Why Democrat Josh Stein’s new campaign ad for NC governor features a Trump voter

A new ad promoting North Carolina Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s response to the fentanyl crisis will start running during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

Stein is the Democratic nominee for governor and running against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. In the new television and digital ad airing first on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, a mother talks about her son who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after taking cocaine laced with fentanyl.

The ad features Debbie Dalton of Cornelius talking about her late son Hunter, who grew up on Lake Norman. Hunter Dalton, 23, graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2016, moved to Raleigh and died that same year. His family and friends started The Hunter Dalton #HDLife Foundation in his memory.

Dalton has spoken at news conferences with Stein in his role as attorney general.

In the ad, Dalton praises Stein for his work on the fentanyl crisis as attorney general and talks about Hunter as “an amazing young man and just loved life. He was my entire world. He made a bad decision that night. If our son had known about fentanyl, he would still be with us today. And it shocked us to our core, shocked our community to the core,” she said.

“Attorney General Josh Stein stood up for families like mine, worked with law enforcement, and worked across party lines to attack the fentanyl crisis. I knew from the minute that I met him that this is a man that is compassionate and concerned and committed,” Dalton said.

“I’m going to be very honest here. I typically vote Republican, and I am not, in this case, because Josh Stein is who I want to be governor of this state,” she says in the ad. “He cares about families like mine. I’ve seen it, and I believe in him. He does not back down. He will not back down. He’s making a difference. He’s a leader. He’s a fighter. And that’s who I want. He’s going to be a great governor.”

Why Dalton, who voted for Trump in 2020, ‘fiercely’ supports Stein in 2024

Dalton, who is registered in Mecklenburg County as a Democrat and voted Democratic in two primary elections, told The News & Observer in a phone interview that she registered that way for the primaries, but that she voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020.

She said she likes Stein for governor because she thinks “he’s a fighter, but what touched me so much about Josh Stein when I met him was, it was a very serendipitous meeting, and he was so compassionate, and I really felt like he cared.”

Dalton said fentanyl is “one of the most critical things, quite frankly, in our country right now” and she “fiercely” believes in Stein’s fight against it.

“I have voted both parties, but I typically do vote Republican. I vote for the candidate, and Josh Stein has proven to me that he cares about this and that he is going to fight for us. And I personally, on a very personal level, don’t want anyone to go through what our family has gone through. And I feel like he’s a guy that’s going to make a difference, and I don’t see that with his opponent,” she told The N&O.

Stein’s campaign said that the ad will run statewide on multiple networks and streaming services starting next week.

Stein’s record on fentanyl

Stein has pushed for a Fentanyl Control Unit at the N.C. Department of Justice and been part of lawsuits, and a resulting $300 million settlement, from pharmaceutical companies over opioid misuse. He also called for more funding from Congress for fentanyl scanners at the southern U.S. border. Republicans have pointed to illegal border crossings as the reason for the fentanyl crisis.

Teens in rehab; CMS wrestler dead. Parents say fentanyl has breached school.

Stein has not taken a position on Republican-written House Bill 10, which would require sheriffs cooperate with detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Robinson supports HB 10 and has said if he wins, his administration would “work with ICE to ensure immigration law is followed and upheld in our state, and keep violent, dangerous illegal immigrants off our streets to keep North Carolina families safe.”