Claims Record of ‘High Ethical Standards’
Republican Governor Pat McCrory has just conceded the North Carolina gubernatorial election to his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper. McCrory spent the past four weeks contesting the election, demanding recounts and using the court system to try to eke out a victory.
At times during various ballot counts the variance between the two candidates was just under 10,000 votes, which allowed the first-term governor to insist on recounts and other procedural moves.Â
Many believe McCrory lost in large part because of his dogged support for the anti-LGBT law he signed known as HB2. That law not only stripped LGBT people of various civil rights, it targeted transgender people. HB2, which was voted on and signed into law in less than one day, also stripped local cities and towns of the right to legislate minimum wage laws, discrimination laws, and public accommodation laws.
In this video, in which McCrory announces his concession, he claims that he and his team operated under high ethical standards. Two laws McCrory signed prove that statement false: HB2, and the voter ID law which a federal appeals court ruled intentionally disenfranchised Black voters with “surgical” precision.
UPDATE:Â
The News & Observer’s Colin Campbell notes “McCrory becomes the state’s first governor to lose a re-election bid. His defeat followed the nation’s second costliest gubernatorial race and North Carolina’s most expensive ever.”