It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. North Carolina politics have been in the national spotlight a lot over the last couple of weeks. Just before the turn of the month, U.S.
Senator Tom Tillis announced after his two terms in the United States Senate, he was not running for re-election. That, of course, echoed through political circles. And over the last couple of days, the rumor mill has been flying as it does appear that both former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and current RNC Chairman Michael Watley are setting the stage for a major North Carolina Senate race coming up next year. To walk us through some of the details and implications of that, it's my pleasure to welcome David Larson from CarolinaJournal.com on the news hour this morning. David, it has been a busy couple of days in North Carolina politics.
What do you make of everything going on?
Well, I'd say the Cooper announcement may be less of a. uh mystery to people. That seemed like more of a a certain thing that um Everybody assumed he would be announcing that at some point. But the Watley one, there's a couple things in the air there. For example, people wondered if Laura Trump, both those names are being floated together.
One of them will run. And it appears that at least in the politico, Uh, article that they had a couple sources say that Laura Trump had decided not to, and that's why it seemed like. It had been down to those two, and now they can move forward. And it also said that it would have a um. A Trump endorsement this early game.
So, I guess my big takeaway is these are kind of field clearing. uh announcements and that i'm not sure there's much of a primary to be had if these two hold in in their current landscapes. You know, there's always surprises in politics, but... Cooper He's been getting a lot of pressure from the National Democrats and from people in the state. To run, and he's won six statewide races in a row.
None of them have been federal, but. You know, he's very well known across the country, across the state, I should say. And so he's been seen as the strongest. Contender there and when Wiley Nickel Former congressman had the audacity to throw his name in. He got a lot of blowback from other Democrats who, it seems, have been.
holding that position as Cooper's position.
So that Clears the field a little bit, seems like on the Democrat side. And then a similar thing on the Republican side in that. Watley, Michael Watley, you know, he was the state GOP chair, and then he's the national. You know, the RC chair.
So he has that establishment wing and all the fundraising and all the. You know, the players on that side pre-lock down, but then he also, with a Trump endorsement, would have sort of the MAGA wing. People talk about these two wings that in the Trump era, he has enough. power over the party in some sense that maybe there's not a huge distinction at all times. But You know, it it seems as if There's not really a clear lane somebody could pick to edge Wally out.
So I guess my take at the moment is they seem like sort of field clearing announcements and If there's not huge news, something doesn't get drummed up on either of these two, which I doubt because they've both been. Politics for a fairly long time, and APPO researchers have been digging into them, I'm sure, for. A long time that Probably this is this will be the general election and before even announcement on Canada diseases happen. That this is probably Watley Cooper, and it's probably going to be. A uh record of spending Um And so I guess that's you know, not to jump ahead of any other questions but i think that might be one of the reasons why Trump would have leaned on Wadley is if it's going to potentially be the most expensive U.S.
Senate race in history. Wiley is very plugged into the statewide donor networks and also to national ones from his position as chair.
So I think that would be some of his thinking, at least there, also the close personal relationship, professional relationship I'm sure they have.
Well, and let's look at the money side of it because that's an important part of it. And this is something typically that the GOP deals with more than the Democrats. Most of the time, Democrats are pretty good at clearing that primary field.
Some social media postings Thursday from Wiley-Nicol indicate he is going to stay in that race. Not sure how serious of a contender he'll actually be. But, David, as we look at past Republican primaries, those can not only get very nasty, but very expensive, causing whoever ends up winning that primary to have to deplete their war chest pretty handily just to get through a March primary. And then, of course, battle against a Democrat as you go towards the general election in November. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen now.
So, that seems like a win for both sides, more particularly the GOP that tends to have these really brutal and nasty primaries as of late across North Carolina. And I think that's one advantage. You know, some may have quibbles with Trump being such a powerful head of the party. But one advantage of that is that he really can do that. Like with Addison McDowell or with Bo Hines or with Ted Budd or whoever, he can look at these primaries and say, we would rather save our money, keep our powder dry for the general.
