April.

Hopkins looks strong. In a Blue Wave year, her contrast to Mike Schietzelt's anti-abortion intellectualism should count for plenty.