The Tea Party strikes back
Published June 10, 2015
by John Wynne, Politics NC, June 9, 2015.
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.
