Convention of States: Towards our Independence Day

The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence launched our nation, rebelling against a tyrannical government that refused to redress their grievances. In that spirit, today the 100,000-strong North Carolina Convention of States grassroots announce a new strategy in response to years of inaction on the part of the North Carolina Senate.

The Convention of States (COS) Project is a nationwide effort to call a convention of the states under Article V of the US Constitution. The framers provided this tool to allow We the People, through our state legislators, to bypass Congress to propose amendments should “an oppressive Congress [not] agree to propose amendments necessary to restrain a rogue, tyrannical legislature” (Col. George Mason, 1787).

The process requires two-thirds (34) of state legislatures pass a resolution calling for and defining the scope of a convention. To date, 19 states have passed this resolution authorizing a limited convention to debate and propose amendments to limit terms for all federal officials, impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, and limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. As with any proposed amendment, ratification requires approval by three-quarters (38) of the states.

In North Carolina, the COS resolution was first filed in the 2015-16 legislative session. Since then, it has been filed in every session and has consistently been passed by one legislative chamber or the other. Over that time, the grassroots have grown and built strong legislative relationships. We have compiled a track record of robustly and successfully supporting constitutional conservatives in elections.

Since the 2020 election cycle, we have supported 92 candidates in the NC House and Senate, making over 220,000 individual voter contacts — through phone calls, texts, and door knocks — during primary and general elections. COS is one of the most effective and organized grassroots organizations in the state and nationally.

The 2023-24 legislative cycle saw grassroots disappointment and frustration reach new heights after 10 years of effort.

HJR 235, the COS resolution, passed the North Carolina House in March 2023. Over the next 20 months, we were assured over and over by our supporters in the Senate that the Senate would take it up. Time and again, they failed.

In the days before the final Senate session on Dec. 2, 2024, our supporters were congratulated by multiple senators, including some in leadership, who promised that the “Convention of States” resolution would pass the Senate, making North Carolina the 20th state to join the effort.

But COS did not pass; it wasn’t even brought up for a vote. To add insult to injury, the Senate did pass an Article V resolution, HJR 151, which focused solely on congressional term limits but cannot impose fiscal restraints or restrict federal government overreach, let alone term-limit career bureaucrats.

When we first began our effort to pass the COS resolution in 2015, our national debt stood at $18 trillion. Today, our debt has more than doubled to $37 trillion! We are saddling future generations with that debt and bringing the country to the brink of a financial cliff. Additionally, we now have a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 100%, the first time since WWII. The NC Senate has the power to help solve that problem but so far has refused to act.

As for the 2025-26 session, the House passed HJR 379 on May 7, but so far, the Senate hasn’t acted. We will continue to pound the pavement at the Legislative Building, but we obviously must do more.

The NC House continues to reliably support COS and especially appreciates our campaign efforts. Rep. Dennis Riddell has been a stout, consistent voice. There are others, including Speaker Destin Hall, Rep. John Bell, and several freshman House members.

For some reason, all of our campaign work to support the conservative majority and our earnest lobbying work has not fallen on good ground in the Senate. The COS grassroots have been working diligently to pass the COS resolution for 11 years and six legislative sessions using the same strategy. If the Senate doesn’t act soon, we will have to adopt a new strategy.

What does that mean?

First, we will continue to grow the grassroots as we have since 2013, training them to become activists and to build legislative relationships. That will continue even after the resolution passes — just as it has in every other state that has passed the COS resolution. We will not go away.

The overall mission of Convention of States nationally is to create the largest grassroots organization to actively promote self-governance. There are millions of supporters across the country, and over 3 million have signed the COS petition. An Article V amending convention is just one goal within that larger mission.

Second, we will continue to campaign for candidates who are COS supporters in the NC House, both in the primaries and general elections in 2026.

However, for the Senate, we will focus our attention on Senate primary races and support conservative candidates who support COS and are running against incumbents who have blocked passage of our resolution.

The NC Senate has disappointed the grassroots too many times, and we see no other way to proceed. We still hope and pray that the Senate will act soon, so we can go back to focusing our efforts on growing a conservative majority in both houses.