Disappearance of a Religious Freedom Advisor

 

Former 3-term Congressman Mark Walker couldn't even hang onto the sinecure (job with no duties) that Trump invented for him as a consolation prize after he ended Walker's political career by endorsing Ted Budd instead of him for the US Senate in 2022 and then squeak-toy Addison McDowell instead of him for Congress in the 2024 Republican primary in the 6th Congressional District. Walker had even trudged to Mar-a-Lago like a good little supplicant and begged Trump to endorse him instead of Ted Budd for Senate and reportedly agreed to drop out and run for a congressional seat if only Trump would endorse him for that. Kissing the ring sucks when it's both fruitless and the boss stinks.

So because of whatever sympathy Trump felt for the man, he invented a title specially for Walker: Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, to be attached to the State Department, a completely made-up job with no defined duties. But appointment to ambassador required Senate approval, and for whatever reasons, both senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd wouldn't support him. The nomination died, and Trump went another route, appointed Walker as "Principal Advisor on Global Religious Freedom" in a wholly invented new position at the State Department. Walker lasted just 90 days. On April 21 (just last week!), the State Department made the terse announcement that Mark Walker no longer worked at the State Department  -- no explanation given.

Walker used to be a pastor of a church and casts a mild aura, though he was tough enough to beat Phil Berger Jr. in his very first Republican primary -- and the subsequent runoff -- for the 6th CD in 2014. The entire Berger Family Machine had been in full gear for Junior, and Berger did indeed beat Walker in the first round: 34.27% to 25.20% (in a very crowded field of seven other candidates). But by the runoff between Berger and Walker in July 2014, Walker had turned it around and he beat young Berger by 20 points -- 59.85% to Berger's 40%. Walker won that runoff by hitting every church picnic and community rag-pulling across the 6th, showing the people what a mild-mannered and approachable Christian he was, a defender of God and American rural values. He was better at grassroots campaigning than Berger, and he sharpened his attack on Berger, implying he was essentially a bought-and-paid for arm of a machine that feathered its own nest -- thus reminding voters of the Berger Family reputation for shady power moves (a reputation that would ultimately end Phil Berger Senior's career after he became a failed promoter of gambling casinos). I suspect Walker beat Phil Berger Jr. at the cost of making an eternal enemy out of Daddy, and I have to wonder if Berger animosity is behind the downward trajectory of Walker's career.  

Anyway, apparently the Trump State Department no longer needs the services of an advisor on global religious freedom.

 

The Humiliations Continue To Pile Up on Mark Walker

 

Trump himself announced the news that he'd completely destroyed any self-respect that Mark Walker might still cling to. Walker lost to Trump's designated patsy Addison McDowell in the 6th CD Republican primary last week by only two points, and Walker had previously talked tough about continuing to fight against McDowell in a run-off. The deadline under NC law to request a runoff was today at noon, but there will be no runoff and McDowell will be going to Congress next January because there is no Democrat in the race.

Trump himself put out the announcement: “I’ve asked Congressman Mark Walker to join my campaign team to work with faith groups and minority communities, and he has agreed to immediately do so,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

According to Anderson Alerts, "Walker said in a statement that he spoke with Trump about the position Tuesday afternoon and plans to serve in the Trump administration if the former president wins in November.

“Yesterday afternoon, I was honored to hear from President Trump asking if I would take the lead position as the Director of Outreach for faith and minority communities effective immediately,” Walker wrote. “I’m delighted to accept this position and after the Biden administration is defeated in November, I’m grateful for the offer to continue our work with President Trump in the White House.”

What "work" will be involved in convincing the Christian Right to vote for Trump, since that group long ago started worshipping the golden ass.

Some Primary Results -- US Congressional Races

 

Pat Harrigan

US House Dist. 1 -- Republican Laurie Buckhout beat husband-beater Sandy Smith

US House Dist. 5 -- Republican incumbent Virginia Foxx beat challenger Ryan Mayberry, taking almost 68% of the vote district-wide. But almost a third of Watauga County voted for Mayberry

US House Dist. 6 -- Republican runoff coming between top vote-getter Addison McDowell, who took 26% of the vote, vs. former congressman Mark Walker, who took 24%. Bo Hines placed 4th. May be the end of his political ambitions

US House Dist. 8 -- Republican preacherman Mark Harris, the center of the 2018 ballot-harvesting scandal, won 30% against 5 other candidates and thus avoids a runoff

US House Dist. 10 -- Republican firearms manufacturer Pat Harrigan won outright over establishment pick Grey Mills (endorsed by Virginia Foxx and Tim Moore and many other big names) and 3 other candidates, taking over 41% of the vote

US House Dist. 14 -- Republican NC House Speaker Tim Moore easily won his primary in a district that was drawn especially for him

Mark Walker, Pathetic in So Many Ways

 

So which is worse: Pretending you have the endorsement of the worst person in the world, or desiring to have that endorsement?

