Fighting for reelection, Phil Berger sold out North Carolina again and again | Opinion
Phil Berger’s fight to remain in power was an incredibly costly one. He and his allies likely spent more than $10 million to try to keep him in office. He sold part of his soul to court the endorsement of Donald Trump, whom he had long kept at arm’s length. He milked 15 years worth of accomplishments and connections. For all his efforts, he appears to have lost to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by 23 votes in a race that’s likely headed to a recount.
But no matter who wins, North Carolina has already lost.
The political threat to Berger didn’t just affect the way he campaigned — it also affected how he legislated. Facing a primary challenge from an opponent who deemed him insufficiently conservative, Berger veered right.
Last year, Berger co-sponsored constitutional carry legislation that allows most adults to carry guns without a concealed carry permit. He had shot down a similar proposal in 2023, questioning whether there was really a need for it. But with his support, the legislation passed after years of lobbying from gun rights activists.
Later, in his quest to curry favor with the president, Berger agreed to redraw the state’s congressional maps to give Republicans another U.S. House seat ahead of a challenging midterm cycle. Berger denied reports that he did so in exchange for Trump’s endorsement, but it’s safe to say that fulfilling the president’s request didn’t hurt his chances.
And as lawmakers voted on new crime legislation in the wake of Iryna Zarutska’s murder last year, Berger introduced a surprise amendment attempting to restart the death penalty in North Carolina, ruining a rare bipartisan moment. Page had blasted Berger for not taking action on the issue earlier.
But it’s not just about what Berger did do. It’s also about what he didn’t. He’s refused to back down on scheduled tax cuts even as some of his fellow Republicans felt they ought to be deferred due to inflation. Berger viewed that as the equivalent of a tax increase, which would not go over well in a Republican primary. His stubbornness has left the state without a real budget for more than eight months. While state agencies struggled to keep the lights on, Berger got to brag about cutting income taxes in campaign ads.
Berger also didn’t stand up to Trump on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which threatens to unravel Medicaid expansion, an achievement that passed the legislature in 2023 with Berger’s support. Despite promising the legislature would “work through any implementation issues” resulting from the death blow to Medicaid expansion, no steps have been taken to protect health care coverage from the hundreds of thousands of people who could soon lose it.
Berger has denied that any of those decisions were related to his primary. But Berger behaved differently with his career on the line than he did when his seat was safe. He went from a pragmatist who often resisted the calls of hardliners and activists to an ideologue who embraced them. He wielded his power much more publicly, sponsoring a record number of bills, most of them advancing the Trump administration’s priorities. He did what was right for him, even if it was wrong for North Carolina.
The fact that one man could wield such influence over policy that touches millions of lives is an indictment of the current power structure in Raleigh. Berger’s willingness to use that power structure to boost his own political prospects is exactly the kind of selfishness that voters in his district just rejected. It remains to be seen, though, how much that power structure changes if Berger is no longer in it.
While Democrats, and perhaps even some Republicans, may delight in Berger’s downfall, the truth is that there are no winners here. When the state’s most powerful politician sells out North Carolina for his own political survival, we all pay the price.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten is covering the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
