by HRC Staff •
Today, former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced that he would be entering the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Burr in the United States Senate.
Today, former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced that he would be entering the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Burr in the United States Senate. McCrory has a long history of opposition to civil rights and LGBTQ equality, most notably in the case of HB2, an anti-transgender “bathroom” bill that prevented people from accessing facilities consistent with their gender identity.
“Pat McCrory lost his re-election in 2016 — the only governor that year with that particular honor — because he signed and doggedly refused to listen to widespread opposition to HB2, an anti-transgender bill that devastated North Carolina’s economy and its reputation. Unremorseful, he’s now attempting to revitalize his political career by running for office yet again. We are confident that North Carolina voters, who made it abundantly clear in 2016 that they stand with the LGBTQ community and against discrimination, will do so again in 2022 should McCrory’s name be on the ballot.”
HB2 was a lightning rod for activism in the state and across the country, as North Carolina saw tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue after McCrory’s decision to sign the bill and support its enforcement. According to polling commissioned by HRC and Equality North Carolina and performed by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research in 2016, 57 percent of voters put HB2 as the top reason “not to vote for Pat McCrory” — exceeding any other issue by 17 points.
Further, McCrory ran 63,000 votes behind Donald Trump in 2016, demonstrating that his anti-LGBTQ agenda and its impact on the state was too much for Republican and Democratic voters alike.
HRC and other LGBTQ advocacy groups had a robust and highly successful voter education and mobilization campaign in North Carolina in 2016 — a fact that led to McCrory calling HRC “more powerful than the NRA” and giving pro-equality voters credit for his defeat.
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