The Atlantic

North Carolina Is a Warning

With its even partisan split, its history of racist policies, and its stark urban-rural divide, the state has proved to be a microcosm of national conflicts before.
Source: The Atlantic; Getty

The ad that signaled the coming catastrophe for democracy in North Carolina appeared just four days before the November 2012 election. As the ad opened, a woman’s voice wondered aloud whether voters “can trust Sam Ervin IV to be a fair judge.” Ervin, captured in black and white, looks shifty, moving his eyes back and forth before turning his head suddenly as if he is on the run. Ervin and his family, the ad announced, had donated to the campaign of the former Democratic governor, and later convicted felon, Mike Easley. The camera lingers on Ervin’s face as the ad explains that he went on to get a $100,000 state job; the portrait could be mistaken for a mug shot, were it not for his suit and tie.

One might have assumed that Ervin was running for high federal office, given the seriousness and slickness of the ad—and the fact that the group responsible for it was largely funded by a national Republican PAC. But no, Ervin was running for one seat of seven on the state supreme court. When Election Day arrived, he lost to Paul Newby, who is now North Carolina’s chief justice. (In 2014, Ervin won a seat on the court too.)

This ad in the Newby-Ervin race augured a fundamental change in the politics of North Carolina’s judiciary. Just eight years prior, the state had made judicial elections nonpartisan and created the country’s for judicial elections. This ad brought the worst of the political system back into judicial races: and Republican efforts to take over the courts after the Tea Party wave. Soon thereafter, the era of attempted judicial reform in North Carolina formally ended. The legislature eliminated public funding just months after the 2012 election and later made judicial elections partisan yet again.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min read
Bashar al-Assad Exploited Alawites’ Fear
For decades, the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad built his power on a single, relentless narrative of survival: The regime presented itself as the only shield against annihilation for the Alawites, the ethno-religious minority that makes up about a
The Atlantic3 min read
COVID’s End-of-Year Surprise
The twinkling of lit-up trees and festive displays in store windows have come to mean two things: The holidays are upon us, and so is COVID. Since the pandemic began, the week between Christmas and New Year’s has coincided with the dreaded “winter wa
The Atlantic6 min read
The Luxury Makeover of the Worst Pastry on Earth
On the internet, there exists a $102 loaf of bread that people talk about like it’s a drug. It’s a panettone—the fruitcake-adjacent yeasted bread that is traditional to Italy, and to Christmastime—and it is made by the California chef Roy Shvartzapel

Related