Michael Lee Is No. 2 on Republican Vulnerable List?

 

My last entry (below) was prompted by the contents of a letter Sen. Amy Galey of Alamance County, a Majority Republican Whip in the NC Senate, wrote to Sheriff Sam Page, begging him not to run a primary against Phil Berger, because it would endanger the reelection of three sitting Republican senators. Sen. Lisa Stone Barnes was No. 1. Sen. Michael Lee of New Hanover is No. 2.

Michael V. Lee has been a Republican senator from Wilmington since 2014 when he was appointed to finish out the term of Thom Goolsby for what was then Senate Dist. 9. He had just hung out his lawyer shingle in 2012, started his own firm and specialized in "development law," which means commercial real estate, land use and zoning, which attracted the attention of well-connected Republicans who saw him as an attractive candidate for office. He rose fast and was reelected to the seat in 2016 with 57% of the vote. But in the famous Blue Wave of 2018, Lee went down to Democrat Harper Peterson by 231 votes. Lee is nothing by now if not a survivor of bad odds, because he came back in 2020 -- that weirdly cloudy year -- and retook his seat with a margin of 1,200 votes. In 2022, Lee hung on against Democratic challenger Marcia Morgan by only .06% of the vote.

Since then, Phil Berger and his boys have done great service to Michael Lee, first excising some majority Black urban precincts from Lee's district in their most recent gerrymander (shoving them across the Cape Fear River into a white rural enclave where their Black votes won't count for nothing) and then pouring millions into Lee's 2024 reelection campaign against pediatrician David Hill. The gerrymandering out of Black Democrats did the trick. Challenger Hill got only 43.74% of the vote. In 2025, his Republican colleagues voted Lee in as their Majority Leader.

That's the problem for any Democratic challenger in 2026 in Senate Dist. 7 -- overcoming the loss of solidly Democratic voters through gerrymander. A successful Democrat is going to have to have boots on the ground, canvassers and door-knockers, and staff -- organizers on the various campuses, especially UNC-Wilmington, who'll be teaching young voters the hoops they have to clear, registering new voters, starting a movement that can take on a formidable personality like Michael Lee. 

His Twitter feed puts you in mind of an affable Democrat who doesn't want to offend anyone. His Twitter profile sez he's "committed to prioritizing civility, finding common ground, and fostering cooperation to address the needs of our community." He's very concerned about water safety and holding polluters liable, oh yes indeedy, and never mind that the pollution of the Cape Fear by the Chemours Corp. with "forever chemicals" happened on his watch. But who the unlikely hell would seriously expect a "development lawyer" to be any kind of an environmentalist? Seriously? Lee votes with Phil Berger's majority, always? He presents a moderate facade, once promised people that he wouldn't vote to further restrict abortion rights but then voted for every new restriction in North Carolina. Plus as an affable development lawyer, he's been in tight with the casino gambling people. Peter Castagno in the Port City Daily reported that Lee had received at least $38,000 from those influencers. In that way he's very loyal to Phil Berger and feeds at the same trough.

Jessica Bichler
Wilmington Yoga Center

The Democrat that was recruited (?) to run against Lee in 2026, Jessica Bichler, as yet has no campaign infrastructure to speak of, barely a website, a couple of posts on a brand new Facebook page, but no evidence that she's in this to win it. She does not mention her profession on her website -- yoga instructor, with over 20 years of experience -- and that omission gave me pause. I spent time on the Wilmington Yoga Center website, puzzling why Bichler would hide it. She's going to have to mount a campaign, which means raising money, and she may need Sydney Batch's Democratic Senatorial Campaign operatives to take charge. She doesn't appear to have a lick of experience with the Democratic Party nor with campaigning.

Shootout in New Hanover's Senate Dist. 7

 

NC Senate Dist. 7 (New Hanover County, including Wilmington, minus the mainly Black neighborhoods of Wilmington that were gerrymandered away and shoved over into Senate Dist. 8*) is rated by Civitas as R+2, by Bryan Anderson as R+5. and by Dave's Redistricting as 51.3% R to 46.1% D. The latest Republican gerrymander that took away those Black and working class precincts was an obvious bid to blunt any Democratic uprising against the Berger/Moore dictatorship in Raleigh, but this is going to be a Democratic year, and partisan leans plus wicked gerrymandering can't always overcome the fury of the people. UNC-Wilmington, for just one factor in turnout, should be on fire to vote.

David Hill, Democrat

In the old South, physicians were often regarded as the local aristocracy. David Hill is a pediatric specialist who's now building a career as a speaker and podcaster on children's health ("Pediatrics On Call"). He currently works as a hospitalist pediatrician for Goldsboro Pediatrics in Wayne County. He's also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine.

This is from his consulting service webpage, not his campaign's:

Dr. Hill traces his comfort with public speaking back to middle school, when he was the voice of Snowden Junior High’s morning announcements. Since then he has honed his speaking style in his four years as president of his medical school class, ten years as a commentator on National Public Radio affiliates WUNC and WHQR, and three years as Program Director in charge of the AAP Council on Communications and Media’s academic offerings. Dr. Hill loves to entertain when he informs, and he has trained with Wilmington comedian Brooklyn Green and workshopped with Chicago’s Second City Theater to ensure that his talks are as entertaining as they are informative. [Comedian Brooklyn Green held a virtual fundraiser for him in July.]

