From the Campaign Trail

If you do not know where to vote on Tuesday, here is a link to find your polling place.

Here’s a rundown of where things stand for the anti-farm and anti-business candidates for Labor and Agriculture:

Braxton Winston’s unashamed anti-cop rhetoric 

Winston regularly claims that all workers deserve dignity and respect. But he has no respect for one group of workers: Law Enforcement. Here’s the facts: 

• Winston has been called a “fierce critic” of police and has called police racist and “morally corrupt.” Winston has even said that being “tough on crime” is discredited and discriminatory. 
• Winston said that white supremacy is “ingrained in law enforcement entities all over this nation.” (The Charlotte Observer, 11/7/17; The Charlotte Observer, 5/25/18; The Charlotte Observer, 12/1/16; The Charlotte Observer, 12/2/16; The Charlotte Observer, 1/19/21) 
• Winston has been arrested and confronted by police at multiple protests in Charlotte. He was arrested at a 2016 protest outside a Carolina Panthers game for illegally possessing a gas mask. In 2020, Winston was arrested at a protest for failing to disperse. In 2020, Winston was pepper sprayed by police when he was part of a group surrounding a burning American flag in the street. (The Charlotte Observer, 12/30/16; Times-News, 5/30/20; The Charlotte Observer, 8/24/20)
• Winston was an organizer with Charlotte Uprising, and after being elected to the City Council, he said he would continue engagement with the group. Charlotte Uprising called for defunding the police and said that the world would be better without police or prisons. Charlotte Uprising also pushed misinformation by insisting that a protestor was killed by police during a 2016 protest, even though witnesses confirmed that the gunshot came from within the crowd of protestors. (The Charlotte Observer, 9/18/17; The Charlotte Observer, 11/11/17; The Charlotte Observer, 9/18/17; The Charlotte Observer, 2/7/19)
• In 2016, Winston was one of eight protestors who filed a federal lawsuit against the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department in an attempt to get a court order prohibiting CMPD from using excessive force or chemical agents. In March 2017, the suit was voluntarily dismissed. (The Charlotte Observer, 12/30/16; Winston et al v. City of Charlotte et al, Case #3:16-cv-00729-MR-DLH, Western District Of North Carolina, Filed 3/7/17)

Winston’s anti-police record shows that workers cannot trust him to support efforts that keep us safe. 

Sarah Taber FINALLY asked about her farming claims

This week, The Assembly featured a story that exposed Sarah Taber as a fraud – And the Raleigh News and Observer backtracked on the information in their voter guide, causing some awkward moments with Taber. 

Here are some of the top passages from the articles that show what a fake Taber is:

Taber could not explain where her farm was located, leading to the revelation that she gardens in her backyard. Not exactly a “family farm.” 

• From the article: “The Assembly asked Taber several times to identify the location of her family farm and whether it is separate from her yard in Fayetteville. She never provided a definitive answer beyond it being in Cumberland County.“
• Subscribers to our newsletter have already been briefed on this issue. For more information, check our post here.

Taber grossly overstated her role as a consultant for various companies

• From the article: “Her role in developing them appears more limited, an Assembly review shows. Interviews, texts, and emails with people who founded the companies said she did a small amount of work or handled food safety certification, an important task but one that took place long before their businesses took off.”

Taber lied when she claimed that “none” of her clients went out of business 

• From the article: “The Assembly identified one operation Taber consulted for that folded, and she has dropped her claim that all of her clients are still in business… Jon Shope, founder of Falling Waters Farm, an Indianapolis aquaponics facility in business from 2015 to 2023, said Taber’s early-stage consulting was important. ‘The significance of having early experts guiding any sort of startup business or small operation that aspires to be larger helps you avoid potentially costly pitfalls,’ Shope said. ‘If you’re a small operation, and you have one issue, it could drown you.“

What real North Carolina farmers have to say about Taber 

• Her characterization of her experience caught the eye of farmer Jeffrey C. Lee of Benson, who employs 50 to 70 workers to farm 1,700 acres of tobacco, sweet potatoes, and cotton across three counties.
• “One trip, or one season, to a farmer [and doing] food-safety work does not constitute setting up a damn business and keeping it going,” Lee said. “There’s a lot more to it than the food safety issue and going there. I think she overstates her experience.“
• Marlowe Ivey is a fourth-generation farmer in Wayne County who is registered as unaffiliated and supports Troxler. She challenges whether Taber is qualified to lead North Carolina’s largest economic sector. “People don’t realize how important that position is for our state,” she said.
• State law requires the commissioner and members of the Board of Agriculture to be “practicing farmers engaged in their profession.“
• “I honestly don’t see how she meets the requirements to run,” Ivey said. “There’s an economic footprint to sustainability; if you’re not making a living off your farm, you’re not a farmer—you’re a gardener.“

Taber made the wild claim her clients were apparently unaware of her work.

• Founders of companies that The Assembly reached out to said that she performed a small amount of work or primarily focused on food safety certification, which occurred before these businesses significantly expanded. The Assembly also found that one operation is no longer in business, prompting Taber to retract her previous claims that all her clients were still operational. But Taber said that claims about her being involved in a small amount of work or food safety are “not accurate.” That’s coming from founders & CEOs who weren’t involved in the day-to-day running of their companies.

Early vote analysis

Courtesy of Mike Rusher, President of The Results Company, here is a snapshot of what’s happening with Early Voting in North Carolina after the first 15 days.
For all votes in as of Oct. 31st – here is the breakdown:  

• Democrats make up 32.7% of voters. That’s (5.8%) less than 2022 and (5.6%) under 2020
• Republicans make up 34.1% of voters. That’s (2.5%) over 2022 and (2.4%) over 2020
• Unaffiliateds make up 32.9% of voters. That’s (3.3%) over 2022 and (3.1%) over 2020

Bottom Line: 15 Days in. At this point you’ll be hard pressed to find a data point that is positive for Democrats in North Carolina. Democrats are down in turnout (both raw votes and % share), their key demographic performance is down (age blocks, Black vote, male/female voting), and they have so far underperformed in urban counties. So all eyes shift to the Unaffiliateds – and election day.