And so he'll he'll kind of put his thumb on the scales, his full Weight on the scales, and often you'll see somebody like maybe Mark Walker get an offer to do something else if they hang around a little longer. And so I think This kind of heads that off before it even starts because there haven't been any major announcements. Candidate filing, I believe, is in December. That's all headed off before it starts, and you can just have Watley as the presumed nominee. And kind of a, if anybody wants to challenge that, they'd be challenging.
the entire establishment all the way up to Donald Trump. Yeah, no question about it. Pretty clearing of the primary on both sides. Again, as of right now, David, I like what you said earlier. Nothing is certain in politics.
But again, with all of the information we have now, both of them neither have officially announced, but again, rumors and speculation and Inside sources from both camps seem to indicate it's pretty much a done deal over the next 7 to 14 days when those official announcements will come out. Yeah, we looked at Roy Cooper's favorability rating back at our Carolina Journal poll back in the month of May, and it's very high. His approval rating is around 47% across the state of North Carolina. But David, he does have some pretty big controversies, including COVID lockdowns and shutdowns. ENCORE, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, the media has played a very good cover for the former governor on a lot of these bigger issues.
Do you think those will be some of the main things that come up in this Democrat versus Republican race that we're going to see start unfolding? I do. I think they might try out a couple of messages and see what lands. What's interesting is with the COVID one, as conservatives, we look back on that and we think we can see pretty clearly these mistakes that were made with: oh, everybody needs to wear a mask, everybody needs to social distance, everybody. You know, needs to get the vaccine, it will prevent you, they said, from getting COVID.
And we now know all of that was based on very shaky and best signs. Um But what's been interesting to me is a lot of the polling has given A lot of these measures have been kind of surprising, gives them the benefit of the doubt.
So I've been sort of surprised to see that it. It isn't always a very favorable thing. Cooper's. Favorability on COVID was often really high. And so I think maybe people, you know, we were all confused, and they give people kind of the benefit of the doubt because we're trying to figure it out.
even though it can seem pretty clear to a lot of conservatives that These are bad decisions. I wonder if, even though that's. True. that they might not end up landing all that messaging just because Cooper somehow maintained a good Uh Perspective on people's perspective on that issue. But there are NCOR, I think, is one for sure that could come into play.
I would even be interested, some of the politics has changed on something like. The transgender bathroom stuff that Cooper was able to hit McCrory with and get into office almost running against North Carolina business at one level, saying we should boycott. Um you know it I mean, he didn't say we should boycott, but it was sort of during that campaign of Cooper versus McCorry. There was a lot of that talk about boycotts and that wasn't pushed back on much by the Democratic establishment.
So it seems like the politics on that has shifted now to the point where House Bill 805 is probably gonna get overridden this week, and that's a bill that would declare male and female the two official genders of the state and Yeah, it seems like politics has changed on that.
So who knows? Maybe Some of the stuff that looks like a strength might be a weakness and vice versa, but. I think they'll test out a bunch of those messages. And Watley, you know, he's a little bit more of a. I don't think he has obviously the name ID that that Cooper does.
Uh but he has some name ID and he's been in all a hundred counties quite a bit traveling. But he also doesn't have maybe the Um the baggage that that one gets is four terms of Attorney General and two terms as governor. He's a little bit, you know, whoever can define him first maybe. Yeah. We'll continue the discussion with David Larson from the Carolina Journal.
Coming up after this, you're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-99-3 WBT. As we round out this week and look towards next, the North Carolina Senate and House will reconvene.
That's coming up on Tuesday, July the 29th, aiming to override multiple vetoes issued by Governor Josh Stein. Stein took office in January of this year and to this point has had a pretty good relationship with the North Carolina legislature up until the last couple of months or so when the governor vetoed exactly 14 bills from the Republican-led General Assembly. Each chamber will review seven of those vetoes, sending them across to the other chamber if they are overridden. Senate leader Phil Berger, the Republican out of Rockingham County, sharply criticized Stein's veto in a press release this week, saying, by vetoing the Common sense bills, Governor Stein confirms that he is out of touch with the people of North Carolina. He tolerates criminal, illegal aliens roaming our streets, divisive DEI concepts in our schools, and government infringing on our Second Amendment rights.
