This week brought yet another example of how Republican extremism may cost the party in a key state in November.
A couple of months back, I wrote about the North Carolina GOP’s placing all of its bets on extreme candidates for statewide office, potentially creating an opening for moderate Democrats.
At the time, I focused on attorney general candidate Dan Bishop, who compared Donald Trump’s treatment in his criminal court cases to being a Black Southerner in the Jim Crow era. But there’s also unabashedly bigoted gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson and Chad Brown, a lesser-known secretary of state candidate who has pushed the GOP’s bogus “election integrity” rhetoric and previously touted an endorsement from hate-mongering baseball legend Curt Schilling.
Another person on my list was Michele Morrow, the far-right superintendent candidate who has recorded herself complaining about people speaking foreign languages in public and, according to CNN, previously called for the execution of Democrats like President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.
Last week, CNN reported more disturbing details about Morrow’s past behavior.
Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee to run K-12 public education in North Carolina, filmed a video after attending the January 6 riot at the US Capitol urging then-President Donald Trump to put “the Constitution to the side” and use the military to stay in power. In a deleted Facebook livestream she filmed from her hotel room, Morrow called for mass arrests of anyone who helped certify the 2020 election. “And if the police won’t do it and the Department of Justice won’t do it, then he will have to enact the Insurrection Act,” said Morrow. “In which case the Insurrection Act completely puts the Constitution to the side and says, now the military rules all.”
CNN linked to public videos of Morrow at the Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6 riot, but it said it has no proof she entered the building or committed violence herself.
Still, the video evidence — shared by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski — of Morrow effectively calling for a pro-Trump military coup after the riot failed is unsettling, given things we already know about her.
In a few short months, Morrow could win control over North Carolina’s public school system. It’s a frightening prospect and one Democrats would be smart to highlight as they lay out the stakes of this race — along with others featuring GOP extremists in North Carolina — this November.