Former Rep. Mark Walker, who's running now to get back into Congress from NC6, has been caught listing Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as an endorsee. Donald Trump Jr. is making a big deal out of it, on behalf of his BFF Addison McDowell whom Big Daddy Trump endorsed for the job Walker is also running for.

Walker is so desperate for hard right friends that he would fake a friendship with the odious Gaetz. Sad.

Chronicles of the CD 6 Republican Primary, 2024

 

CD 6, Republican Primary Players

Lead Roles

Addison McDowell (got the Trump endorsement)

Bo Hines (thought he deserved the Trump endorsement)

Mark Walker (the preacher who can't catch a break, let alone an endorsement)

Supporting Roles

Mark Robinson (will he endorse in this race?)

Christian Castelli (Green Beret also running, ran before for the same seat in 2022) 

[A Washington super PAC, First Freedoms Foundation, recently claimed Castelli had been endorsed this year by Robinson, but that was exposed as false.]  

Trump's endorsee (because, reportedly, Addison McDowell has become a close hunting buddy with Donald Trump Jr., and Junior convinced Big Daddy to endorse Addison McDowell, which he did) -- anyway, McDowell put out a Twitter video of himself holding (no lie!) a pitchfork and wearing what's supposed to be work clothes vowing to protect guns and zyns. Zyns are nicotine pouches sold in tins and used like snuff. You can see the video here. Apparently, "They're coming for our Zyns!" and this sagging bag of new potatoes, with its pitchfort, is going to save us. He wrote a post on Twitter to accompany the video:

This might trigger a few liberals, but I won’t let them come for our #guns, our #zyns, our #bbq, or our Cheerwine. Our freedoms and our way of life are worth fighting for, and I’m ready to take the fight to Washington. #freezyn #stopchuck

Cheerwine? This ad triggered sustained laughter. And ultimately the puzzlement at the decision-making that went into this staged-in-a-barn video presentation of a slacker who likes his nicotine and can't keep the hair out of his eyes. Is this knowing self-irony -- a pitchfort? like half the duo in American Gothic. Is this self-parody or just laziness because he doesn't respect the voting public? 

Did I say Mark Walker can't catch a break? He's seeing high-level Republican endorsers either rescind their endorsements, like Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, or deny they ever made them, like Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin.

To recap the downward trajectory of Mark Walker: Was a congressman for the 6th CD (2014-2020); decided not to run for reelection when his district became heavily Democratic; ran instead for US  Senate in the Republican Primary of 2022, against Ted Budd who got the Trump endorsement; announced in 2023 for Governor, then switched to the 6th CD after the Republicans gerrymandered it back to solid Republican.

He suffers from widespread disrespect.

Who Did Trump Endorse in CD 6?

 

Trump's new find

Donald Trump announced his endorsement on Wednesday of his favored candidate in North Carolina's 6th Congressional District. It wasn't Mark Walker, the ex-congressman who ran for US Senate last year and lost to Trump endorsee Ted Budd. And it wasn't Bo Hines, the Madison Cawthorn wannabe whom Trump endorsed in 2022 for the seat in the 13th Congressional District. Both Walker and Hines are announced candidates in CD 6.

No, Trump endorsed one Addison McDowell, who Danielle Battaglia reported wasn't even an announced candidate on Wednesday.

Born and raised in Davidson County, [McDowell] worked on Rep. Richard Hudson’s 2016 campaign and then from 2017 to 2019 in Sen. Ted Budd’s congressional office, while Budd served in the U.S. House representing the same area of the state .... McDowell currently is registered as a lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

How Trump and McDowell got together could be an interesting love story. Did they "meet cute"? How did the romance blossom? "McDowell visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida to meet with the ex-president on Tuesday, campaign adviser Jonathan Felts said." 

The most devastated collateral damage of the Trump-McDowell elopement ... young Bo Hines, who was counting on getting the Trump rose himself.

Battaglia reports that McDowell has hired the hard-driving veteran operative named above, Jonathan Felts. The Felts resume is impressive. He ran the Bush-Cheney campaign in North Carolina in 2004 and then worked for Bush in the White House. In 2023 after Budd won his Senate seat, he hired Felts as his transition manager. Felts has also been a policy whisperer for Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt.

One naturally wonders if that was the conduit for getting McDowell under Trump's nose: McDowell to Felts to Budd to Trump.

