The Haughtiness of Virginia Foxx

 

Republican Sen. Chris Measmer's Hefty Baggage

My last two entries (below) were 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 was No. 2. Chris Measmer is third and last of this series (which has been both passing strange and highly interesting to research).

A Democrat -- April Cook -- is registered to run to replace Chris Measmer in the NC Senate (Dist. 34), but she's probably the least of his troubles going into 2026, because 1st-term Senator Measmer has his own primary, and he's dragging a lot of bad juju.

The vibe Chris Measmer gives off is pure trumpist -- bullying, ignoring the rules, corrupt and self-serving. He says on his website that his family has been in Cabarrus since 1810 and that he's the proud second-generation owner of a very venerable family business (also a very active member and lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business), but nowhere can I discover what business.

Measmer was only just appointed to the Senate in April 2025 to fill out the term of Paul Newton. There was a big cloud over Measmer's appointment. The retiring Sen. Newton, who was decamping to an administrative role at UNC, signaled to the Cabarrus Co. Republican executive committee his preference for his replacement, a woman (probably Harrisburg Mayor Jennifer Teague), but after what was apparently a very contentious four-hour interview with some seven total office-seekers -- who all thought they'd make splendid and useful state senators -- the exec comm defied Paul Newton and chose Chris Measmer, the chair of the Cabarrus Co Commish who had already exhibited a wheeling-and-dealing streak that put him in a harsh spotlight.

As the new chair of the CoCommish, Measmer took a trumpist axe to experienced county employees who he perceived to be in his way. He terminated both the county manager and the county attorney, enabled by a slim majority of two other Republicans (one of which is Larry Pittman, formerly of NC House fame). Measmer wanted Sean Newton of Charlotte as the new manager. Newton (no kin of the retiring Sen Newton) had never worked in local government and had a thin resume, but Measmer made sure he got the job. Only then did it become known that Newton -- and by extension Measmer -- had concealed a major conflict of interest. Measmer and Newton had partnered in a new "food manufacturing" business that registered with the Secretary of State and then dissolved a couple of years later, an apparent dream that died.

Measmer's chief antagonist on the CoCommish, Kenny Wortman, raised holy hell in March 2025 over what Measmer had done, moved to rescind the appointment of the new manager (a vote which failed 3-2), and then made a principled statement about how once conservative Republicans viewed public integrity: “The way this looks now is horrific. It looks like the headline is going to be ‘the county fires a 63-year-old man with 38 years of experience and replaces him with somebody under 40 because he’s your friend and former partner.’ ” Measmer got his way for county manager, then quickly bulled his way through the political jawboning to replace Paul Newton in the Senate, and even then he wasn't through abusing power: He engineered and participated in the quickie vote on the co commish for his own replacement, "the most extreme replacement possible," according to the NCDP, a flagrant abuse of power that was soon overturned in court.

Measmer's Primary Opponent

Kevin Crutchfield

Kevin Crutchfield was one of the other seven contenders who wanted the appointment to Paul Newton's seat, so he may well have a longstanding grudge against Measmer the incumbent. Crutchfield had succeeded Larry Pittman in a Cabarrus Co house seat in 2022, and then got ousted in 2024’s GOP primary by slick operator Brian Echevarria, about whom I spilled some digital ink in Feb. 2024. WBTV reported in December that Crutchfield later sought a job in Gov. Josh Stein’s administration.

Echevarria only beat Crutchfield by 167 votes, and Crutchfield is pretty well embedded in the Cabarrus business community. He lists (unlike Mr. Measmer) all his business interests on his website. He is president and CEO of The Crutchfield Group Ltd.,  a residential building and equipment leasing operation, and president and CFO of Casco Signs Inc. with some 45 employees.

There's every reason to think Crutchfield could make his comeback against such a tarnished incumbent as Measmer. Whoever wins this primary will be up against...

April Cook, Democrat

Dave's Redistricting offers discouraging numbers for NC Senate 34: 54.2% Republican v. 43.6% Democrat. But the Civitas Partisan Index ranks it only R+2, "Lean Republican," and in a blue wave ... well, you do the math. Plus, if Chris Measmer wins his primary, and even if he doesn't, the Republican brand seems somewhat tarnished in Cabarrus County.

April Cook has 20 years of experience and a base in the world of charitable health care and community clinics. She was the co-founder with her husband Dr. David Cook of the Lake Norman Community Health Clinic (now owned by Atrium Health and Novant Health and renamed the Cook Community Clinic in honor of April and David). Dr. David Cook remains the medical director but April has moved on to the Board of the NC Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NCAFCC), a network of 65 free and charitable clinics providing free healthcare to uninsured patients. April's is eleemosynary work of the highest order.