I look forward to leading Senate Republicans and overriding these harmful vetoes and putting North Carolina families first. With Republicans holding a supermajority in the North Carolina Senate, shouldn't have much of a problem there.
However, in the North Carolina House, they are one vote shy of that supermajority.
So overriding Stein's veto will not only require full attendance, but support from at least one House Democrat. House Speaker Destin Hall posted on his X account this week: quote, we will override NC governors' reckless vetoes and defeat common sense in North Carolina. Who's ready? That was the commentary there from House Speaker Destin Hall. The General Assembly will be back in Raleigh next week.
Week, it will be a busy one. We'll keep you up to date with all the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, and of course, breaking news coverage as always on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, where it's now 523, News Talk 1110-993, WBT. Continuing our discussion this morning with David Larson of Carolina Journal dot com about what has been a busy couple of weeks in North Carolina politics surrounding the United States Senate race coming up next year. Michael Wally, yes, he was the former head of the North Carolina Republican Party, now the head of the Republican National Committee. He's never been a politician in the traditional form of running for an elected position and office and holding that position.
Dave, do you see that as a pro, a con, or kind of somewhere in the middle, maybe yet to be determined? I think it's more yet to be determined because You know, if you get something baked in, sometimes it can be really hard to move. And so, for better or worse, if you're baked in, sometimes with Trump, that's the case, where his floor and his ceiling are almost right next to each other. He's just baked in. People know what they think of him.
And so for Watley, that might be he's maybe tagged in people's mind as you know, being close to Trump. And so maybe that would have whatever one thinks of Trump when the midterms come. That will be a major. Issue is how is everything? How is the economy?
How are people thinking, voters thinking about Trump, especially unaffiliated voters that seem to shift? a little bit more than than diehard. Uh partisans But then you, you know, if you don't have any history of your own necessarily voting or. you know as an executive You could end up Seeing a lot of good benefit from that if you're able to define yourself first and get out ahead of it. And yeah, like I said, if people are thinking very positively about Trump, you can.
Try to pin yourself to that. But it's somebody you know, doesn't have that background and the other side gets there first and maybe can define you in uh in everybody's mind. They could be successful at that, and that's what nobody likes negative advertising, but that's that's the point of it: if there's an undefined candidate who there is wiggle room, they will try to jump in there and define that person. And even though people say they hate negative advertising, negative ads. It actually works.
That's why people do it. Is okay, I've seen this ad 40 times and it annoys me, but now I do kind of in my subconscious, I might have a negative association with.
So I'm sure. That will be a Democrat tactic. Whereas it'll be harder to change people's mind on Cooper just because he has been a fixture.
So for better or worse there. But it might be a battle to see who can define Watley first, basically. Let's look at this from the Democrat side of the aisle for a second. Democrats have poured a lot of money into North Carolina over the last couple of not only midterm but general election cycles. They've tried to flip the state blue to their credit.
They were very successful in the Josh Stein election last year. Kind of a mixed bag on the Council of State. A Democrat has not held the United States Senate seat. You've got to go all the way back to 2008. That's the last time that they were successful in winning a Senate seat.
David, they keep trying to inch away at North Carolina. I think many would argue, for the most part, they've been relatively unsuccessful. This is a tough uphill battle for Democrats as well. I'm convincible on that either way, I guess, because I do see. You could say things too about statewide races like The Republicans haven't won attorney general race since the 1800s you know or um So it's unclear to me exactly.
why North Carolina voters vote the way they do, but they often split tickets. It could be said maybe that for federal races, something like U.S. Senate, like you said, hasn't. hasn't gone Democrats' way in a while that They they're making a you know, strategic, very conscious decision to vote more conservative for federal races and and more Democrat for a lot of these. Statewide races for Governor and Attorney General.
