Local Democratic Party denies endorsing candidates in nonpartisan races

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County Democratic Party Chair Crystal Morrison defended promoting local candidates — who are registered Democrats — on the party’s Facebook page despite the elections for this fall being nonpartisan, saying that their posts do not constitute an endorsement and that they were not intended to exclude other registered Democrats who are also running for office.

The local Democratic Party’s Facebook account shared a post by Rockingham mayoral candidate Michael McRae, a registered Democrat, asking for donations on July 20. The shared post also included a recording of a Facebook Live video McRae took in which he urges viewers to vote for him. The caption, written by the party’s Facebook account, reads, “MikeMcRae4Mayor! Lookout Rockingham!”

On July 28, the party shared a post by McRae, with the added caption “MikeMcRaeforMayor,” that included two videos by McRae in which he encouraged his supporters to never give up, promoted his campaign, and included a link for users to donate to his campaign.

On Aug. 17, the party posted a bio of Ellerbe mayoral candidate Brenda Capel, a registered Democrat, along with a flyer for a meet and greet with Capel. The party’s caption reads, “Ellerbe, NC Citizens…..Meet and Greet your Mayoral Candidate….Brenda Capel!!!!! See details below!”

In each of these races, the incumbent mayors — Steve Morris in Rockingham and Fred Cloninger in Ellerbe — are also registered Democrats. Rockingham Mayor Pro Tem John Hutchinson, who is challenging Morris for the Rockingham mayoral seat, is registered as unaffiliated with any political party. Though the candidates for each race this fall may have their own political affiliations, none of them are running as a representative of any party, nor do they serve their respective municipalities as a representative of a political party.

Morrison said that the local party does not endorse candidates in a nonpartisan election, and contended that these posts do not constitute “endorsements.” She said that she shared the posts promoting McRae and Capel at the request of the candidates and added that she would do the same for the other candidates in the race, if they asked.

“[A]t the request of the candidates … they can inquire of the party to use [the party’s Facebook page] as a means to advertise,” Morrison said in an email. “Note that the Democratic Party Facebook page is not private and is public where anyone on Facebook from any state, city, county, country etc. can look up and view. Per [McRae’s and Capel’s] request, I did share their information on the party’s Facebook page.”

Referring to Cloninger, Morrison said that he has not provided contact information to the county Democratic Party nor reached out to her since she took her position as chair in 2017.

“If the candidate would like direct support from the party and any assistance with campaigning, we are here to provide and assist with those resources available to the candidate at their request,” Morrison said.

Morrison did not respond by press time Tuesday evening when asked via email to explain how posting “MikeMcRae4Mayor” and sharing posts with a link to McRae’s donation page did not constitute an endorsement.

The state does not have any regulations regarding a local party’s ability to promote candidates in a nonpartisan race, nor does the state Democratic Party. Elections Director Connie Kelly also said she was not aware of any state law barring a local party from promoting candidates in a nonpartisan election. Kate Frauenfelder, communications director for the North Carolina Democratic Party, said in an email that “county parties are free to share information to voters about registered Democrats running for non-partisan, municipal offices” under the state party’s rules.

“The posts are not an endorsement,” Frauenfelder said, referring to a general description of the posts in question.

Frauenfelder did not respond to a question regarding the specific captions the local party included along with the shared posts by press time Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, the Richmond County Republican Party’s Facebook page, which is also public, typically focuses only on state and national politics. Since this summer, most of its posts have been memes mocking state national Democratic politicians in the context of the day’s news cycle, or articles critical of Democratic policies. The closest a post came to direct Richmond County relevance was a post of Rep. Ben Moss accepting an award from the Police Benevolent Association.

In Richmond County, there are much fewer registered Republicans running for and holding municipal council seats than there are Democrats.