The Bo Hines Relapse

 

Remember the football player who won some big football games and then wanted to be somebody in the political world? Bo Hines originally from Charlotte, but very flexible in where he was willing to call home. In January 2021, he lived in Winston-Salem where he was in law school, but politics had gotten ahold of him in a leap-before-you-look kind of way. That January. Hines posted a video to his Twitter and Facebook feeds criticizing Congresswoman Virginia Foxx -- that she had mainly made herself rich in Congress and had done little for her constituents other than the disaster of a pork-barrel teapot museum which didn't actually come about. Hines was suddenly interesting as a brash insurgent taking on one of the most securely gerrymandered Republicans in Congress. Hines tried to make headway with Young Republicans during a visit to AppState in April 2021. Almost immediately thereafter Foxx got the endorsement of Hines' hero Madison Cawthorn (who hadn't turned totally toxic yet).

Oops.

Bo Hines folded quickly. On May 8th, 2021, less than a month after he announced against Foxx in the 5th, he was reported in conservative circles to be moving his candidacy from the 5th to the 13th. Incumbent Congressman in the 13th, Ted Budd, had already announced he was stepping down to run for US Senate. An open seat! (Which was ultimately won by Democrat Wiley Nickel last November.) Say whatever you want about Bo Hines's political I.Q. -- he had learned something valuable: Don't jump in the first time against an entrenched grandmother from your own party. 

But shit happened to the 13th CD. Under court order to divest itself of partisan advantage, court-appointed masters created new Congressional maps in 2022 that shuffled many of the precincts from the 13th into a newly drawn 7th CD, which was already complicated with bigger names than himself (Republican David Rouzer was the incumbent). For some nefarious reason Donald Trump Hisownself wanted Hines to run in the new 4th in exchange for the Trump endorsement. Instead, Hines went back to the now new 13th -- and got the Trump endorsement anyway. Trump featured Hines during a rally in Johnston County. Hines prevailed in the Republican primary but lost last fall to state Senator Wiley Nickel.

Just a few minutes ago

Reporter Bryan Anderson flashed the news on Twitter:

It's official: Republican Bo Hines is running against former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker in NC's 6th Congressional District, which includes outskirts of Greensboro and Winston-Salem. Other GOP primary candidates include Christian Castelli, Mary Ann Contogiannis and Jay Wagner. 

The incumbent congresswoman in the 6th, Democrat Kathy Manning, was brutalized by the latest Republican gerrymandering and is considered a Dead Woman Walking, though I don't know if she's announced her plans for 2024.

The Power of Bill Graham's Candidacy for Governor

 

Mark Walker, suddenly running
for Congress

I wrote on October 18 "Fear of Mark Robinson Spawns a New Competitor" about Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham jumping into the Republican primary for governor. I suggested that he seemed to have some powerful king-makers pushing his candidacy, so it comes as no surprise that Graham has already scrambled the field. Just today comes news that former Congressman and until today candidate for governor Mark Walker is dropping out of that race to run again for his old 6th District congressional seat. I think Bill Graham probably caused him to reevaluate his options.

Hannah Schoenbaum, for the AP:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Just after the North Carolina General Assembly gave final approval Wednesday to a new congressional map favoring Republicans, a former congressman announced he is dropping out of the Republican primary for governor to try to win back his seat in the U.S. House.

Ex-U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, a former Baptist pastor from Greensboro, launched a bid Wednesday to reclaim the district he had represented on Capitol Hill for six years. He held the seat until a previous redistricting cycle opened the door for Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning to take office.

“I didn’t really leave voluntarily,” Walker said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Now that the General Assembly has restored the 6th District to how it’s historically been represented, which is conservative Republican, it felt like this was the right time to reengage with everything going on in the country.”

 

Don't Ask Mark Robinson How Things Work

 

The Daily Haymaker claims that Mark Robinson has "ducked out" on two Republican primary debates. Not so much "debates" as I understand them, but rather "joint appearances" with his Republican rivals for governor where questions are posed to the candidates. One of those happened in Charlotte. The Republican Women of Greater Charlotte invited all five of the announced Republican candidates to a luncheon on September 13. All came except Robinson. WBTV reporter Brett Jensen reported his absence and also reported on a straw poll of the 130 attendees, in which Robinson got 11% to Dale Folwell and Mark Walker's 40% each. Robinson "continues to see his lead shrink," Jensen tweeted. 

In another tweet from that luncheon, Jensen quoted one of the attack lines being used by Mark Walker, who has been pulling no punches in his criticism of Robinson. “In 2022, Republicans won independent voters by 9%. According to Mr. Robinson‘s own polling, he’s now down 17 points among unaffiliated, female voters. You can’t win a statewide race if you’re down 17 points among unaffiliated women voters. You probably shouldn’t be saying women can’t lead .... That’s probably a detriment when you’re trying to get the female vote.”