I'm not totally sure on that. I'm not sure your average Voter is Really thinking of of that or if they're just saying I like this person I like that and and we haven't necessarily seen Democrats run a really strong candidate for state for US Senate in a while, and maybe. This is a good test of that to see if there really is a. North Carolina. uh voter strategy there that that's why You know Things go one way for federal races, another way for state races.
Regardless, it should be extremely close, I imagine. Um And because when there are good candidates on both sides, whether you're talking a statewide race or a federal race. And when I say statewide, I've meant state level race. you can see extremely close races. I even, you know, with the Supreme Cour state Supreme Court when it just comes down to a couple hundred people.
I believe on two different occasions, one this Jefferson Griffin one, and also the Sherry Beasley one from. a little bit ago also I think they came down to four hundred voters.
So these these statewide races are are tough to to get inside voters' mind necessarily. Yeah, and I mean, you look at the last Senate race where Tom Tillis was on the ballot, he won by less than one and a half percentage points. Ted Budd, uh, beating uh winning his race back in 2022 by about two and a half percentage points, so relatively close races. Dave, final question for you this morning. Again, no official announcements yet.
We expect those in the next week or two, but how quickly do you think things actually kick off and hit the ground as we head into the first month of August? You know, typically these campaigns kind of lag. As you mentioned, campaign filing doesn't really even start until the month of December, the first week of December. Do you think that this campaign and these races are going to be shot out of a cannon as soon as both of these candidates officially announce and it'll be a sprint to the finish line in November of next year? I do.
As we were saying about the primaries, they're trying to kind of clear the field.
So anybody thinking about it, now you know that you're going to be going up against the entire establishment of your party. And then once they're announced in full, they're going to form committees and unofficially be just. Um Just really hitting the ground running and and It's going to be at that point, yeah, once filing happens, and then once the campaigns get going, if it is. just Cooper and Watley mainly without any major contenders in the primary. They're going to be just raising money as much as they can and focusing on each other from the very beginning.
It's probably going to get really nasty. There's going to be ads up really early. There's going to be a lot of polling that we're going to do at Carolina Journal. There's going to be a lot of analysis and And you're going to see Uh yeah, opponent research on two people that have already been Um, you know, their backgrounds I'm sure have been combed through, but it's going to be Yeah, full Full throttle, full you know, off to the races immediately. You know, it'd be an exciting one to watch for sure.
Yeah, and again, we'll be keeping an eye on this story for almost the next year and a half. We appreciate the details this morning. David Larson from CarolinaJournal.com joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:37. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT.
Earlier this week, Governor Josh Stein announced that Eco King Solutions LLC, a Chinese manufacturer of disposable biodegradable tableware, will receive a state incentive package in exchange for investing over $80 million and creating 515 jobs in Robbinsville. That's located in Graham County, North Carolina. The governor said in a press release, quote, North Carolina offers global companies a perfect location for expansion into North America. We welcome Eco King to western North Carolina, where it will find a welcoming business climate, education, and workforce programs tailored to its needs, as well as a full range of competitive advantages that make North Carolina the top state in the business, the top state to do business in the country. According to a press release, EcoKing Solutions is a subsidiary of a larger Chinese company that was founded in 2008 and employs more than 1,200 people across three high-capacity factories in mainland China.
The company manufactures disposable dishware, including bowls, plates, clamshell containers, and trays commonly used in supermarkets and across the diverse food service sector. The company aims to localize production, streamlined, and Streamlining its supply chain and significantly reduce its internal shipping costs and production lead times by establishing that new facility here in North Carolina. Ping Zhang, the chairman of EcoKing Solutions, said in a press release, quote, we have been impressed with how welcoming Robinsonville, Graham County, and North Carolina have been to our company and this important project. We worked very hard to find the right location for our business to thrive. We know we found it right here due to the excellent workforce, quality of life, and friendly business climate.
We are excited to be part of the community, and we are excited for our company to prosper here. The project will receive partial support through a job development investment grant, that's also known as a JDIG grant, which was approved earlier this week by the North Carolina Department of Commerce's Economic Investment Committee. According to the committee's evaluation, the project could contribute more than $743 million to the state's economy over the 12-year duration of the grant. They used a formula that factors in tax revenue, newly created jobs, and associated capital investments. Ultimately, reaching a JDIG agreement allows for the potential reimbursement of up to $2.8 million in state tax money to the company distributed over a 12-year period.