In other words, she could be a contender if she has the volunteers and the backing to put boots on the ground and get her name and her dedicated work known. In a time when Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is decimating healthcare for the poorest of citizens, April Cook would seem to have the juice to draw a distinction between herself and what the policies of the Republican Party have wrought.

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.

Target One for Ending the Republican Super-Majority in the NC Senate

 

Weeks ago the Democratic Minority Leader in the NC Senate, Sydney Batch, identified Lisa Stone Barnes in Senate Dist. 11 (Nash, Franklin, and Vance counties in north-central NC) as the prime target for ending the Republican super-majority in the NC Senate. Batch and other top Democrats, including Associate Justice Anita Earls, were on their way to a campaign roll-out in Rocky Mount to anoint and give their blessings to the Democratic candidate they think can take out Barnes -- mega-church founder James Gailliard, who previously served two terms in the NC House in an overlapping Nash Co. district following the Blue Wave of 2018. 

That was the first time I heard that Barnes was Dems' best shot at flipping a Senate seat and ending the Republican super-majority.

Then, in one of the most bizarre moments during the December candidate-filing period, Barnes's fellow Republican Senator Amy Galey of Alamance traveled north to Rockingham to beg Sheriff Sam Page not to file against Sen. Phil Berger, because (Galey wrote in a several-page letter that became public) if Phil Berger is distracted by a nasty primary, he won't be able to funnel money and other help to three vulnerable Senate Republicans, namely Lisa Stone Barnes (and two others I'll get to presently in subsequent posts). Amy Galey happens to be a Majority Whip in the Senate, a true lieutenant to Phil Berger's president pro tempore. So it's practically Republican establishment gospel -- Lisa Barnes is in trouble.

Which is surprising to this admittedly far-off observer. Barnes has looked like an immovable institution in Nash County. Her husband Johnny Barnes owned and operated the biggest multi-county sweet potato growing operation probably on the East Coast (and incidentally used migrant labor -- a bracero died of heat exhaustion on his farm in 2024). Always well turned out (Republican country club chic) and infallibly attracted to business interests and the connections that come with them, Lisa Barnes rose on civic volunteerism. Her political ambition also asserted itself. She won a seat on the Nash County Commission in 2012, followed in 2018 with beating incumbent Democrat Bobbie Richardson for an NC House seat, the only blue-to-red flip in 2018 in the whole state in what was otherwise a blue wave year. Lisa Stone Barnes was suddenly a genuine Republican princess in the General Assembly.

She spent only two terms in the NC House before she saw an opening to run for the NC Senate in 2020, where she's now in her third term. 

But into every life the rain must fall. First, in late 2024, a Superior Court judge placed Barnes Family Farms Corp. into receivership after it defaulted on $40 million in loans from Rabo AgriFinance, a unit of Netherlands-based Rabobank which specializes in agriculture financing. "The court-appointed receiver takes over the businesses, with wide-ranging duties that include paying utility bills and insurance premiums, obtaining bank and other documents, changing locks and negotiating the sale of assets. The Barnes can’t interfere with the receiver, who is authorized to seek help from the sheriff’s offices in Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson counties."

Then an unkinder cut just six months later. Johnny Barnes died in July 2025. He was only 61.

Despite the heaviness of losing financial and emotional props which might deter most of us, Lisa Stone Barnes showed up on the first day of candidate filing -- December 1st -- to make her run for reelection official and coincidentally become the Number One target for every Democrat in Raleigh and elsewhere in what may turn out to be Blue Wave 2026. She has always projected pro-business moderation while following her Republican crowd to vote for every anti-abortion measure that comes down the pike, but you won't find MAGA spikiness or trumpist braying on any of her social sites. Whether the fines for violating migrant-labor laws charged to Johnny Barnes seriously damage her pro-business image -- that's an open question.

James D. Gailliard (D)

James Gailliard is impressive by several metrics, and he's been running against Barnes since last July. He is the founding pastor of Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount, a genuine megachurch "serving thousands of families from ten North Carolina Counties and six Virginia counties. In 2013, Word Tabernacle was named amongst the 100 fastest growing churches in America." Gailliard is a native of Philadelphia, a graduate of the Central High School for Boys and Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was an honors student. He worked in corporate America before feeling called to the ministry.

Gailliard's civic volunteerism and leadership are a match to Barnes's. He was named the 2016 Distinguished Citizen by the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce, and most recently was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden. Gailliard is the founder Chair of The REACH Center, Inc.; a member of the Board of Trustees, Elizabeth City State University as well as the Board of Preachers, Morehouse College, his alma mater; and he is the former Chairman of the Board for the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. He was also named to the Board of Visitors at NC Wesleyan College.

He posted on Twitter a sort of apologia for his combination of religious/political activism: "If pastors avoid politics, we aren’t being neutral—we’re being negligent. The Bible speaks to laws, land, labor, and leadership. To ignore policy is to ignore people—and that’s the opposite of shepherding." And only naturally, he started a podcast, Until All Thrive, last July.

