A Dale Folwell vs. Mark Robinson campaign for the 2024 Republican governor nomination proved insightful into the heart and soul of the state party.
The boisterous and combative lieutenant governor gained backing from high-level influential Republicans inside and outside North Carolina — foremost President-elect Donald Trump.
The endorsements came in part because Republicans were tired of Democrats controlling the governor's mansion through two terms of Gov. Roy Cooper.
And in part because of Robinson fit glove in hand with the MAGA movement with his controversial stances and willingness to speak at political conventions and rallies sponsored by hardline right-wing officials.
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However, compared with Folwell's track record, Robinson’s political resume paled. The lieutenant governor carries little responsibility besides presiding over state Senate floor sessions — Robinson performed those roles seldomly during his term.
Folwell ran on a pledge of taking a chief executive approach to being governor, saying "my candidacy will be talking to voters like adults with common-sense solutions and vowing to put my heart, mind and back into being their governor.”
Folwell saw the opportunity to apply his decision-making with the state's Treasurer's Office with other departments he felt needed more financial focus, particularly state departments of Health and Human Services and Transportation.
His campaign motto: “The best governor that money can’t buy.”
Despite the many skeletons in Robinson's personal and work backgrounds, he received key endorsements led by President-elect Donald Trump, along with state GOP legislative leaders Phil Berger and Tim Moore, former N.C. Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley and current N.C. Republican Party chairman Jason Simmons.
"In the state Republican Party, we have selections (in the primary) followed by (general) elections," Folwell said in the overwhelming party support for Robinson.
Folwell said Whatley and Simmons "stiff-armed me for three years of getting access to Donald Trump about how my candidacy in the general election would be good for North Carolina and good for him.
"They didn't want to have any part of me having a conversation about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, that people in this state continuing to give the middle finger to his executive order about healthcare transparency."
Still pulling no punches
The Robinson campaign essentially self-destructed after the Sept. 19 CNN report, leading several Southeast Republican governors to withdraw their support.
CNN reported that Robinson wrote that he was a “Black Nazi” and that he not only supported a return of slavery but that he also wanted to own slaves. The story also said Robinson wrote that he liked to watch transgender porn.
The comments were made on the porn website Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012. Robinson has denied making the comments and has filed a lawsuit against CNN that the cable network is seeking a dismissal.
Folwell has pulled no punches in the aftermath of the bombshell report, calling Robinson a “counterfeit conservative” and “always playing the victim.”
"Mark Robinson told lies, and the donors believed him. Phil Berger, Tim Moore, Michael Whatley and Donald Trump believed him. They did know, didn't want to know, should have known.
"It's the biggest disaster in the history of the N.C. Republican Party."
Yet, Folwell said the blame for Robinson's "disastrous outcome in the general election falls first on me.
"I was his opponent, and that's what opponents are supposed to do, take out the opponent. It was my responsibility, and I did not do that. I failed."
Folwell said Robinson's defeat, along with four other Council of State candidates who were MAGA acolytes and who embraced Robinson's candidacy, should serve as a reassessment prompt to Simmons and the state Republican Party.
Pat McCrory's term is the lone one for a Republican governor since 1993. With Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein set to begin his term Wednesday, there will be a Democrat in the governor's mansion for at least 12 consecutive years, which followed a 20-year run from 1993 to 2013.
"I said during the campaign this may be the last time to elect a Republican governor in my lifetime," Folwell said. "I didn't say that emotionally or politically.
"The next non-Democratic governor in North Carolina will be unaffiliated."
Under the spotlight
Folwell's time as state treasurer hasn't been without controversy.
In June 2023, Folwell expressed his displeasure with the nomination of former state Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen as head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Folwell fired a shot across the Biden administration’s bow with a pointed tweet aimed at Cohen, who served nearly six years as health secretary, including the first 21 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Folwell’s tweet: “Pray for our country. As a member of the NC Council of State, my observation is that the actions of Dr. Mandy Cohen during COVID resulted in more disease, death, poverty and illiteracy. As NC governor, I would be hard pressed to ever follow her lead at CDC if chosen by the POTUS.”
The State Health Plan and about 550 North Carolinians are awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether state health plans are required to cover gender-affirming healthcare services for members and their families.
The SHP is North Carolina’s largest purchaser of medical and pharmaceutical services and is self-funded. It covers about 750,000 teachers, state employees, legislators, retirees and their dependents.
The case of Kadel v. Folwell was filed in March 2019 by Lambda Legal and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund on behalf of several current and former state employees and their children who were denied coverage for medically necessary care under the State Health Plan.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ order on April 29 upheld two lower court rulings by an 8-6 margin with the voting along political lines.
The 541 participants who get such care represent 0.007% of the overall membership. The plan’s 2023 expenditures for those beneficiaries through Nov. 30, 2023, was $1.5 million, compared with overall expenses of $3.7 billion.
Outgoing state Treasurer Dale Folwell’s 48-page petition was placed July 26 on the Supreme Court’s docket, likely because of the precedent-setting potential of a ruling, along with a related case in West Virginia.
According to a statement from Folwell, the SHP’s refusal to cover surgical and hormonal treatments related to the diagnosis of gender dysphoria dates back to the 1990s.
Folwell has said the essence of his petition is whether a state’s decision to decline coverage for gender-affirming treatments violates the federal Equal Protection Clause.
Folwell claims the State Health Plan’s attempt at coverage exclusion “does not discriminate on the basis of sex” and that the his petition “is an excellent vehicle to resolve” the issue.
However, adult plaintiffs said in briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court that the SHP policy has required them to spend money out of pocket for necessary health care that the SHP should be covering.