These state payments would only be made after the Department of Commerce and Revenue confirm that the company has met its job creation and investment benchmarks. And while wages will vary depending on position, the average salary is set to be around $46,700 a year, which is comparable with the average salary in Graham County, which is $46,600 a year and generating an annual payroll impact of around $14 million a year. Brian Balfour, the vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal in a quote: It's somewhat amazing that the state continues to engage in these politicized tax breaks when the track record of JDIG is examined. An evaluation of the program by the John Locke Foundation last summer found that nearly half of JDIG projects were terminated or withdrawn without meeting hiring goals. And previous research had found that more than a third of such projects failed to create even a single job.
He noted instead of trying to centrally direct North Carolina's economy by granting selective privileges to connected businesses, the state should focus on a cross the board tax relief for all job creators, along with regulatory relief to cut down on burdensome red tape. In 2022, another Chinese-based company known as Triangle Tire canceled a partnership with Edgecombe County and the Carolina Gateway Partnership to build a tire factory in the Kingsboro Business Park. That's according to the Rocky Mount Telegram. Triangle Tire stated that the decision was driven by various business challenges, prompting company leadership in China to discontinue the project and refocus efforts on meeting business priorities within the mainland of China.
So JDIG continues to be and have a less than stellar track record as we continue to track the details across the state of North Carolina.
However, with that, the North Carolina Department of Commerce continues to issue these JDIG grants. You can read some additional details on this story, plus the more large-scale discussion over JDIG and some of our previous research. That's all available this morning on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Turning our attention to some other statewide news this morning, Raleigh has been named one of five new U.S. Department of Agriculture hub locations.
This is part of a nationwide restructuring plan announced by Secretary Brooke Rollins this week as the agency aims to move closer to the communities that it serves. The Secretary said in a press release, American agriculture feeds, clothes, and fuels this nation and the world. And it's long past time that the department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers, and producers we are mandated to support. President Trump was elected to make real changes in Washington, and we're doing just that by moving our key services outside the Beltway and into great American cities across the country. We will do so through a transparent and common sense process that preserves USDA's critical health and public safety service that the American people rely on.
We will do right by the great American people who serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so notably serve their country as well. To bring the USDA closer to the people it supports and provide a more reliable and affordable cost of living to government employees, USDA says it has developed a plan to relocate a significant portion of the agency's headquarter and national capital region staff to five hub locations across the country, with Raleigh being chosen as one of those five. The other four locations include Kansas City, Missouri, Indianapolis, Indiana, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The USDA's reorganization is built around four key pillars. The first, it aims to ensure that the size of USDA's workforce is appropriately aligned with its available financial resources and the nation's agricultural priorities.
Second, it seeks to bring USDA closer to its customers, enhancing responsiveness and service delivery. The third pillar, the reorganization, is designed to eliminate excessive management layers and reduce bureaucratic obstacles that often hinder efficiency. And finally, it intends to consolidate redundant support functions to streamline operations and improve overall effectiveness. Critical functions of USDA will continue without interruption. It is in the height of fire season, and USDA has exceeded hiring goals and maintained the ability to continue hiring.
This contrasts with North Carolina, which is, as it stands this year, the nation's number one state at risk for wildfires. North Carolina does have two active fire seasons: one in the spring, one in the fall. Steve Troxler, the commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, emphasized to state lawmakers earlier this year that the department is overworked and understaffed, with more than 300 open positions, including 100 directly in the North Carolina Forest Service Division. Earlier this year, Brooke Rollins, the Secretary of USDA, issued a memorandum exempting national security and public safety positions from a federal hiring freeze. 52 position classifications perform duties essential to the safety and security of the American people, which includes national forest and as well as safety and inspections of the nation's agricultural and food supply systems.