Michele Morrow Jumps Into an Already Crowded Scrum of Republicans Looking To Lose Big to Roy Cooper

 

The big political news yesterday was Michele Morrow's filing to run for Thom Tillis's Senate seat in next March's Republican primary, thus guaranteeing that Michael Whatley, the already-Trump-endorsed frontrunner, will win that contest even more easily. Morrow is most likely to split conservative voters with Republican lawyer Don Brown, who has established himself as the leading conservative trying to frustrate Whatley's coronation (according to The Daily Haymaker). (There are at least three other Republicans filed to run in that Senate primary. Filing ends at noon today.)

Before Morrow lost her run last year for NC Superintendent of Public Instruction (but she took 48.82% of the vote, which was a little too close for progressive comfort), the NC Chamber of Commerce had come out against her as a threat to the "business climate," recalling the great damage Dan Bishop did to the state over his infamous "Bathroom Bill." Since Morrow was of the opinion that public education amounted to childhood indoctrination in liberal ideals of equity and diversity, she could, as superintendent, have done more damage to the state's reputation than Bishop's Show Us Your Gender law.

Bon voyage, Ms. Morrow, on another great cruise ship headed to the reefs. Roy Cooper hardly needs your help weakening an already wobbly candidate like Michael Whatley, but we feel certain you'll advertise all Whatley's sins and stains, and we'll start designing your participation trophy.

Year of the Bullies

The grandstanding Brendan Jones

On Wednesday, Dec. 10th, NC House Majority Leader Brenden Jones threw a viral-video tantrum on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) superintendent and school board chair, berating, belittling, and bullying them -- he was actually yelling -- about books some third-party special interest told him were used in the schools, accusing the officials of ignoring parts of the new “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” SB49, which seeks to govern discussions of gender identity and which was also meant to show educators just how much contempt people like Rep. Jones have for their profession. After Jones' read titles and short out-of-context selections, in a sneering voice meant to signal to his base just how irredeemable these books really are, he actually tossed them contemptuously on the floor behind him.

Rarely has such fear of the written word and its power to contaminate been exhibited in public by a high-ranking official since at least the Spanish Inquisition.

Rep. Jones was especially het up about a book he waved in the air, Santa’s Husband, which he alleged was recommended to elementary school students in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools. The superintendent started to respond — “I’m not aware that …” — and Jones angrily interrupted. “You’re the superintendent. You're not aware of what's going on in your school system? You don't know what's printed? It’s trash,” he yelled, tossing the book over his shoulder. After the hearing, a Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools official issued a statement refuting Jones’s allegation: “We have once again searched our school and classroom libraries, and that book is not offered. CHCCS has not recommended this book for children of any age, as that would be a decision for parents to make for their own children.”

 

I have to admit that the superintendent actually sort of brought this on himself, having been recorded speaking to a teachers meeting in January 2024, saying what he really thought about SB49, opining that in his opinion parts of the law are unacceptably discriminatory. He indicated that he would be reluctant to enforce what was going to inhibit some students from being their authentic selves. Griffin later wrote in a February 2024 email to staff that although the school board had voted to adopt the new law as policy, there were exceptions possible -- far as the superintendent was concerned -- related to classroom discussions and the requirement to notify parents about any change in the way enrolled children were referring to themselves. It’s a fad, right now, adopting preferred pronouns. It's seems silly to old people like me, but it's not going to end Western civilization. 

The video of the superintendent's sharing of his opinion on the law and his subsequent email to staff got into the hands of @LibsofTikTok, the username of various anti-LGBTQ and far-right social-media accounts operated by a former real estate agent from Brooklyn, Chaya Raichik, who's big into the whole "groomer" hysteria. So by that route, the horrifying goods on the superintendent got into the hands of Rep. Jones, who knows a great opportunity for grand-standing when he sees one.

I betcha ten dollars Rep. Jones, as a loyal Republican soldier, voted multiple times total for Lt. Gov porn-meister Mark Robinson -- in both primaries and general elections -- and never felt a moral qualm.

College Professors Too Are Being Bullied

Peter Hans, the figurehead who's running the UNC system for the Republicans in the General Assembly, has drafted a policy that declares all course syllabi at the 16 affiliated campuses will now be considered public documents and must be posted on-line for more rabid third-parties to comb through. That news came from The Daily Tar Heel, one of the best investigative orgs in the state.

Alex H. Jones wrote about the new policy: "This is cheap red meat for the MAGA people. I would imagine most of the complaints against course syllabi will come from conservative think tankers paid to made liberals look foolish."