But get real. Either Folwell or Walker should drop out -- would have to drop out -- to help build a united team against Robinson -- for it to mean anything come March's primary.

Mark Robinson Won't Risk a Debate (Sez Mark Walker)

 

Mark Robinson

In an interview with WFAE political reporter Steve Harrison, Republican candidate for governor Mark Walker pulled a stiletto and jabbed at his rival Mark Robinson for being waaay out of the Republican mainstream, out there beyond where reality delivers the mail. Harrison quotes Walker:

Walker said he doesn’t expect Robinson to participate in any debates before the March primary because his campaign team “won’t put him on the stage and let him trip all over himself.”

He cast Robinson as unprincipled on issues like abortion: “Who knows where he is today? I don’t know if that is a script he is trying to follow.”

He suggested Robinson as governor would be a rubber-stamp for GOP Senate leader Phil Berger: “There is a reason Phil Berger never stood with Pat McCrory. There is a reason he never stood with Dan Forest. Yet he is the first one up the steps with Mark Robinson’s campaign announcement.”

Walker continued: “The question is, why? I think that’s one of the reasons why Robinson hasn’t said anything the last few months about anything Phil Berger is trying to do” [like get gambling casinos into the state budget].

Robinson in fact came out saying he had been against gambling casinos since the beginning but only said so after gambling casinos were no longer an issue, causing even fellow Republicans to laugh behind his back at the obvious pusillanimity of that convenient conversion.

“My prediction is he will never take foot on the debate stage,” Walker said. “One, he is not familiar with the policies. Number two, there is so much that he can’t answer for when it comes to his background.”

By "background," he meant personal problems such as unpaid taxes....

...Walker criticized Robinson and other Republicans for having what he said is a “lack of sensitivity” on the issue. That includes, he said, Robinson’s comments that abortion is “murder.”

Robinson is now downplaying his past comments on abortion....

“Most of us don’t believe the Civil Rights Act was a communist plot [as Robinson has claimed],” Walker said. “When you are defending Harvey Weinstein. And when you say it’s Illuminati that went after Bill Cosby, I’m thinking, ‘My gosh. This is so far out of reality.’ ”

It all comes down to who will represent the "Republican brand" in North Carolina. We're kind of counting on it not being Mark Walker.

Mark Walker Volunteers for a Suicide Mission

 

Mark Robinson sucks all the air out of any room he's in. He's a bulldozer salting the air with diesel fumes, which make his biggest fans a little drunk with fantasies of destruction. Robinson gets them shouting "amen!" while attacking the defenseless and promising scorched earth for Democrats, once he gets into the governor's mansion.

And now this ho-hum guy, Mark Walker, wants to go head-to-head with Robinson in the contest for the governorship. Walker's ideology -- especially on the issue of abortion -- is no different from Robinson's, so Walker intends to beat Robinson with style alone -- a former Baptist preacher who doesn't yell at people. This campaign, in other words, already has l.o.s.e.r. embroidered all over it.

Walker launched his campaign last Saturday. At a church. Where he did, in fact, preach but tried to be uplifting rather than contemptuous. AP's Gary Robertson said that a number of Black supporters were prominently featured at the launch, because Walker's "been known for his efforts to work with minority groups, particularly on funding historically Black colleges."

Robertson quoted some of Walker's rhetoric: “You’re fearfully and wonderfully made, and God created you uniquely and you have that potential and the ability to blow past any of these political elites that try to put a ceiling on the very potential that God created you to have. That’s the kind of message that we need to get into all of our communities, and that’s the kind of message that I bring to Raleigh.”

That's some loaded language that attempts to soar into the rafters -- "You're fearfully and wonderfully made" -- but who are "these political elites" (we naturally assume he means Democrats) and what exactly is the "ceiling" on your "potential." What is he talking about?

The More, NOT the Merrier

 

Photo Robert Willett,
News and Observer

The pompous blowhard Mark Robinson, our Lieutenant Governor whose startling political rise may end up knowing some bounds in 2024, did it yesterday -- officially announced his candidacy for Roy Cooper's job. In keeping with Robinson's brand, it was a raucous spectacle at the short-track Ace Speedway outside Altamahaw, with thousands of screaming fans thirsty for the blood-red meat Robinson always dishes. But yesterday, Robinson was more careful, in keeping with his new attempt to remake himself as a thoughtful public servant. He emphasized his own up-from-poverty life story and praised his mama.

Which Republican big-wigs are buying in on the Robinson brand? Some important ones: "A large group of Republican state legislators, including Senate leader Phil Berger, took to the stage soon after the event began, to express their support for Robinson, and convey the importance of electing a strong conservative to governor" (Avi Bajpai).