Over the past four years, USDA has expanded its workforce by 8%, accompanied with a 14.5% increase in employee salaries. This growth includes hiring thousands of employees without a clear long-term funding strategy. Despite these increases, there have been no measurable improvements to the delivery of service to USDA's primary stakeholders within the agricultural community. Additionally, the agency said its presence in the national capital region remains underutilized and redundant, marked by excessive spending, prolonged mismanagement and costly deferred maintenance. They note that it aligns with President Trump's directive for increased accountability across government agency, and this comprehensive review of USDA painted a picture of an organization burdened by inefficiencies, high costs and unstable operational models.
The reorganization is part of USDA's process of reducing its workforce and ensuring that the agency can continue to afford the workers that it does have. A significant portion of this reduction was achieved through voluntary retirement and the deferred retirement program as an optional initiative. USDA currently employs around 4,600 individuals, one of the most expensive areas in the country in Washington, D.C., with a federal salary locality rate of 33.9%. When selecting new hub locations, the USDA considered the existing distribution of its workforce, the regional cost of living factors, and although Washington, D.C. will continue to support operations across all USDA mission areas following the reorganization, USDA anticipates that no more than 2,000 employees will remain at their headquarters in Washington, D.C.
This is pretty big news, and not only for Raleigh, but the state of North Carolina. Additional coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, the headline, NC to become home of USDA Hub under restructuring. Mm-hmm. I don't know. It's 5:53.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 11:10-99-3 WBT. It has been a busy week here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and across the state of North Carolina. Of course, the two big rumors that we continue to track this morning, all but official at this point. Former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper is set to enter the race for United States Senate.
That could happen as early as next week. And of course, earlier this morning, talking with David Larson from CarolinaJournal.com about Michael Watley, the former head of the North Carolina Republican Party, now head of the Republican National Committee, set to enter the North Carolina Senate race on the Republican side of the aisle. Lara Trump, of course, was one of the names that was thrown around as a frontrunner in this race.
However, she did take to X yesterday to discuss this and said, quote, after much consideration and heartfelt discussion with my family, friends, And supporters, I have decided not to pursue the United States Senate seat in North Carolina at this time. I am deeply grateful for the encouragement and support I have received from the people of my home state, who I love so much. While I'm not running in this election, my passion for making America great again burns brightly, and I look forward to the future, whatever that leads.
So that's Lara Trump officially bowing out of the race. Michael Watley being presumably being tapped as that candidate. President Trump firing off a truth social post last night around 8.30 endorsing Michael Watley for the position, saying in part. Mike would make an unbelievable senator from North Carolina. He is fantastic at everything he does, and he was certainly great at the RNC in the presidential election.
We won every swing state, the popular vote and the Electoral College by a landslide. But I have a mission for my friends in North Carolina, and that is to get Michael Watley to run for the United States Senate. He is strong on the border, stopping crime, supporting our military and veterans, cutting taxes, and saving our always under siege Second Amendment. I need him in Washington, and I need him representing you. He will never let you down.
That is a part of the endorsement post last night on Truth Social from President Donald Trump. We are expecting both of those announcements, both Stein, or excuse me, both Cooper and former NCGOP chairman Michael Watley in the next week or two. We'll, of course, keep our eyes on that. In another stories that we are tracking as we head into next week, both the House and the Senate, both controlled by Republicans, will be back in Raleigh next week after their July recess. They are expected to head back to the Capitol on Tuesday, aiming to override 14 vetoes that Governor Josh Stein has already vetoed stamped this early into his relationship with the General Assembly.
There are a litany of bills that the governor has vetoed, many of them dealing with DE. Both in public education and higher education, dealing with border security, constitutional carry, some privacy laws as well, defining men and women in North Carolina, powers for the state auditor, as well as the Reigns Act, which is something that we've talked about a lot over the last couple of months. The lawmakers are expected to be back to deal with those veto overrides. Republicans have that veto super majority threshold in the Senate. They are one vote shy in the House.
So it's going to be an interesting process to watch unfold. We will have our eyes on the Capitol as we head into next week right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it for a Friday edition. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning, BT.
We're back with you Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 11:10 and 99.3 WBT.
