This is a version of The Atlantic Every day, a magazine that guides you through the top stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Register here.
To a national audience, the news that the North Carolina state senator had lost the Republican primary race by two votes—yes, two—seemed like one of those election stories that happens every year, just like when the mayor of Boca Raton, Florida, recently did. he won by five votes.
But in North Carolina, where I live, there was an earthquake. State Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger has been the most powerful man in the state for years, through both Republican and Democratic governors. Like former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, she is the kind of politician that opponents loathe but sadly recognize for their effectiveness. But Berger appears to be being pushed out by Sam Page, the sheriff of Rockingham County, which makes up most of the contested district. With provisional ballots counted, Page’s lead grew to 23 out of 26,000 votes cast. The initial machine calculations completed this week did not change the calculations, but Berger did he asked today for the hand details section.
Page won a series of losses: Berger and his partners used approximately 10 million dollars; The page raised less than $100,000. Berger was endorsed by Donald Trump with a long record of delivering conservative policies and domestic benefits. (In another sign of how widespread Berger’s influence is, a member of the National Electoral Board, which will oversee the recount, was forced to resign over questions about his close relationship with Berger.) Beyond the hard edge, the dynamics of Berger’s loss seem relevant to national politics in two ways: the strength of sentiment against the incumbent and the contested status of gambling in contemporary America.
Berger has led the state Senate since Republicans retook it in the 2010 election, and while he hasn’t always gotten his way—former Gov. Roy Cooper eventually won the fight to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, for example—he has over time reshaped North Carolina as a national laboratory for conservative policy. Berger has reduced taxes, he has put conservative figures on the state university systemrepealed progressive laws, stripping Democratic governors of power. Berger’s son and his name is right on highly divided state supreme courtwhich he has helped advance his father’s political agenda. While Berger’s former partners in the state House, Thom Tillis and Tim Moore, have moved on to the US Senate and the House respectively, he has stayed in Raleigh. After all, why would he want to step down?
Berger may dominate North Carolina politics, but this is not the same as being the most popular politician in the state. Berger has never won statewide office, and instead it depends on the map that the Republicans have ruthlessly arranged to put him on top of the senate. But he has also never sought much attention. I once ended an interview with Berger with a regular reporter question asking if he wanted to add anything. He politely refused. “I’ve had a practice from a long time ago that if you ask me a question, I’ll answer your question, but in general I don’t know that that helps me at all,” he told me.
His answer has stayed with me ever since as the epitome of his calm approach. When the GOP succeeded in passing a major bill, its skilled press office would ensure that the senators who sponsored it got attention, which undoubtedly helped build relationships within the chamber—and thus facilitate more success later. This approach meant that Berger achieved a long list of policy successes, but not necessarily much love with the general public.
Page, Berger’s opponent, has been the sheriff in Rockingham County (which is in central North Carolina, on the Virginia border) since 1998. With his trademark cowboy hats, he’s a big, imposing figure. The race was not entirely ideological. Page is also conservative and MAGA oriented, and he is not an activist for good governance. His time as sheriff has been exposed to scandalas Berger reminded voters in campaign ads. Even if the pre-election polls suggested a close race, I was skeptical. Voting in such small races is often unreliable. And moreI thought, Phil Berger will not fail.
The immediate cause of Berger’s failure appears to be a bad bet at the casino. Legalized gambling has swept the nation, as my colleague McKay Coppins writes our April cover storyand that includes North Carolina, where I’m covered in sportsbook ads. But signs of opposition have begun to emerge, both nationally and at the grassroots level. In 2023, Berger tried to pass the law set up four casinos, including one in Rockingham. The prospective operator was ready bought 187 acres in Rockingham and generously contributed to the campaigns of Berger and his associates. The effort failed amid opposition from social conservatives in the area — led by Sam Page, who insulted a various efforts to legalize gambling.
More broadly, Berger tapped into another national trend: anger against incumbents. The past few years have been tough times for incumbents, who continue to be beaten in general elections, but both parties have seen it too. inside rebellion against their existing leadership. Democrats forced Joe Biden out of the 2024 race; Mitch McConnell he finds himself a criminal of the GOP primary to replace him; Chuck Schumer he can hear footsteps behind him; even hard-line Mike Johnson has critics who see him as a buffoon.
Berger delivered a long list of right-wing victories over the years, but many voters either don’t remember, don’t like the results, or don’t care. “He’s been in power for so long, he’s been almost the symbol of the Republican political party,” Carter Wrenn, a veteran GOP operative, he told it Parliament. “And that’s not popular anymore.”
If Page claims the seat when the race is certified on March 25, he will be just another senator, and his lack of experience suggests he won’t be as effective at implementing conservative policy as Berger, but he will better reflect his constituents’ attitudes toward gambling and their feelings in general. Like their counterparts across the country, North Carolina voters—at least most of them—decided that was more important to them than policy success right now.
Related:
Here are four new stories from Atlantic:
Today’s news
- The White House gave new directions about AI and said it would work with Congress to turn them into federal laws that could override state laws. The proposal includes measures on data centers, staff training, property rights and child protection.
- Pentagon it is sending three warships and 2,200 to 2,500 additional Marines Middle East, according to US officials. The deployment comes just days after another major move by the Marines in the region and despite President Trump saying he has no plans to station US troops “anywhere” at this time.
- The Senate failed for the fifth time advance a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, extend a shutdown that has left thousands of federal workers without pay and caused disruptions at airports.
Dispatches
Explore all of our newsletters here.
Evening Read
Hypocrisy At The Heart Of The AI Industry
By Alex Reisner
In April 2024, Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and current AI evangelist, gave a keynote address to a group of Stanford students. If these young people hoped to become Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Schmidt explained, then they should be willing to cross some ethical boundaries.
At the time, 19 lawsuits had been filed against AI-producing companies for copyright infringement, alleging that Anthropic, OpenAI, and others had stolen books and other media to train their production models. Still Schmidt told the students to go ahead and download whatever they needed to create a proper “trial” version of their AI product. If the product takes off, “then you hire a whole bunch of lawyers to go clean up the mess,” he said. “If no one is using your product, then it doesn’t matter that you stole all the content.”
More From Atlantic
Breaking the Culture
Investigate. Sophie Gilbert explores what we have lost when we lost the rom-com.
Read on. A recently published book it is doubtful for the composer Stephen Sondheim’s insistence that his enduring music was not autobiographical, writes David Hajdu.
Rafaela Jinich contributed to this journal.
When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for your support Atlantic.