Phil Berger wants this guy? Who, if elected, will truly be the worst loose cannon of Berger's career. Good luck with that, Mr. Berger.

Mark Walker

Timed to coincide with Robinson's announcement also came word that former Congressman Mark Walker will get into the race for governor soon: "Tim Murtaugh, whose firm National Public Affairs includes Bill Stepien, former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, told FOX8 that the firm is advising Walker and that he is expected to enter the race for the Republican nomination for governor 'in the coming weeks.' ”

Forlornly buttoned-down state Treasurer Dale Folwell is already in the governor's race, so with Walker also getting in, Robinson's chances of surviving the primary just went up.

Get ready, North Carolina.

Getting Righteous About Campaign Finance Law

 

Carolina Forward email blast: Feb. 27, 2023

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has launched formal investigations into two high-profile Republican figures and one Republican dark-money group in connection with the 2022 election. Last week, Carolina Forward filed two formal complaints uncovering illegally unreported campaign support during the 2022 election cycle:

1. The first regards E.C. Sykes, the 2022 Republican nominee for State Senate District 18, who accepted and did not report communications training provided to him by the group Alliance Defending Freedom.
2. The second regards former Republican Congressman Mark Walker’s “Win the Courts” organization, which provided material support to several Republican candidates for the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals which was never reported....

E.C. Sykes and “Alliance Defending Freedom”

E.C. Sykes is a multimillionaire investor, former businessman, and far-right Christian fundamentalist who ran for North Carolina’s State Senate District 18 in Wake and Granville counties. Sykes spent approximately a quarter of a million dollars of his own considerable wealth on his ultimately unsuccessful campaign, which he lost to Democrat Mary Wills Bode by a larger-than-expected 5.5 points....

...Sykes received strong support from a national Christian fundamentalist organization called the “Alliance Defending Freedom” (or ADF). The ADF is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and supports criminalizing homosexuality as well as the forced sterilization of transgender people....

Media training is a permissible form of in-kind material campaign support, so long as its value does not exceed the maximum allowable contribution limit ($5,600 in 2022). Like all campaign contributions, it must also be reported. Sykes did not.

Mark Walker and “Win the Courts”

Republican former Congressman and failed U.S. Senate hopeful Mark Walker unveiled a project called “Win the Courts” in mid-2022, dedicated to assisting Supreme Court and Court of Appeals candidates.

“Win the Courts” was organized as an independent expenditure committee (also known as a “dark money” group). One of its key activities was a colorful bus, pictured here, emblazoned with the images and names of Republican judicial candidates. The bus was a prominent prop at many Republican events.... “Win the Courts” also organized a rally in Greensboro....

Mark Walker and “Win the Courts” broke North Carolina election laws in a number of ways. It provided material campaign logistical support to several candidates, none of which was ever reported; it obviously coordinated closely with the Republican candidates it was organized to promote, which is also prohibited by law.

*****************

In July 2022, I wrote about the Sykes-Bode contest for NCS18. Sykes was a worrisome alternative to a talented young Democratic woman.

Southern Poverty Law Center's info on Alliance Defending Freedom.

Mark Walker v. Mark Robinson? Good Lord!

 

Mark Walker

Speaking of artifically inflated objects that will deflate suddenly, I loved the headline in The Assembly, "Mark Walker Floats a Test Balloon" (subscription required). The article was referring to ex-Congressman Mark Walker's new ambition to run in the Republican primary for governor, after he came in a dismal third to Ted Budd and Pat McCrory in last year's Republican primary for US Senate.

In a text message to The Assembly, Walker confirmed he’s taking meetings about a possible gubernatorial run. Two close advisers said the Republican will be in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss his potential candidacy with members of the Republican Governors Association.

Walker used to be a pastor of a church and casts a mild aura, but doesn't he know that his own political party doesn't cotton to "mild" or "moderate" or "pleasant" in the post-Trump times? No, the contemporary GOP likes acid and mean and intemperate, and North Carolina Republicans have already found their preferred candidate for governor, the acidic, mean, and intemperate Mark Robinson, the loud-mouth meat-shield that white Republicans are tickled to applaud preaching the gospel of "owning the libs." Robinson's happy to be exploited in that manner.

Robinson

But Mark Walker? Nah. He ain't gonna take out an accomplished ego-artist like Robinson, and we could even feel something like sympathy watching him get busted again.

