4 takeaways from Josh Stein’s first campaign rally as Democratic candidate for NC governor

Nine months into his campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor in North Carolina, Attorney General Josh Stein held his first campaign rally on Tuesday at an HBCU in the area where his primary opponent, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan, lives.

Stein’s event was held at C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium on the campus of Shaw University in downtown and southeast Raleigh.

Morgan announced his run in September, long after Stein made his campaign official in January. Stein was joined at Shaw by his former boss, Roy Cooper, himself a Democratic attorney general turned governor, who endorsed Stein just before Morgan made his run official.

Morgan stepped down from the state Supreme Court about a week before he started his campaign.

Stein is in his second term as attorney general, following in the footsteps of Cooper, who spent two terms in the job. Cooper can’t run for reelection.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely to face Republican frontrunner Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has four primary-election opponents.

Here are five significant takeaways from Stein’s first rally:

1. Justice Morgan lambasts location of event

Morgan entered the race as the underdog, as most Democrats had already endorsed Stein while Stein was running unopposed.

Morgan called Stein’s event an “orchestrated, manufactured gathering disguised as a ‘rally,’” on Shaw’s campus, saying it was created for television and social media.

“The Stein’s camp has developed this pop-up mirage in an obvious response to my recently announced candidacy in order to create an impression that I don’t have sufficient support in my own community to win the race,” Morgan said in a statement. “However Southeast Raleigh has been my home for 39 years: living here, worshipping here, shopping here, volunteering here, serving here.”

Morgan went on to say there’s a difference between him and Stein “when it comes to credibility and authenticity among the people to whom this ‘rally’ is aimed.”

Shaw, on the southeast edge of downtown, is in a historically African American neighborhood. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a major organization in the Civil Rights Movement, was founded at Shaw in 1960. Morgan is Black; Stein is white.

Stein’s event drew a few other elected officials beyond Cooper, including Raleigh Democratic Rep. Rosa Gill in the audience and state Sen. Natalie Murdock, who took the stage to introduce Cooper and Stein.

Stein did not talk to reporters at the event, and his campaign did not have a comment about Morgan’s statement.

2. Stein as legacy of Gov. Cooper

In his speech, Cooper said Stein will continue his administration’s progress.

“I know that the key to our progress moving forward, we need the right person to take it over when I leave,” Cooper said, adding that Democrats need a person with integrity and grit who will work hard and has experience.

“We need a person who can win, and that person is Josh Stein,” Cooper said.

Stein’s speech touted North Carolina while also criticizing the Republican-dominated General Assembly and listing some of its legislation this year, from restricting abortions to upcoming redistricting.

Stein said Democrats have “to build on Medicaid expansion and get hospital and drug prices under control. Now, none of us should have to worry whether our kids are safe when they’re at school or at play in the neighborhood. Or our loved ones are safe when they’re at work or at worship. So we must make our community safer: tackle violent crime, confront the fentanyl crisis and recruit and retain well-trained law enforcement officers to serve our communities.”

He also listed several controversial comments by Robinson, ranging from anti-LGBTQ remarks to those about banning abortion.

“All of it is backwards. All of it must be stopped and it is on us. It is on us to defend our home and fight for the people of North Carolina,” Stein said.

3. Stein’s early endorsements standing by him

Stein lined up many endorsements, from state lawmakers to progressive groups, while he was the only Democrat in the race for eight months.

Murdock, a Durham Democrat, said she stands by her early endorsement of Stein. Murdock worked in communications and outreach for the attorney general’s office before she ran for Senate.

She said she endorsed Stein “early on because I really think we’re going to have to look at it as a continuation of the work that Gov. Cooper has done. We all know that Mark Robinson, more than likely, will be the nominee on the Republican side, and we have got to win. We have got to win.”

Asked about Morgan entering the race, Murdock said that she’s talked to Stein about his plan to run for governor for years and wants to honor her endorsement. She said Stein having a campaign event at Shaw shows his support for HBCUs, and that he’s going to make his case to voters.

Demetrius Heggie came to Stein’s event along with other Communication Workers of America union members to show support. Heggie, of Holly Springs, said he works for AT&T and is just now becoming active with CWA.

The North Carolina State AFL-CIO, which is the state’s largest group of unions, endorsed Stein in June. State AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan said at the time that they were endorsing Stein because he “has always fought to protect working people. He has always had our back, and in his battle to lead North Carolina toward a better future for all, we will have his.”

McMillan was also at the event Tuesday, with Stein thanking her as he took the stage.

4. Looking to defeat Mark Robinson

Shaw University’s marching band performed songs while marching in and out and on stage.

Stein and Cooper had sent supporters several emails over the past few weeks asking them to come. While the event drew just 100 to 200 people, supporters have donated millions of dollars to his campaign.

Among those in the chairs set up in Shaw’s gym was Nathaniel Dibble of Raleigh, who said he came because he signed up to support Stein “and volunteer with him once his campaign really kicks off. I also wanted to come see if this was really something that I want to volunteer for, see what it was all about.”

Dibble told The N&O that he supports Stein because “at this point for me, it’s about not having Mark Robinson win, which means supporting Josh Stein.”

“[Robinson] has a horrible anti-queer history — just as the remarks he makes and the actions he wants to take place. He wants to destroy public school funding. Yeah, he’s just not a great person,” Dibble said.

Robinson has made many insulting comments about LGBTQ people and public school teachers, including in a July speech at a church where he also questioned climate change and called white privilege a “foolish concept” of the political left.

Robinson’s opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary are State Treasurer Dale Folwell, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, former state Sen. Andy Wells and retired health care executive Jesse Thomas.