To Morrow

Michele Morrow may have run her course.

Well, Michele Morrow, the former GOP nominee for Superintendent of Public Instruction, sure is a disappointment. I was counting on her for entertainment value heading down the stretch in the GOP primary. Instead, I’ve barely heard a peep. In fact, I hardly know there’s a primary at all.

Of course, I’m not the target audience, so maybe Republicans and right-leaning independents are more in tune. Morrow is not the only candidate challenging Trump-endorsed Michael Whatley for the nomination. Some guy named Don Brown is also running. Right now, I’m betting Whatley walks away with it.

Morrow’s main problem seems to be that she’s not holding her base, the bat-shit crazy wing of the GOP. Her former running buddies, the Twitter and TikTok stars MargoinWNC and Sloan Rachmuth, have not only abandoned her but are attacking her. Just two years ago, they were Morrow’s biggest promoters.

Margo criticized her former pal for running for office in the midst of a divorce and Rachmuth tweeted, “She needs Jesus.” Rachmuth was Morrow’s campaign manager during part of her run for Superintendent of Public Instruction. When you’ve lost the blond bombers of crazy town, you know you’re in trouble.

Apparently, Morrow’s media strategy consists of a 10-page letter venting all of her complaints about the Republican Party. I wouldn’t advise wasting your time reading it, but it’s full of insider grievances and self-pity, just the kind of thing you need to rally several hundred thousand people to your cause. An article in The Assembly indicates that Morrow has a gift for reaching and motivating the grassroots, but I’m not seeing it this year.

The broader question about the primary is whether or not the North Carolina Republican Party has gotten control of its lunatic fringe for the long haul. In 2020, they nominated Mark Robinson as lieutenant governor and he actually won. He had no experience and a lot of ethical challenges even then, but the Republican leadership rallied around him in 2024 and made him the GOP gubernatorial nominee. His success in the primary probably helped Morrow, attracting the type of voters to the polls who would support such flawed candidates.

This year, Republicans are avoiding the national spotlight with a quiet primary season, but maybe too calm. Michael Whatley is nothing if not boring. As far as I can tell, he’s done nothing really interesting in his public life and has no major accomplishments outside of politics.

In a year when Democrats are motivated to go to the polls to vote against Donald Trump, can a guy like Whatley juice GOP turnout? I doubt it, but a candidate like Michele Morrow alienates normal people. What’s a party to do?