For Trump-Boy Bo Hines, First, It Was Virginia Foxx

 

In 2020 Bo Hines, a once-upon-a-time NCSU football star (for one season) but in 2020 an aspiring student in the Wake Forest School of Law, must have watched the fulminating rise of Madison Cawthorn with some envy and said to himself, "I could do that too!" Because, actually he's several centiles smarter than Cawthorn, and knows it. Subsequently, because he's so smart, he hopscotched all over North Carolina looking for just the right congressional district where he could wow 'em with his hard-edged Trumpist ventriloquism and Cawthorn good looks, and he finally landed his candidacy in the new, newer, newest CD13, about 200 miles from his Winston-Salem residence. Make no mistake: He has not only the time-stamp of Trump but also the explicit and florid endorsement of Trump. Just look at the graphics on both his Facebook and his Twitter pages. We also note just in passing and by way of essential taxonomy, he's a hang-out-with-Matt-Gaetz type of guy.

That's the 13th CD in bright green, southern Wake, Johnston, and parts of Harnett and Wayne

But First, He Was Running Against Virginia Foxx

He launched what promised to be a delicious primary campaign against Foxx in January 2021 with a video posted to his Twitter and Facebook. His criticism of Foxx, more implied than explicitly stated, was that she had mainly made herself rich in Congress and had done little for her constituents other than the disaster of a pork-barrel teapot museum which didn't come about. Ouch. His condo in Winston-Salem was not in Foxx's 5th CD at the time (but Hines has never let actual residence stand in the way of his ambition).

Bo Hines made a publicized visit with Young Republicans at AppState in April 2021, campaigning against Foxx obviously, and almost immediately -- and to our amazement -- Foxx announced that Madison Cawthorn had endorsed her for reelection ... herself, Virginia Foxx, the 70-something battle-axe who can cry on cue and not the 20-something fellow aggressive male conservative that you might think Cawthorn would gravitate to. (Cawthorn did later develop a political crush on Hines, but in April of 2021, Foxx got to him first.)

By the first week of May 2021, Hines had reconsidered. Maybe it wasn't wise to challenge a fellow Republican incumbent. He had looked around. Ted Budd was stepping down from his 13th CD seat to run for the Senate, so that open district (which also didn't include Hines's condo) looked more ripe for the taking. On May 8th, 2021, Dallas Woodhouse reported that Hines was moving his candidacy to the old 13th, which still at that time looked like this (it's the one in gray, gerrymandered for Ted Budd):

Woodhouse was not critical of Hines in his reporting. He became very critical of Cawthorn.

Bo Hines, Opportunist

Between the congressional map of North Carolina's 13 Congressional districts we used in 2020 (the map immediately above) and the eventual court-ordered map we're now functioning under (seen at the top of this column), the Republican overlords in the NC General Assembly arrived at their own redraw-of-infamy early in December of 2021, which landed with a thud and looked like this below (infamous for the Foxx finger into Watauga) and would become Hines's new playground for district shopping:

Most of the 13th CD where Hines had newly announced had now become a new 7th CD (in bright yellow above), so Bo Hines was mulling what to do and so was Mark Walker, who was also considering changing his plans for the US Senate for a run in the 7th to get back into Congress. Meanwhile, the Club for Growth endorsed Hines for whatever district he chose to run in (not kidding), and Trump came calling, promising to endorse Hines if he'd pick the 4th CD instead and leave the 7th open for Walker (in order to get Walker out of the way for Ted Budd's race for the Senate). The 4th CD, where Trump and incidentally Cawthorn both wanted Hines to land, was farther east yet from Hines's residence.

Law suits and judgments ensued. The map at the top of this column became law, and Hines chose the new 13th, for rationales and consideration (and math?) we may never know. But Hines becomes a featured speaker (and Trump-blessed candidate) at Trump's rally tomorrow in Johnston County in the heart of the new 13th, an anointing that some think will propel Hines past Renee Ellmers (also trying to get back into Congress), his chief rival in an 8-candidate primary.

But the Trump blessing has not papered over Hines's carpetbag for all the Republicans in the new 13th. The Johnston County Republican Men's Club has come out against Hines, and perhaps other Republican  voters are noticing how far from home the boy has roamed.

Update on Candidate Filings -- 1 Day Left

 

Deanna Ballard

Though Sen. Jeff Jackson dropped out of the US Senate race and cleared the path for Cheri Beasley, she still has -- believe it or not -- 8 Democratic primary opponents, some of them "perennials" and some who apparently don't mind spending the filing fee of $1,740. To gain what, exactly?

Speaking of Sen. Jackson, he's filed to run in the new 14th CD and at the moment has a single primary opponent.

Former congressman Mark Walker did finally file yesterday for the Republican primary for US Senate.

Perennial Democratic candidate Erica D. Smith has filed in the CD1 and will face state senator Don Davis in a primary for the open seat. No Republican incumbent but 4 Republicans filed in the primary.

