Cooper’s historic fight
Governor Cooper has been in some fights in his political life. This is the fight of his political life. And North Carolina’s.
November’s legislative elections will decide the course of Cooper’s first term – and perhaps his entire tenure and his place in history. The elections could set North Carolina’s course for the next decade and beyond.
Not to put any pressure on.
The current legislative session dramatizes the stakes. Will we continue to have arrogant, all-powerful rule by a handful of reactionary, narrow-minded, right-wing ideologues hell-bent on wrecking public schools, rigging the election system, corrupting the judiciary, amending the constitution to gut state government and, in every way possible, taking the state backward?
Or will we have a more balanced body, one that can sustain the Governor’s vetoes and force some reasonable changes in direction? Could we even one day have, dare we hope, a Democratic-majority legislature that moves the state forward again?
It’s no fun being Governor if you have no club over the legislature. Which is why the Governor and his entire team are investing time and talent to “Break the Majority.”
Or is it “Break the Super-Majority”? That’s the key strategic question.
Cooper & Co. pulled off a herculean task by recruiting candidates in all 170 House and Senate districts. Even in hopeless districts.
But how far dare they reach? Could they overreach – compete for so many seats they fall short of breaking the super-majority?
Hard choices are coming: Where to spend resources – time and money?
The omens are tempting. All mid-term elections are referendums on the incumbent President. And no incumbent President has ever had Trump’s potential downside. Will suburban women recoil over the sights and sounds of children being taken from their parents?
Or is that an illusion? Will there be, as in 2016, a late, undetected Trump surge? Are the cultural, social and racial divides so wide that the usual rules don’t apply?
How big a part will state issues play? Do the teachers’ marches, gun-safety marches, #MeToo movement and Moral Monday protests reflect a real voter revolt against the powers-that-be in Raleigh?
For more than 30 years, Governor Cooper has been a canny, and sometimes cautious, political fighter. He has consistently picked the right fights – and the right times to fight.
Here’s hoping he’s right this year. His governorship is at stake. So is the state’s future.
Not to put any pressure on.
Cooper’s historic fight
Governor Cooper has been in some fights in his political life. This is the fight of his political life. And North Carolina’s.
November’s legislative elections will decide the course of Cooper’s first term – and perhaps his entire tenure and his place in history. The elections could set North Carolina’s course for the next decade and beyond.
Not to put any pressure on.
The current legislative session dramatizes the stakes. Will we continue to have arrogant, all-powerful rule by a handful of reactionary, narrow-minded, right-wing ideologues hell-bent on wrecking public schools, rigging the election system, corrupting the judiciary, amending the constitution to gut state government and, in every way possible, taking the state backward?
Or will we have a more balanced body, one that can sustain the Governor’s vetoes and force some reasonable changes in direction? Could we even one day have, dare we hope, a Democratic-majority legislature that moves the state forward again?
It’s no fun being Governor if you have no club over the legislature. Which is why the Governor and his entire team are investing time and talent to “Break the Majority.”
Or is it “Break the Super-Majority”? That’s the key strategic question.
Cooper & Co. pulled off a herculean task by recruiting candidates in all 170 House and Senate districts. Even in hopeless districts.
But how far dare they reach? Could they overreach – compete for so many seats they fall short of breaking the super-majority?
Hard choices are coming: Where to spend resources – time and money?
The omens are tempting. All mid-term elections are referendums on the incumbent President. And no incumbent President has ever had Trump’s potential downside. Will suburban women recoil over the sights and sounds of children being taken from their parents?
Or is that an illusion? Will there be, as in 2016, a late, undetected Trump surge? Are the cultural, social and racial divides so wide that the usual rules don’t apply?
How big a part will state issues play? Do the teachers’ marches, gun-safety marches, #MeToo movement and Moral Monday protests reflect a real voter revolt against the powers-that-be in Raleigh?
For more than 30 years, Governor Cooper has been a canny, and sometimes cautious, political fighter. He has consistently picked the right fights – and the right times to fight.
Here’s hoping he’s right this year. His governorship is at stake. So is the state’s future.
Not to put any pressure on.