North Carolina’s primary elections on Tuesday highlighted the fundamental asymmetry between the two parties: Far-right extremists dominated in key Republican primarieswhile mainstream Democrats advanced to face many of those same GOP hardliners. Some of the few remaining conservative Democratic lawmakerswho have often helped the GOP pass its reactionary agenda, also lost primaries to more progressive challengers.
The Tar Heel State’s election for governor, which is the nation’s most important gubernatorial contest in 2024, offers a stark example of that divide. Far-right Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who won the GOP nomination in a 65-19 landslide, has embraced countless conspiracy theories—including the denial of Joe Biden’s victory—and he also has a long record of shockingly offensive statements targeting Jews, Muslims, women, LGBTQ peopleand the Civil Rights Movement. By contrast, state Attorney General Josh Stein, a conventional Democrat with a moderate record, won his party’s nomination 70-14.
Robinson would be North Carolina’s first Black governor, while Stein would be its first Jewish chief executive, setting up a blunt contrast: Robinson has denied the Holocaustapprovingly quoted Adolf Hitler, and espoused other antisemitic tropes. Some Republicans have worried that Robinson’s extremism could cost them the election—one well-funded GOP rival even ran ads excoriating him over his antisemitism—as could Robinson’s past advocacy for banning abortion without exception.
But Robinson was by no means the only Republican extremist to prevail on Tuesday night.
Schools superintendent Catherine Truitt lost her primary in a 52-48 upset to home-schooler Michele Morrow, who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and has attacked public schools as “indoctrination centers.” Pro-MAGA attorney Luke Farley also won the GOP primary for the open Labor Commissioner’s office by a 37-28 margin against state Rep. Jon Hardister, who has more ties to the party establishment.
For lieutenant governor, Republican Hal Weatherman led Jim O’Neill 20-16, and both will advance to a May 14 runoff. Weatherman has worked as a top staffer for multiple far-right Republicans such as former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. O’Neill has served as district attorney in blue-leaning Forsyth County since 2009 and narrowly lost the 2020 election for attorney general to Stein by a 50.1-49.9 marginbut he won reelection in 2022 as a tough on crime prosecutor whose allies ran racist ads against his Black opponent.
The state Supreme Court is another key battleground. Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, who is challenging Democratic Justice Allison Riggs, upheld a ruling last year stating that “life begins at conception”—only for his court to then withdraw its opinion amid a backlash over the implication that it would ban almost all abortions and in vitro fertilization.
Griffin won without opposition, while Riggs, a voting rights lawyer whom Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper appointed last yearwon the Democratic primary 69-31 over Superior Court Judge Lora Cubbage.
Meanwhile, one of Griffin’s fellow appeals court judges who joined him in that decision, Hunter Murphy, lost his bid for reelection by 63-37 against District Court Judge Chris Freeman, who had campaigned to the incumbent’s right. (Murphy had been censured by the state Supreme Court in 2020 for fostering a “toxic work environment.”) Freeman will now face Democrat Martin Moore, a member of the Buncombe County Commission.
A chief enabler of the GOP’s far-right legislative agenda over the past year has been state Rep. Tricia Cothamwho was elected in 2022 as a mainstream Democrat in a solidly blue seat but then switched parties in April of 2023. However, that betrayal may spurred Democratic primary voters to oust her mother, Pat Cothama moderate member of the Mecklenburg County Commission.
Tricia Cotham also learned who her Democratic opponent will be this falllocal Jewish community leader Nicole Sidman. Republicans gerrymandered Cotham’s seat to become much more hospitable for the GOP, but it still would have supported Donald Trump by just a 50-48 margin and has been trending to the left. Consequently, the 105th District will be one of the top legislative races to watch for whether Republicans will maintain their veto-proof three-fifths supermajorities.
Of the Democrats who faced progressive primary challengers for frequently siding with Republicans, two lost: state Sen. Mke Woodard and state Rep. Michael Wray. Both Democrats have helped Republicans override Cooper’s vetoes of the GOP’s budget and bills that weakened gun-safety requirements and promoted charter schools. The two also received campaign support from a group tied to top state Republicans. Both, however, represent solidly blue districts, so their opponents should have no trouble winning in November.