In CD4, considered "safe Democratic," a real fight is shaping up between Nida Allam, a Durham County commissioner; Valerie Foushee, a formidable state senator; and Richard L. Watkins, a young African American Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology.

CD6 (largely Guildford Co.), which is supposed to be a solid Democratic House seat, so far has no Democratic candidate. Apparently waiting for current Democratic incumbent Kathy Manning to file for reelection.

NC Senate race to watch: Deanna Ballard and Ralph Hise were double-bunked in this new district (Dist. 47),  and indeed Ballard has decided to take on Hise, the very man who drew the map that double-bunked them. The Republican establishment was evidently trying to encourage her to retire, but she ain't going easy.

Ashe County Democrat Ben Massey has filed to run against incumbent Republican Ray Pickett. Two Watauga precincts (Blue Ridge and Elk) have been removed from this district (#93) and added to Caldwell, while Allegheny County got added to Pickett's district.

For the first time in many years, there will be a Democratic primary contest for a County Commission seat between Carrington Pertalion and Angela Laws King.

Update on Candidate Filings -- Two Days To Go

 

Kyle Parrish

We were wondering about Adina Safta yesterday, who was listed as a Republican primary opponent for Virginia Foxx in CD5. She had filed during those brief moments that the 5th stretched from the Tennessee stateline to Chapel Hill. She's now changed her filing to run in the new CD2, where Democrat Deborah Ross is the incumbent (and who is favored to keep the seat this November).

Former Congressman Mark Walker has not yet filed for the US Senate race, though a clot of other Republicans have, including both Pat McCrory and Ted Budd. Hesitation sometimes speaks volumes.

In the new 5th CD, Kyle Parrish, who lives in Cary, filed yesterday as a Democrat. Cary? Here's his website. It's somewhat confusing -- proclaims he's a candidate in District 5 on the homepage, but under the tab "Meet Kyle Parrish," he says he's running in the 7th CD. Always nice to have a Democrat on the ballot against the ineffable Foxx, but an out-of-district Democrat who's already a public head-scratcher? Yikes.

Toxic Republican Dan Bishop, who currently represents the 9th CD, is now running in the 8th.

Rep. Patrick McHenry in the 10th always has Republican primary challengers, and this year is no exception. It's similar to the Republican challengers that Virginia Foxx always draws. None of them leave a mark. (Which reminds me that I need to re-read "The Myth of Sisyphus.")

Mark Walker Stands Up To Trump

 

Last night in Greensboro, former Republican congressman and Christian pastor Mark Walker announced that he was turning down Donald Trump's offer and staying in the US Senate race. Trump had told Walker that he would endorse him for another congressional seat if he'd drop out of the Senate race, thus clearing the Trumpist lane for Ted Budd, but Walker said no way by the love of God. He's full speed ahead for that Senate seat, but on difficult political terrain, where Budd is supposedly coming on strong (with Trump's blessing and the $$ of the Club for Growth, which is getting his name out there). 

Full-speed-ahead? Yes. Walker rolled out his spanking-brand-new campaign bus. See it?

myfox8 WGHP

Walker threw this event at the Greensboro Auto Auction on Wendover Avenue and drew a respectable crowd.

Bad news for Budd. Potentially good news for ex-Guv Pat McCrory, who according to comments from Trumpists, is tanking in polls while Budd is rising, but whose center lane, country-club vibe still has juice in suburbia and whose name recognition alone made him instantly the frontrunner. The overriding irony is that Budd and Walker are really political brothers from different mothers:

“[Walker's decision] obviously is better for McCrory than Budd,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. “I think Walker and Budd are competing for many of the same voters. Ideologically they are virtually indistinguishable. Demographically they are very similar. There’s just not much daylight between the two of them, except for Trump’s endorsement.”

If this were the best of all possible worlds (and not the Republican Party under Trump), Walker could draw some distinctions now, create a new identity for people who relish the fighting spirit in their preachers: "I stood up to a would-be dictator because I'm a better man than that." But that would happen in a world that doesn't exist right now.

Walker still might get tough, if he decides to fight like a man with one small stone and a slingshot (or like a wildcat in a toesack). Walker published this photo on his Facebook page with this caption:

Keeping a previous commitment at the Senate Forum in Monroe with Pat McCrory at the Sweet Union Republican Women’s Club. As usual, only one candidate didn’t show.

 The "Sweet Union Republican Women's Club" made me flash on Andy Griffith's Aunt Bee.

