Under the Dome podcast: Josh Stein on labor issues, his opponents and run for governor

Start your week in North Carolina politics with our latest Under the Dome podcast, for the week of Feb. 19, 2024. Dawn Vaughan here, your podcast host and state Capitol bureau chief.

Happy Presidents’ Day, everyone. North Carolina’s primary election is on March 5, and voters will decide who they want to send to the general election in many races, including for governor. Early voting started on Feb. 15, and one of the highest-profile North Carolina candidates voted right away: Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running for governor.

For this episode, you’ll hear Stein talk about the primary election, his friend and mentor, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, and his likely general election opponent: Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

The excerpts are from a sit-down interview I had with Stein in December, after candidate filing ended. I requested sit-down interviews with all the high-profile gubernatorial candidates, and on a future podcast I’ll share some of my recent interview with State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who is running in the Republican primary.

I also asked Stein about his Democratic primary opponent, retired N.C. Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan, as well as how he would work with Republican Senate leader Phil Berger if Stein becomes governor.

Plus, listen to what Stein said about vacancy rates in state government, salaries, North Carolina’s low unionization rate and the state law banning collective bargaining by public sector employees.

You can also read more of what Stein told me about those and other topics in this story from December, which includes some video of our conversation as well.

Listen to our latest episode below and catch up on previous episodes. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music and Stitcher.