Josh Stein’s campaign advertisement team spent a lot of time and money this fall arguing that Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson should “never” be governor.
The strategy worked, with Robinson barely surpassing 40% of the vote in this month’s election.
Less frequently, Stein’s campaign ads made a positive case for North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general to follow his old boss into the Executive Mansion.
But now that voters have given Stein a lopsided victory, it makes sense to revisit pro-Stein ads. They could offer hints about priorities in his upcoming term as governor.
First, an apology. Like me, many of you might have celebrated Election Day as the end of the campaign ad season. If reading this column interrupts a welcome respite from campaign noise, I’m sorry.
Before reviewing Stein’s ads, we also should recall Pearce’s Law.
First documented by my John Locke Foundation colleague Jon Sanders in 2008 and revisited as recently as 2021 by Locke’s Amy Cooke, the political maxim owes its name to Gary Pearce. An operative who held high-level positions with former Gov. Jim Hunt, presidential candidate and US Sen. John Edwards, Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, and two-time Senate candidate and White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, Pearce once earned the label “definitive Democratic insider” from the Raleigh News and Observer.
Writing in his “Talking About Politics” blog 16 years ago, Pearce proclaimed “liberals (or progressives or whatever you prefer) have to understand that your candidates don’t have the luxury of the right-wingers: They can’t always say exactly what they believe — and still get elected.”
“In politics, as Winston Churchill once said about war, victory sometimes requires a bodyguard of lies,” Pearce added. In other words, successful Democratic candidates maintain a strained relationship with the truth.
Keeping Pearce’s Law in mind, it’s wise to proceed with caution when evaluating a Democrat’s campaign promises.
Multiple Stein ads leaned into his record as the state’s top law enforcement officer. They touted his work to combat domestic violence, child predators, and illegal drugs.
“Strengthening border security, cracking down on drug traffickers, and giving law enforcement more tools to get fentanyl off our streets — that’s how we build a safer North Carolina,” Stein said in a spot featuring sheriffs.
Absent from the ad? Any reference to related legislation vetoed by current Gov. Roy Cooper, a Stein ally. Cooper opposed a bill to ensure all North Carolina sheriffs would cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agents.
The N&O “asked Stein repeatedly for his stance” on the bill, the newspaper reported on Oct. 25. “Stein has dodged the questions.”
It’s not clear that Stein will continue to emphasize law enforcement issues as governor. If so, he will likely find receptive Republican lawmakers. He knows the legislature must play a leading role if North Carolina needs stronger laws.
Turning to Stein’s last ad, titled “Better,” we find other clues about his priorities. After bashing Robinson, Stein says, “While we’ll never agree on everything, we need to be able to come together to solve problems.”
With the words “Josh Stein cut taxes” appearing on screen, he says he wants to cut taxes “for workers and get costs down.”
That’s interesting.
State law already incorporates further reductions in personal and corporate income tax rates. Voters should watch to see if Stein supports the existing law. Perhaps he’ll suggest new measures. Or he could try to modify, halt, or roll back cuts already baked into North Carolina’s existing tax policy.
The “Better” ad calls for expanding technical education and creating “good paying” jobs. Then it combines the written message “raise teacher pay” with the spoken words “pay teachers what they deserve.”
It will be interesting to see how Stein’s teacher pay proposals differ from raises the Republican-led General Assembly has supported consistently for more than a dozen years.
Stein’s “Better” ad also featured notable omissions. It mentioned nothing about continuing Cooper’s consistent policy of opposing all forms of parental choice in education. Stein skipped any reference to Cooper’s focus on forcing more of the state’s economy toward costly “green energy” goals, from electric vehicles to wind and solar power.
Though Stein’s anti-Robinson ads frequently cited the lieutenant governor’s comments about abortion, Stein did not say whether he would work to roll back North Carolina’s current restrictions on most abortions after 12 weeks.
One wonders whether Stein took Pearce’s Law into account, refraining from saying “exactly” what he believes while striving to win an election. Did his victory require a “bodyguard of lies”?
Voters and taxpayers across North Carolina will learn soon enough.
Mitch Kokai is senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation.