If you’re familiar with the North Carolina Republican Party, you know that the establishment nearly always gets its way when it comes to electing a party chair. It’s almost always the same: someone (usually well-known) enters the race. Afterward, the party’s leadership and elected officials coalesce around this person. There’s no doubt about it; this is the anointed candidate of the establishment and he’s pretty much the guy.
Then, one or two gadfly candidates enter the race, backed by the Tea Party. The Tea Party people make some noise, but the candidates they come up with never seem especially qualified. The delegates then elect the establishment pick, and usually the result isn’t even close. If you want a vision of what the process looks like (or how many in the establishment would want it to look like), imagine a boot stamping on the face of the Tea Party grassroots – forever.
On Saturday, most delegates probably walked in expecting history to repeat itself. When they walked out, the convention had elected the first black chairman in the history of the North Carolina GOP – a guy named Hasan Harnett who was thought to be one of those gadflies. But behind the scenes, Harnett was working smartly to reach out to delegates and to tap into discontent with the establishment. He amassed a large, loyal following.
Some delegates came to the convention for the sole purpose of voting for Harnett, even though they knew he didn’t stand a chance. They came in and were surprised to find that they weren’t alone. How did Mr. Harnett get elected? Stealth. Suffice to say, if Mr. Harnett runs the state party with the same tenacity with which he ran his campaign for chair, the NC GOP is in good hands.
How did Harnett achieve what so many Tea Party gadflies before him failed to do? Some say the bigwigs screwed up big time by uniting all the big names behind Craig Collins, giving him the taint of the establishment as soon as he began his campaign. That’s missing the mark. The establishment put the same muscle behind Robin Hayes and Claude Pope and they won with little opposition. So what happened this time?
My guess is that Collins was an unfamiliar name (unlike Robin Hayes, a former congressman; and Claude Pope, chair of one of the largest county parties and a Pope) and many delegates could not differentiate their feelings for him from their feelings of the establishment as a whole. But that’s not the only reason. What happened on Saturday was the result of a perfect storm. The Tea Party faction feels like the revolution they set in motion is slipping away from them. Increased spending in the House, the debate over solar energy, and a governor who appears unsympathetic to social conservatives’ concerns all combined to stoke a red hot grassroots frenzy. More than anything, Collins was probably a victim of bad timing. That, and a very strong and energetic campaign from Mr. Harnett. Heck, he even came out with a drum line.
Going forward, those in the establishment should support Harnett’s efforts to grow the party, not undercut him by going around the party apparatus and minimizing him before the donors. He’ll need their support precisely because it’s not at all clear that he has the right experience to be an effective chair. His claim to fame is that he managed the losing campaign of Vince Coakley in the 12th congressional district. Say what you will about Collins, but when just about all the elected officials in the party are rallying behind one candidate, that says something. He was definitely the safer choice.
But on Saturday, the delegates didn’t want safety. They wanted someone who would punish the establishment, shake up Hillsborough Street and set the flames of revolution burning anew. Only time will tell if the decision they made over the weekend was a wise one.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
I can’t stand the Tea Party and its incredibly intrusive social/moral agenda (not to mention its inability to look at history when proposing bad ideas) BUT I do give them credit for this: they don’t like government representatives who are in the pockets of special interests and big donors any more than leftwing voters do. And if there’s one thing that has characterized all of the legislation coming out of Jones Street, it’s that it profits some insider, be it a person or a company, at the expense of taxpayers. The Tea Party in NC doesn’t like it. I don’t like it. Why would any voter like it? There is a feeding frenzy at the NCGA trough the likes of which I have never seen, and the GOP establishment paid for it in this instance.
You have shown your complete ignorance of the Tea Party with your comments. TEA = taxed enough already. In the case of this election both the Tea Party (which is 99% based on fiscal issues and reducing excessive regulation and crony capitalism) and the Liberty wing of the GOP which is anything BUT intrusive in the social/moral realm came together to defeat the GOP establishment’s heir apparent to the Chair position. I think you are think of the social conservatives with you incorrect and broad based comments on why you “can’t stand the Tea Party”.
” I think you are think of the social conservatives with you incorrect and broad based comments on why you “can’t stand the Tea Party”.”
Huh?
And I think that your having to parse words and try to explain (and not really all that clearly, BTW) what the Tea Party is all about reflects just how “off-mission” that wing of the GOP has gotten, and how badly it has miscrafted and mixed up its messages. Not surprised that every Tea Party public demonstration has so many signs badly misspelled………
“Why would any voter like it?”
The don’t. But: LOOK OUT GAY PEOPLE WANT TO GET MARRIED TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY AND HE WAS BORN AND OUTLAW YOUR CHURCH!!!!!!!!
So they vote for it even though they don’t like it.
Anybody remember the movie “Putney Swope?”
This piece also misses the point as much as the misinformed comments miss the point. The reality is the Hasan and Daniel Rufty and others did what some of us have been saying for years. To take the party back (not for Tea or any other powerless fictitious media target) real Republicans rallied around their shared disdain for what the establishment big government statists have been doing to the Republican brand in NC (see increased spending, toll roads, tax cuts for the wealthiest paid for by the middle class and seniors) and they tossed the establishment out on their heads. How? By bringing more people to the convention than the establishment brought. It’s that simple.
Right on!
Scott, you hit the nail on the head. This is indeed exactly what happened and it proves that non-establishment Republicans are very tired of the old guard’s business as usual and cronyism.
Hasan is not cut from their cloth and by the grace of GOD I hope his new vision and dedication will bring about the needed changes many of us have worked our backsides off to see. If the NCGOP really wants to win in 2016 they will all attend the dance and be active participants.
The next 17 months will certainly tell whether the establishment people were all about amassing a power base for their own personal benefits or if they are serious about winning an election and defeating the Democrat candidates at every level.
Ditto Bill.
The comments on this article are hilarious. Idiotic, but hilarious.
No more hilarious and idiotic than the posts on your FB page……
I was going to respond with a comment about your Facebook page, “Apply Liberally” — but you’re just another anonymous nobody.
Yep, “just another anonymous nobody” whose comments on these blogs are allowed to be anonymous and also happen to count as much as yours do.
Ditto Bill
Apparently Hassan learned his organizing skills as an Obama Volunteer in ’08.
It’s terrifying to me to think that, in the face of everything the NCGA is doing, the tea party sees its revolution “slipping away.” I cannot fathom what they might consider success.
Yeah, please, with Harnett at the fore, please “set the flames of revolution burning anew,” reset in motion a revolution that is “slipping away,” make no new investments in what the state truly needs, cripple all green energy ventures, further demonstrate that McCrory is a non-entity, and stoke a “red hot grassroots frenzy.”
Please do all these things so that you further demonstrate just how extreme and closed-minded your political ideology is, and that your reign in the NCGA majority will end sooner than later.