Why NC's most powerful Republican is endorsing a candidate for governor, but not president
Republican state Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters Wednesday he was officially endorsing Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the 2024 GOP primary for North Carolina governor — but that he wouldn’t endorse former President Donald Trump, or any other Republican, in his party’s presidential primary.
His endorsement of Robinson wasn’t a surprise. Berger stood on stage with Robinson when he announced his run for governor in April, along with many fellow Republican legislators.
“I just think he's got a good head on his shoulders,” Berger said Wednesday. “I think philosophically, he's generally in the right place. I think he has been supportive of many of the things that we've done here at the General Assembly.”
Robinson’s far-right stances on guns, abortion and LGBTQ rights have made him immensely popular among social conservatives. But he’s deeply disliked by liberals and viewed skeptically by some in the GOP establishment. The state Republican Party has lost the last two elections for governor in races that largely focused on social issues such as transgender rights and Covid-19 prevention rules, vaccines and emergency orders.
Berger also said that while Robinson’s anti-LGBTQ comments aren’t things he personally would say, he doesn’t think it’ll hurt Robinson’s ability to recruit companies to North Carolina or otherwise serve as the public face of the state, which have been concerns of some in the party.
Democrats are counting on voters rejecting Robinson, however. At an event Tuesday night, Attorney General Josh Stein — the Democratic Party’s front-runner for its gubernatorial nomination — invoked Robinson’s support for abortion bans, 2020 election conspiracy theories and more, saying he “must be stopped.”
Apart from the gubernatorial election, Berger said Wednesday he was staying out of presidential politics. He says his endorsement wouldn’t mean anything in that race; he predicts Trump will be the GOP nominee no matter what. The race also features Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and others.
“Former President Trump is going to be the Republican nominee,” Berger said. “And I think he will be the Republican nominee whether I endorse him or not. Whether I endorse somebody else. So I don't know that I'll get involved in that.”
The unsaid implication in part is that the gubernatorial primary isn’t as much of a done deal as the GOP presidential race.
The field isn’t final yet; candidate filing begins next week and will end in mid-December. And in recent weeks two of the prospective Republican candidates for governor have dropped out, potentially helping consolidate the establishment, anti-Robinson vote.
And while Robinson remains far ahead in polls, a well-funded GOP challenger, Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham, has seen his numbers rise following a statewide ad campaign and a vow to spend millions of his personal fortune on the race.
More endorsements, plus Medicaid and school safety
Also on Wednesday, Berger addressed issues ranging from the recent stabbing death at Southeast Raleigh High School to the impending implementation of Medicaid.
- Speaker news: Berger also offered his support for House Speaker Tim Moore, who is leaving the legislature to run for Congress. He declined to endorse any specific House GOP member to replace Moore as that chamber's top leader in 2025. But he said he has good relationships with everyone whose name has come up as a contender, particularly Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell), who appears to be the early favorite.
- No Grafstein fight, for now: When Senate Republicans redrew their own chamber's district lines earlier this year, their efforts to create more GOP-leaning seats led to several Democrats having their homes put into districts wit other incumbent lawmakers. One was North Raleigh Sen. Lisa Grafstein, who has now moved to a new home in western Wake County, to run for an open seat there. State law says legislators must live in their districts, though, so there have been questions of whether Grafstein would be expelled from the Senate, at least pending the results of the 2024 election. But Berger indicated that's unlikely to happen. He said he wasn't even sure of the rules for how many fellow senators would need to vote to kick her out, and that regardless he hasn't heard from any senators who want to kick her out. The NCGOP has called on Grafstein to resign, but Berger said Wednesday he has no plans to do the same.
- Southeast Raleigh stabbing: Berger expressed his condolences for Delvin Ferrell, the teenager killed in a fight at Southeast Raleigh High School this week. He said dealing with security and discipline are typically the responsibility of local leaders, not the state legislature, but that if Wake County officials believed the legislature could help he's open to hearing them out.
- Hope for Medicaid: In one of the biggest political 180s in years, Berger ended his staunch opposition to Medicaid expansion last year, and this year fellow Republicans followed suit and passed it into law. It goes into effect Friday, giving federally funded health insurance to hundreds of thousands of the working poor in North Carolina. Berger said so far the state government, which is in charge of administering the system, appears prepared for the big changes coming: "Everything so far seems to be moving as we anticipated. So hopefully things will run smoothly."