You go, Dr. Hill!

He developed an expertise in the health effects of media on children and adolescents and speaks on that topic often. (On his professional webpage you can find one 30-second spot on children and cell phones that seems sensible.)  Plus he's an author of books on parenting, because he himself "has been a working dad, a stay-at-home-dad, a married dad, a single dad, and a blended family dad. His first book, Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro, draws on all of these experiences. His most recent book, Co-parenting Through Separation and Divorce: Putting Your Children First, helps parents work through the challenges of dividing a family. As a speaker he brings expertise, empathy and humor to the mission of helping families unlock the potential of parenting in all its forms."

In other words, this guy's got energy and talent and maybe some communication know-how to engage a large audience of voters in New Hanover.

Curiously, David Hill's campaign has no Twitter but it does have an active Facebook page where you can see his first TV ad and get info that no campaign website can ever adequately illustrate -- how much activity, how much voter enthusiasm, where's the candidate going, who's he seeing? Social media can be a gauge of a campaign's health. Also a kind of shield. But Hill appears to have a ground game going, and that's what it will take. Because....

Michael Lee, Republican incumbent

...Michael Lee is rolling in the dough. According to Peter Castagno in the Port City Daily, the NC Senate Caucus and the NCGOP generally have promised to pump in over $2 million to keep Lee in his seat. And according to Castagno, Lee is also a darling of the casino gambling industry. He received at least $38,000 from them.

That campaign largess is clearly visible on Lee's campaign website, with lots of professional video and splashy graphics emphasizing how moderate and concerned Lee is, how interested in "compassion and inclusivity" he is, how not a trumpist nor playing to the MAGA hoard. But Governor Roy Cooper called out Lee for his hypocrisy in campaigning in 2022 on keeping the 20-week abortion ban, then promptly voting for the new 12-week ban. His campaign themes now all have to do with taxes -- Republican pabulum, and as far away from hot-button MAGA obsessions as he can get.

His Twitter feed puts you in mind of an affable Democrat who doesn't want to offend anyone, "committed to prioritizing civility, finding common ground, and fostering cooperation to address the needs of our community." He's very concerned about water safety and holding polluters liable, especially because the pollution of the Cape Fear by the Chemours Corp. with "forever chemicals" is a big local issue. But who does he vote with, always? Why, the Republican super-majority in the Senate. That's the proof in this pudding.

Lee makes his living as a development attorney in his own Wilmington-based law firm, Lee Kaess.

*About which I wrote on this blog, "This Right Here Needs To Be a Federal Lawsuit."

We Will Remember

 

The quartet of Republican lawmakers who traded their consciences for their caucuses last night:

Michael Lee in the Senate (New Hanover); John Ray Bradford III in the House (Mecklenburg); Tricia Cotham in the House (Mecklenburg); and Ted Davis in the House (New Hanover).

The veto overrides in both House and Senate passed by one vote. 

Gov. Cooper Names Names, and They Don't Like It

 

Rep. John Bradford

Last Thursday, Governor Roy Cooper called out the hypocrisy of four Republican members of the NC General Assembly who campaigned last year on keeping the 20-week abortion ban and who now are supporting the new 12-week ban: Ted Davis in the House, Michael Lee in the Senate, and John Bradford and Tricia Cotham in the House. Only one of those House members might vote to uphold Cooper's veto and thus end this latest chapter in depriving women of their rights.

The fact that all four represent counties that are trending Democratic might have a lot to do with their promises, now broken. Davis and Lee represent New Hanover (Wilmington) and Bradford and Cotham represent Mecklenburg.

John Bradford, especially, took Cooper's calling him out badly, citing the Republican favorite excuse of victimhood and hurt feelings (a la Tricia Cotham). Bradford told WSOC, “In March [the governor] hosted a Down syndrome advocacy event and despite being the leading advocate for Down syndrome in the state legislature, I was excluded. Last session I was the primary bill sponsor for an organ donor transplant discrimination bill. He held a public bill signing event but chose not to invite me, the number one primary sponsor and Republican, and instead invited a Democrat [sic] legislator.”

Poor snowflake! "And how dare the governor reminding me of my campaign promises!" Bradford told WSOC last October that he supported current state law that allows abortions up until 20 weeks.

The other four have their own promises to rationalize, especially Cotham, who while campaigning for another term in the House last year, said lawmakers “should act now to codify Roe v. Wade to affirm the right to an abortion without interference.”

Rep. Davis actually missed the vote on passage of the 12-week ban, but said during an October town hall that he supported maintaining the 20-week law currently in place. He also said there were times when he disagreed with House Speaker Tim Moore on a bill, and told him he would vote for what he thought was “best for the people I represent.” Davis didn’t respond to a request for comment from The N&O on Friday, but Speaker Tim Moore told reporters on Thursday that Davis is “a ‘yes’ vote on the override,” and that “there’s no issue there.”

No issue except the loss of any pretend rectitude with the voters.