Young Democrats of Johnston County

Two of the most corrupt, and corrupting, political leaders in modern North Carolina history are both leaving office this year in a humiliating spectacle of greed and overreach. For more than a decade, Phil Berger and Tim Moore ran the North Carolina state legislature as their personal fiefdom. They weaponized a firehose of corporate dark money from out of state to enforce strict party discipline in the State Senate and State House, respectively. Many people ask why there isn't more independence among North Carolina state lawmakers. The answer for the last 15 years has been one of these men. Tim Moore racked up a long and tawdry list of moneymaking grifts and sex scandals. He abused his office for personal financial gain over and over again. When he was finished in Raleigh, he drew his own Congressional district to run in, so he could go to Washington and make another big score. As a Congressman, he became one of the most active stock traders on insider information. Phil Berger, too, bent the law, broke norms, and profited handsomely from his political power. He placed his children in positions of power, snubbed bipartisanship in favor of single-minded dedication to big corporate donors, and traded an astonishing mid-decade re-gerrymander of North Carolina's Congressional map to buy a Trump endorsement in his unexpectedly competitive primary. But then, things went wrong. First, Berger overreached when he tried selling out North Carolina to the casino interests, and he spent $10 million of corporate donors' money to save his seat - and failed. He lost his primary, and the Democrat he tried to cut down - Don Davis - is returning to office next year. Next, Tim Moore was too arrogant and busy trading stocks to notice that the people of his district don't like him. He lost his Congressional race in NC-14 to Democrat Lakesha Womack, who had almost zero money and a mostly volunteer staff. Both men were stunned. They thought they were invincible, because 15 years of gerrymandering and cash had blinded them to reality. These men hurt North Carolina, poisoned our politics, and divided us as a state. The Great State of North Carolina will now begin to heal - because they're gone.

You have to wonder if North Carolina Republicans are ready to internalize yet that @NCGOP has been completely out-worked and out-hustled by @abreezeclayton since she became @NCDemParty chair in 2023 - and we're all now seeing the results. All of the GOP bros completely dismissed Clayton when she became chair, because she's a young woman. (Many of them harbor an obsession with her.) Yet compared to @simmonsncgop (or @WhatleyNC!), Clayton has simply worked harder leading her party than her NCGOP counterparts have. When Clayton pushed for Democratic organizing in rural counties, the conservative pundits laughed. When she recruited candidates in almost every single legislative race, the GOP bros mocked it as a waste of time. But none of them are laughing today. Instead, Democrats have flipped county commissions across the state, won 70 NC House Seats, and would've won an NC Senate majority, were it not for egregious gerrymandering. And in 2028, the Republican gerrymander of North Carolina, which has completely defined our state's politics for 15 years, is finally going to be fed into a woodchipper. Get ready.