Several of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s state staff workers have resigned , reports Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan.
The announcement follows a weekend exodus of his campaign staff, who resigned amid a scandal that rocked Robinson’s office.
Brian LiVecchi , who served for several years as Robinson’s chief of staff, confirmed his resignation to The News & Observer through Republican Sen. Benton Sawrey .
Sawrey confirmed other resignations:
Nathan Lewis , director of government affairs.
Jonathan Harris , policy director.
John Wesley Waugh , director of communications.
The names of those who resigned represent half of Robinson’s staff in the lieutenant governor’s office. Robinson is the GOP candidate in the North Carolina governor’s race against Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein .
Welcome to the Under the Dome newsletter. Here’s more from the politics team and Stephanie Loder, correspondent.
AARP poll reveals what older NC voters want
The most important issues to North Carolina voters over the age of 50 appear to be economic ones, according to a new poll from AARP.
Social Security , Medicare and independent living for seniors were the top issues driving votes for people older than age 50.
The same poll, reported by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan , showed where voters of all ages stand in electing a president, governor and attorney general.
Key takeaways from the poll include:
A 10-point lead for Democrat Josh Stein in the governor’s race, with 52% of voters compared to Republican Mark Robinson with 42%.
Stein leads among women and independent voters by 17%.
Stein has a 71-point lead among Black voters.
Voters under the age of 50 make up a 19-point lead for Stein, who has only a 3-point lead with voters over age 50.
Older voters are more likely to turn out at the polls, as reported by The News & Observer in 2020, with 84% turnout that year for people aged 66 and older. The turnout for those ages 41-65 was 82%, and it decreased by age group with voters age 18-25 having a 60% turnout for the 2020 general election. All of the numbers increased from the 2016 general election.
North Carolinians divided on absentee ballot rules, poll finds
North Carolina voters are divided about a change to the law surrounding absentee voting by mail, a new Catawba College-YouGov survey found.
More than half of respondents, 53%, said mail-in votes should be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day – when the polls close. The other 47% of respondents said there should be a three-day grace period to accept those ballots, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day.
The divide, which correlates with partisan identification, comes from a change to North Carolina election law passed in 2023. Republican lawmakers got rid of the state’s three-day grace period, which had been in effect in the 2020 elections, and instead made Election Day the deadline to receive mail-in ballots.
In the survey, 80% of Republicans agreed with the Election Day deadline, while 72% of Democrats agreed with the grace period.
“It’s likely that North Carolina Republicans continue the feelings expressed by former president Donald Trump regarding mail-in voting,” Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College, said in a statement. Bitzer is a member of the Commission on the Future of North Carolina Elections , which was involved in organizing the poll. “Even with recent GOP efforts this year to encourage early voting, including mail-in voting, the fact that a quarter of Republican respondents have the coldest feelings to that vote method is notable.”
The survey also asked voters their thoughts about early voting, which happens for up to 17 days in North Carolina. About 68% of respondents said that the state has “about the right amount” of early voting days, while 19% said the state had too many days.
Respondents also showed majority support for the state’s voter ID law, with over 60% of voters saying they had at least somewhat warm feelings toward the requirement. Nearly 16% of respondents said they had at least somewhat cold feelings about the law.
– Kyle Ingram
Tariffs, immigration topics of Trump campaign event in Charlotte area
Former President Donald Trump used the Mosack Group manufacturing warehouse in Mint Hill on Wednesday to talk about his support for manufacturing jobs and his plans for offering tax cuts to U.S.-based-companies and imposing tariffs on foreign products, Mary Ramsey and Nora O’Neill of The Charlotte Observer report .
“We will make hundreds of millions of dollars,” Trump told those gathered.
Trump sidestepped any comments on the latest developments in the state’s governor’s race, as Republicans grapple with the scandal surrounding GOP nominee for governor Mark Robinson.
It was Trump’s second visit to the state since a Saturday rally in Wilmington .
Trump provided the crowd of hundreds with personal attacks on Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and claims about crime and conflicts in the Ukraine and Middle East.
“We have never been so close to World War III,” Trump said.
Greensboro man indicted in Trump assassination attempt
Ryan Wesley Routh , 58, of Greensboro was indicted Tuesday on charges of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his golf course, Jay Weaver reports.
Federal court documents say Routh, a convicted felon, traveled from North Carolina to South Florida with a semi-automatic rifle in mid-August with the intent to kill Trump on Sept. 15 at Trump International Golf Club.
A Miami grand jury returned the indictment charging Routh with:
Attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate
Possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence
Assaulting a federal officer
Felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition
Possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number
Routh is detained in Florida and his case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon , who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump.
Routh will be arraigned Monday when he is expected to enter a plea on the new indictment charges.
Here’s what else the Under the Dome politics team has been working on:
Gov. Roy Cooper spoke Wednesday at the New York Times’ Climate Forward conference about how elected leaders need “to take the long-term view” to address climate change issues and at the same time, work on the issues facing the people they represent, reports Adam Wagner . A High Point University poll in August reported only 4% of 1,053 North Carolinians polled felt addressing climate change was the top priority.
GOP attorney general candidate and U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop shared an X post from Greg Price , a right-wing social-media personality, that falsely reported FBI data claimed there were zero homicides last year in Los Angeles and New Orleans, Ryan Oehrli of The Charlotte Observer reports. FBI data shows the Los Angeles Police Department reported 325 homicides in 2023 and New Orleans police reported 198. Neither Bishop’s spokesperson Pat Ryan nor Bishop’s campaign aide Jim Blaine answered questions Tuesday.
Here’s what our colleagues at other media outlets are reporting:
ABC11 is reporting that the makers of Wegovy and Ozempic faced tough questions Tuesday on Capitol Hill over the high cost of their weight loss drugs . North Carolina ended coverage of Wegovy for state employees this year due to cost.
The candidates for North Carolina state superintendent, Republican Michele Morrow and Democrat Mo Green, debated Tuesday at the East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU, WNCT9 reports. The debate focused on school choice and artificial intelligence topics, and Morrow’s social media posts.
The Bulwark is reporting more about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s pre-political days when he reportedly left comments on small political sites. One comment was in April 2009 on a NewsOne article about the Rev. Al Sharpton participating in a police-brutality arrest. “If the cops want to shoot an elderly black man they should have shot Al Sharpton,” Robinson commented, according to the Bulwark article.
VOTER GUIDE
In the latest candidate questionnaires from our 2024 NC Voter Guide , see what candidates for labor commissioner have to say about the issues, and learn more about their biographies. Two candidates for that job answered our questions:
Check your inbox tomorrow for more questionnaires, and lots more #ncpol news.
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