NC governor’s race: Stein keeps polling spot and GOP leader sticks with Robinson

Welcome to the governor’s race edition of our Under the Dome politics newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan , The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief. Election Day is a week from Tuesday, and more than 2 million voters have already cast their ballots early to elect the next governor of North Carolina.

The Democratic nominee, Attorney General Josh Stein , has a strong lead over the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson , in polls .

This past week we published two long-read stories about Stein and Robinson that dive into the state of each man’s campaign this fall and in the weeks leading up to Election Day. While Robinson’s campaign declined repeated requests for interviews, Stein sat down to talk to The N&O about his life and his work. The stories include much more than just what the candidates are saying, too.

With the NC governor election days away, Democratic AG Josh Stein aims to keep mansion blue

You’ve seen the ads, heard about the scandal. What else to know about Mark Robinson

With less than a week and a half left in the race, I wanted to let readers know that the governor’s race newsletter won’t end on Election Day . I’ll still be writing newsletters about the new governor’s transition leading up to inauguration in January.

If you’re still deciding who you want to vote for up and down the ballot, we have a massive Voter Guide to help you, including candidate questionnaires for races from the governor down to Raleigh City Council and the Wake County Board of Education.

Berger still supports Robinson

In the governor’s race newsletter two weeks ago, I wrote that I had asked both House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger if they maintained their endorsement of Robinson in the wake of the CNN report fallout.

Moore said he maintains his endorsement and noted that Robinson denied the allegations and sued over it. At the time, Berger wanted to focus on talking about the first Helene relief bill and told me to ask him again later. So I did.

Berger told me on Thursday that he voted for Robinson and still supports him.

Berger said the last time I asked, it was “just a little bit too soon after the recovery to inject something else. But I voted for the lieutenant governor. I continue to support him. Nothing has changed, as far as I’m concerned, with reference to that.”

Berger said he hasn’t read through the defamation lawsuit Robinson filed, but “(Robinson) says it wasn’t him. He’s filed litigation to, I guess I would characterize it, to clear his name. As far as that is concerned, we’ll see what the courts ultimately have to say about that.”

The case has a hearing scheduled for Nov. 18 in Wake County Superior Court.

He also said that Republicans “feel good about our chances” to maintain their supermajority in the Senate.

Stay informed about #ncpol

Don’t forget to follow our Under the Dome tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. Our new episode posting Monday is my interview with N.C. Central University political science professor Jarvis Hall as part of an election preview. We recorded it this past week live in front of an audience on the NCCU campus.

You can sign up to receive the Under the Dome newsletter at newsobserver.com/newsletters . Want your friends to get our email, too? Forward them this newsletter so they can sign up. You can also email me questions you may have about the governor’s race at dvaughan@newsobserver.com.