The Woman in the Republican US Senate Race in NC -- Marjorie Eastman

 

Nobody's paid much attention to candidate for US Senate, Marjorie Eastman, because the swinging trio of Republican men running for Dick Burr's seat -- McCrory, Budd, Walker -- have sucked up all the oxygen. Only now, Marjorie Eastman is suddenly in the press, because a new super-PAC founded by tycoon Fred Eshelman has been spending $1 million getting her name out there. The PAC is called "Restore Common Sense," and in the best of all possible worlds, Marjorie Eastman could be a runaway good bet to win a normal Republican primary -- distinguished ex-military careerist and smart, normal woman. Damn impressive on paper. Her Wikipedia article -- must reading. There's no indication there that she's any kind of conservative culture warrior. She's all about veterans and wrote a well received book, "The Frontline Generation: How We Served Post 9/11."

She had combat experience in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "She was ranked the #1 Military Intelligence Company Commander in Eastern Afghanistan for the deployment cycle of 2009-2010, awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service as a combat commander and received the Combat Action Badge" (website). She announced her candidacy back last October and was largely ignored until Fred Eshelman decided to help her.

But she's not from around here. Went to school in California, and she accepted a White House Fellow appointment from Bill Clinton in 2000. As a military careerist, she's lived a lot of different places. She and her husband recently retired to Cary, and she's obviously very new to politics. But her Wiki bio lists real achievements in the academic realm: 

[Eastman] also studied abroad at the University College London, School for Slavonic and East European Studies. She attended the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, where she earned her master's degree in International Security, with concentrations in Homeland Security, Intelligence, and Human Rights. During her graduate studies, she was one of 56 students selected nationally for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Honors Internship Program. She also has an MBA from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

Everything I read screams not-a-Trumpist. A moderate Republican with a sense that the United States belongs in the international stew because it can do good deeds.

But then I watched her intro video on her website, and I guess I ought to accept by now that every educated Republican moderate will quickly mouth the magic words -- "I'm a conservative, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment Republican." Those words are actually somewhat jarring in the video because they follow an opening section that seemed complete in itself -- about being inspired (if not incensed) by the heroic sacrifice in the face of national adversity (9/11). It's soft-focus patriotism. But then the next section -- and it's like the advisors said to her, "can you do a tougher version?" -- Marjorie Eastman obliged and even got downright icky: She says she wants good old American capitalism to save us from "the creeping socialism that's being pushed in our Congress." 

Here's the whole thing:

That internationalist sheen dooms her, no? in the Republican primary. But I can't help wondering if all that super-PAC money might make her more viable and hence a threat to McCrory, by dividing the never-Trump vote, especially if Mark Walker takes Trump's dangle of running for a House seat instead.

Primaries To Be Delayed Again, To June 7th

 

Republican leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly obviously believe their gerrymandered maps are about to be declared unconstitutional by the State Supremes. The "gerrymandering trial" appeal goes before the Court on Feb. 2nd. Plaintiffs are looking to overturn the 3-judge panel's ruling last week that there's really nothing the judicial system can do about partisan power grabs via gerrymandering. The NC Supreme Court has set arguments on the appeal for Feb. 2nd. They have (by my count) exactly 7 working days from then, to February 18th (Friday of the week of February 14), which according to the State Board of Elections is their drop-dead week for having new districts defined so that they can accommodate candidate filing for a (court-ordered) May 17th primary. 

The Republican bosses in the General Assembly are taking the correct steps right now to delay the primaries another three weeks to June 7th. That's a gift to the Court. More time, more deliberateness, more care in who the Court orders to draw new maps. Ahem.

That delay in the primaries is just an acknowledgement of reality by the Republican bosses, not necessarily IMO a nefarious first step toward impeaching any Justice who rules their gerrymandering unconstitutional. Dallas Woodhouse, writing for the Pope Carolina Journal, has reported that some Republicans are sure 'nuff talking impeachment (Billy Corriher's reporting), but delaying the primaries in this new instance is perhaps merely dealing with it.

I'm okay with the Court ordering the General Assembly to draw new maps (rather than an independent commission). Yes, I realize Berger Moore will slip in what bad faith they can in new maps, but don't they have to be better than what we have right now? Weren't the 2020 court-ordered maps that the Republicans were forced to re-draw better than what they replaced? You bet they were, for at least those new maps prevented veto-proof majorities for the Republicans in NC House and Senate and led to the election of 2 new Democrats in the US Congress. Odds are, new maps would eliminate at least some if not all malicious mischief, like the splitting up of Watauga County between two different Congressional districts and two different NC House districts.

Dallas Woodhouse thinks the delay is particularly bad for the Republican senatorial primary between Pat McCrory, Mark Walker, and the Trump-tetched Ted Budd. It's bad if Mark Walker sticks to his guns and stays in the race rather than take the tainted Trump bait of running for the US House instead. Walker stays in and divides the conservative vote with Ted Budd, and McCrory waltzes. Woodhouse would applaud that.

Probably so would Cheri Beasley.