Last fall, Republicans outperformed Democrats up and down the ballot in North Carolina. 

From re-electing Senator Thom Tillis to sweeping the judicial races, the Republican message won. As we approach a contentious election cycle in 2022, it’s no wonder Democrats are trying to change the rules to benefit their left-wing agenda.  

 Democrats launched an all-out assault on a state’s right to determine its own election laws through S.1, the left’s radical, sweeping legislation that would federalize local elections. The United States has never seen such a blatant, power-hungry attempt by elected officials to subvert the Constitution and give jurisdiction of election laws to the federal government.  

Thankfully, Senate Republicans, including both Republican senators from North Carolina, voted to block S.1, but the slim margin of votes it took for S.1 to fail is alarming. Had any of the North Carolina Democrat Senate hopefuls been in power, it very well could have become our new reality. 

 Unfortunately, it appears the Democrat candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022 are even more radical than ever. Jeff Jackson proudly called the companion bill to S.1 one of his “top priorities” and praised it for what he called “pro-democracy reforms,” which include blocking state’s rights and enfranchising dangerous criminals. 

 Jackson isn’t the only Democrat in the Senate primary field supporting radical voting legislation that would grant politicians in Washington control over local elections. His competitors Erica Smith and Cheri Beasley share similar beliefs with Jackson. In March 2021, Smith tweeted, “End the filibuster. Pass the For the People Act. Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.” Meanwhile, Beasley supports the federalization of local elections and said she was eager to “take a look” at eliminating the filibuster in order to pass it. The far-left Democrats of today are willing to destroy American institutions embedded in the Constitution to benefit their own political agendas, not the states they supposedly represent.

 The radical voting bills being introduced by the Democrats are nothing short of a federal takeover of our elections and would eviscerate common-sense voter ID laws. Now that S.1 failed in the Senate, Democrats are rallying around H.R. 4, which is simply another desperate attempt at a federal takeover of our state and local elections in North Carolina. If Democrats had their way, felons would be granted the right to vote in federal elections the moment they leave prison, state legislatures would lose their ability to draw congressional districts and unelected and unaccountable commissions would be left in charge of overseeing elections. Thirty states would be forced to allow ballot harvesting and adopt automatic voter registration on short notice, opening up the possibility for extensive fraud.

 Now more than ever, the American people are paying close attention to election integrity and the need for transparency in the election processes. According to a recent Associated Press poll, the majority of Americans — both Republicans and Democrats — are in favor of voter ID laws, including Black and Hispanic voters who “back voter ID laws 64% to 22% and 78% to 16%, respectively.” In 2018, North Carolinians overwhelmingly voted to implement voter ID in statewide elections, but Democrat special interest groups have since stalled it in court. It’s clear North Carolina voters want safe, secure elections, so why are Democrats like Jackson, Beasley, and Smith siding with the radical Left in Washington? 

 Republicans understand that the goal of effective election legislation is to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. On the other hand, Democrats failed to gain control of the North Carolina House and Senate, and now they are trying to rob the General Assembly of its jurisdiction over our state’s elections. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admitted it herself, saying Democrats “cannot rely solely on the wish of winning elections” when speaking on her support of the federal takeover of elections. And that tells us all we need to know about the Democrats’ new philosophy: if you can’t win, change the rules. 

Michael Whatley is the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.