They cited as examples of how SHP covers hormonal and testosterone treatments, mastectomy, hysterectomy, vaginoplasty and phalloplasty — the latter two creation or reconstruction of the vagina and penis — for cisgender females and males, but not for gender dysphoria.
SBI investigation
In June, Folwell was accused of driving state-owned vehicles for personal use throughout North Carolina, including trips to a yoga studio and hotels. The State Bureau of Investigation and the Wake County District Attorney’s Office are investigating.
The investigation of Folwell started as part of an N.C. Department of Administration’s Motor Fleet Management Division compliance audit of car use for July, November and December 2022 and April 2023, according to a court record.
Folwell was running for governor during that time.
Investigators said they believe those trips by Folwell violated state laws in that state vehicles should be used only for state business or approved commuting.
An SBI agent filed a search warrant application in Wake Superior Court on June 12 that indicated that Folwell used three state-owned vehicles to travel to medical offices, a country club, residences, church, fast-food restaurants, a hot yoga studio, hotels, the Biltmore Estate and Republican Party offices throughout North Carolina.
According to state law, the misuse of a permanently assigned state vehicle is a Class 2 misdemeanor. Folwell hasn’t been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
Folwell's initial response was that an investigator "believed it necessary to obtain search warrants to look into use of my assigned state vehicle for the many public functions I routinely perform throughout the state, all of which are purposefully planned to accomplish the maximum job duties possible during the trips."
“We have provided pages of documentation throughout the course of this review,” Folwell said. “We look forward to continuing to cooperate with the Department of Motor Fleet Management to satisfactorily resolve this issue.”
During his interview with the Journal, Folwell said, "I’m grateful that they ask questions which provides an opportunity to fully cooperate with these agencies that I hold in high regard."
Lorrin Freeman, Wake County's district attorney, said Friday that "this investigation is ongoing at this time. Treasurer Folwell has been cooperating fully in providing detailed information that is being reviewed."
Anjanette Grube, the SBI's public information director, said Thursday it remains "an ongoing investigation."
Folwell's legacy
Folwell's legacy is seen foremost in his willingness "to be intently focused on tackling policy challenges," Wake Forest University political science professor John Dinan said.
Dinan pointed to Folwell's accomplishment of erasing the state's unemployment insurance debt to the federal government, as well as his long-standing concerns about bringing about more transparency in the prices that hospitals charge patients."
Dinan said that after Robinson's historic loss in the governor's race, "certainly many Republicans are likely wishing that primary voters had placed more emphasis on governing experience and policy expertise of the kind that Folwell brought to the table and emphasized in his ill-fated bid for the party's nomination."
Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, has shared more than a political relationship with Folwell, whether on the WS/FCS school board or their efforts to reform the state's healthcare system.
"Dale has been an unbelievable public servant in so many roles," Lambeth said.
"I have been fortunate to have not only worked with him, but have known him for most of his adult life. I was there in the emergency room when his little boy was hit by a car and killed tragically."
Folwell's terms in the state House member "was significantly influential in my deciding to run for the House," Lambeth said.
Lambeth praised Folwell for "cleaning up so many areas in state government. The unemployment system today is so much better and financially healthy because of the work he did to put policies in place to assure a long term viability.
"In his role as treasurer, I worked very closely with him as he made improvements in the pension plan and State Health Plan. He continues to run up the red flag about the poor long-term funding (for SHP), but legislators have chosen to not respond.
"Did Dale rub some people the wrong way? Sure. And did I agree with everything he did? No.
"But he did it with a passion, and he did his research and had the facts. He would have made an excellent governor, and was my choice early on "
Mitch Kokai, senior policy analyst with conservative think tank John Locke Foundation, said that "whatever the job, Dale Folwell always has adopted a straightforward approach: Solve problems rather than play political games; safeguard taxpayers’ money; work with whomever is interested in making a positive change.”
Kokai said Folwell’s style "has earned him support from some unexpected places, and it has caused him to run afoul of those who would like to use government to build their own power bases or feather their own nests. It’s likely that he could have won another term — or two or three — as state treasurer, but part of his problem-solving approach turned his attention toward addressing larger issues within state government.”
Quinterno said Folwell "took his responsibilities as a steward of public funds seriously during his time as state treasurer. His willingness to take on the healthcare industry over pricing within the State Health Plan was unexpected, but meaningful."
Chris Cooper, a professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University, said Folwell has been recognized "as a steady public servant and a conservative's conservative in an era when many politicians attempt to garner votes by getting clicks and eyeballs on their most outlandish views."
"Dale Folwell rarely attracted attention, perhaps to the detriment of his higher political ambitions," Cooper said, "but could be counted on for steady, if not flashy, service to the state and to the offices he occupied," Cooper said.
"He might have enjoyed hot yoga and fast motorcycles in his private life, but in his public life, he cultivated a profile that recalled an older archetype of public service."
What about the future?
In terms of politics, Folwell said North Carolinians and the nation need for people "to be willing to say no when no needs to be said."
Folwell said he has no appetite for running for Congress "because I don't think anybody in Washington, D.C., is interested in fixing anything."
"There's so much money being made in keeping things broken," he said. "Now, that's cynical, and it's true, and that's not my style. You can go, raise hell about a few things and become a multi-millionaire."
Folwell said his upbringing taught him that "it doesn't matter how you start off in life if you are earnest in your hard work."
"Doing those things encouraged so many people to give me the benefit of the doubt, all the way through school, into public service, all the way to being state treasurer," Folwell said.
"One day, you are going to be my age, look back and realize you are standing on the shoulders of others, and one of your roles in life is be a supporting shoulders for others."