Phil Berger: Republicans prevailed across NC because voters like what they see

Why did Republicans do so well in North Carolina? The answer to that question is clear.

Republicans prevailed across North Carolina, gaining seats in the state House and Senate and taking statewide contests for U.S. Senate and the judiciary. Conservative policies that brought unmatched success to our state were endorsed, and liberal policy-making by partisan Democrats on the state Supreme Court was repudiated.

North Carolina voters confirmed their preference for Republican governance that has lowered taxes, balanced state budgets, returned children to classrooms, expanded parental choice in schools, increased transparency in education, and created a state policy environment conducive to private sector job growth. Voters rejected Democrats’ long-standing preference for big government solutions and were not swayed by fearmongering about the demise of democracy or misleading ads about abortion.

Democrats who prevailed in contested legislative races ran as tax-cutting, law-enforcement-supporting, budget-balancing candidates indistinguishable from a garden variety Republican.

Education, long a winning issue for Democrats, became a rallying point for Republicans with policy prescriptions that correctly answer the simple question of who the education system is supposed to serve. The answer? Parents and students.

Democrats remain wedded to, and saddled with, promoting the existing education establishment and its bureaucracy. Ask any Democrat for a policy solution in education and they will say “more money.” Ask a Republican and the answer invariably will be “give parents more of a say.”

For example, we created the Opportunity Scholarship program — scholarships for low- and middle-income families to send their children to private schools that best fit their educational needs. Wealthy parents have always had that option. We’ve gradually expanded the program to ensure more families have the freedom to make those choices.

When Gov. Roy Cooper shut down classrooms and relegated public school students to virtual schools, parents saw what was happening to their children and were unsatisfied. Republicans, and some Democrats, challenged the governor and stood with children and their parents. We are now seeing the devastating effect on learning the governor’s edict caused.

Democrats, with the assistance of their special interest and media allies, continue to bleat that gerrymandering explains Republican success and Democratic struggles. But statewide elections aren’t conducted within drawn districts, and the maps used in this year’s legislative elections were approved by state courts overseen by a Democratic majority on the N.C. Supreme Court.

The maps used in the past seven legislative elections have variously been drawn by Democrats, by Republicans, by Democrats and Republicans, and ultimately approved by courts sympathetic to Democrats’ arguments about gerrymandering. One thing is clear from each of those elections — Republicans won both the House and Senate. Gerrymandering is a good hobby horse for Democrats; it’s apparently satisfactory for them as an excuse for failure, but it’s not the reason for their lackluster results.

As to judicial elections and why voters preferred Republican candidates, the state Supreme Court epitomized Democrats’ perversion of the role of courts in our constitutional separation of powers system. In unprecedented moves, Democratic justices moved highly political cases to the front of the line to advance partisan outcomes. In a particularly noteworthy instance, they arbitrarily voided the votes of millions of North Carolinians who voted for and continue to overwhelmingly support a constitutional amendment requiring photo voter ID.

Republicans will continue to champion policies that strengthen our economy, support quality education, and provide for public safety and order. We’ll continue to support a parent’s right to have a say in their child’s education, continue to be good stewards of your money by keeping government spending in check, and always get things done in Raleigh instead of succumbing to Washington-style gridlock.