GOP Frontrunner for North Carolina Governor Gets a Republican Challenger

Bill Graham will have support from party insiders made nervous by Mark Robinson’s political baggage.

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Bill Graham (Screenshot via YouTube)

Top North Carolina Republicans opposed to Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson are rallying around Bill Graham, an attorney and wealthy businessman expected to enter the 2024 gubernatorial race Wednesday.

Republican insiders in North Carolina worry Robinson has too much baggage to win a high-profile contest in a battleground state that has seen Democrats occupy the governor’s mansion for most of the last three decades. Enter Graham, who plans to announce he will seed his campaign for the Republican nomination with $5 million in personal cash and begin advertising on statewide television October 26. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is barred from reelection because of term limits.

“Only four of the last thirty years have been led by a Republican governor in North Carolina; we keep losing to the liberals,” Graham will say, according to a draft press release first shared with The Dispatch.  “If we want to change that, we need a nominee who will have the resources, discipline, and character needed to defeat the far-left Josh Stein in November.  I am that candidate, and my campaign will prove it.”

Josh Stein, the North Carolina attorney general, is favored to win the Democratic nomination for governor in next year’s primary. Graham has run for governor once before, in 2008. He finished a distant third in the GOP primary, garnering just under 9.3 percent.

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  1. Randall Briggs

    This report seems as if it comes from the Before-Trump times. Isn't the key factor which candidate can most convincingly kiss the hindquarters of the Orange Calf?

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    Patrick Aris

    Thank you for covering my state! I hope to see more of it.

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  3. LucyTrice

    This is good news.

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    1. Deleted Comment

      This comment has been deleted

    2. John Martin

      No, this is bad news. Robinson already has a challenger: Dale Folwell, who is the state Treasurer and has been twice elected to that state-wide office. He's not charismatic, but he's sensible and understands state government (he's served several terms in the N.C. General Assembly). Folwell can beat Stein. Graham will now split the anti-Robinson vote.

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      1. LucyTrice

        Thanks for the correction. I knew that but in the fog of early morning before coffee I forgot. I think the appreciation for Dispatch coverage of NC politics also fogged my brain.

        This oversight is worrisome.

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        Adj3

        Yay North Carolina! (better than South Carolina in everything except Peaches) I don't have any idea if this is good or bad, but I do love Dale Folwell as a character. He is the perfect state treasurer: very consistent and boring. If memory serves, he demolished his young, cool, energetic challenger last election, but I'm not sure if that is because people trust him generally, or people just trust him to manage the state pension fund. Personally, I could use some more boring in politics, but I'm not sure that will win the day in North Carolina.

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      3. Stormer93

        It's not just Fowell, there are a ton of candidates, including Mark Walker, the former congressman. However, even though these guys aren't even reaching double digits, collectively they get enough to ensure Robinson will win a plurality, if not a majority. Bottom line, no one really comes across as an alternative. Maybe Graham can vacuum up enough support to force the no-hopers out and consolidate the anti Robinson vote. I'd say it's worth a try. Either way, the only way to beat Robinson is with a single alternative, whether it's Fowell, Graham or Walker.

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        1. John Martin

          It's Folwell, not Fowell. Mark Walker is more likely to draw from Robinson than from Folwell.

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          1. Stormer93

            Yeah, my autocorrect doesn't like Folwell's name apparently...

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        2. LucyTrice

          Yeah, I wasn't quite awake when I commented.

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