This policy represents an attack on civil liberties derived from centuries of reactionary politics in North Carolina. Civil liberties have always been weak in the South. The Confederacy was essentially a police state, and civil-rights protests were met with state violence. The same has been true with regard to higher education. In the 1850s, politicians drove a UNC professor out of the state for voicing his opposition to slavery. When civil liberties in the South conflict with white supremacy, we know which priority wins out.

And if UNC professors are required to post syllabi online for the perusal of aggrieved right-wing activists, they will be subjected to threats and potentially even violence. Doubt it? Look at the number of acts of political violence MAGA Republicanism has inspired over the last ten years. The intent is to make professors nervous, over the long term to suppress the teaching of left-leaning ideas at UNC. It’s an attack on academic freedom and freedom of speech.

 

Sue Their Sorry Asses!

 

The new Republican majority on the Jackson Co. Board of Elections voted 3-2 to eliminate an early-voting site on the campus of Western Carolina University that has been used for a decade. According to Chris Cooper, a political scientist at WCU, the university’s voting site has served "an outsize proportion of young and diverse voters compared to the rest of the county’s polling places."

Meanwhile, the new Republican majority on the Guilford Co. Board of Elections also voted 3-2 to reject a proposal to include early voting sites at UNC Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University, which had been the case in 2024.

It's very clear why this is going on. The youth vote is a problem for Republicans, and they intend to make it as difficult as possible for that age group. The final decision on Jackson and Guilford will be made by the State Board of Elections, and we're pretty sure how that will go with its particular Republican majority. The only remedy will be for the injured parties in Jackson and Guilford to sue.

Watauga County faced the same thing in 2013, when the election of Pat McCrory changed the local Board of Elections to Republican control (under the guiding arm of Stacy "Four" Eggers), which promptly eliminated the polling site at the AppState Student Union. The local Watauga Voting Rights Taskforce sued in Wake Superior Court, and the judge concluded that the decision was arbitrary and capricious. He ordered a polling place on the AppState campus. Far as I know that order is still good, which perhaps explains why the current Watauga BOE hasn't attempted to eliminate campus voting this year.

If anyone's interested, we know a good Raleigh law firm that might help you guys.

Phil Berger Plucks the Tasty Fruits of Corruption

 

Phil Berger did Donald Trump's bidding, re-gerrymandered US House District 1 to give a Republican a boost over Democrat Don Davis, thus delivering the bribe that compelled Trump to endorse Berger in his reelection run for Senate District 26. That endorsement came yesterday, and Berger celebrated it on his Twitter account.

But there was more to the deal. Trump also offered Berger's primary challenger, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a Washington job in his administration, if he'll just drop out and let a very nervous Berger keep his seat.

Page was defiant (and can you even imagine that sheriff working a desk in DeeCee?). “I’m going to win this election,” Page said. Page posted a statement on social media that while he appreciated Trump’s “kind words and his offer to have me join him in Washington, [I am] committed to upholding conservative values here in North Carolina and ending the corruption and liberal policies Phil Berger has pushed for years. I will defeat Phil Berger on March 3.”

March 3rd will be Thunder Dome for hobgoblins, but Berger will win.

Intimations of Drowning in Blue

 

A few things of note happened yesterday, December 9th:

Miami Mayor run-off election: Democrat Eileen Higgins was elected mayor with 60% of the vote, the first woman in the city’s history to hold the job and the first Democrat in 28 years. Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Republican Emilio González, an ex-city manager who had the endorsement of Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Georgia House District 121 special election: Democrat Eric Gisler defeated Republican Mack Guest IV in this lean-Republican district. Gisler’s victory is a major upset, as Trump won the district last year by 12 points.

Georgia House District 23 special election: In an all-party election featuring five Republicans and one Democrat in this very red district, none reached the 50% required to win, so there will be a run-off Jan. 6th between the Democrat, Scott Sanders, who polled yesterday at 26.74%, and Republican Bill Fincher (27.4%).

Florida House District 90 special election: Delray Beach Vice Mayor and City Commissioner Rob Long defeated Republican candidate Maria Zack with 63% of the vote. This was not a red-to-blue flip, but the winning margin was impressive.

ADDENDUM: Night of the Dummymander

More on Georgia House 121 from The Status Kuo:

The heavily gerrymandered House District 121 was part of a four-pronged Republican gerrymander that had split Athens, Georgia, into four districts and attached three of them to rural red counties to dilute their votes. Here you can see how HD-121 took a “cracked” Athens population from the southeast part of the city and mixed it in with a bunch of red votes—but it wasn’t enough! This Trump +12 district moved 13.8 points bluer, and Gisler won in a close race.

Looking at these results from last night, GOP map drawers have cause to worry. Did they unintentionally create a “dummymander” that wrongly assumed there wouldn’t ever be a double-digit shift against the GOP? That assumption just lost them HD-121, and it could lose the neighboring districts as well.