Sixth Republican emerges in 2024 governor's race

A Salisbury lawyer promising to put at least $5 million of his own money into the campaign will get into the Republican race for governor, he announced Monday.

Bill Graham’s candidacy brings the Republican field up to six candidates with about six weeks to go before filing candidate filing opens in December.

Graham, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2008, said in a news release Wednesday that he’ll start a statewide television advertising campaign next week.

“Only four of the last thirty years have been led by a Republican governor in North Carolina; we keep losing to the liberals,” Graham said in his announcement. “If we want to change that, we need a nominee who will have the resources, discipline, and character needed to defeat the far-left Josh Stein in November. I am that candidate, and my campaign will prove it.”

Graham is a former prosecutor and now partner with Wallace & Graham, a firm perhaps best known for mesothelioma and asbestosis cases, and for suing the state’s hog industry over farming practices. The firm is also heavily involved in litigation over water contamination at Camp LeJeune.

Graham began his political career as a staffer for North Carolina U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and has served on the Helms Center's board. In 2008 he placed a distant third in a five-way race for the Republican nomination.

Graham announced his campaign with a minute-long video filmed outside his grandparents house, where he grew up. The video promises a push to repeal the local sales taxes on groceries, to enforce the death penalty on violent criminals and to give parents more power over their children’s education.

“And, unlike Raleigh politicians, I’ll show up for work every day,” Graham says in the video, an apparent reference to Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

Robinson, thought to be the Republican front runner in this race, has a poor attendance record in the state Senate, where the lieutenant governor presides but only votes in cases of a tie. A spokesman for his campaign didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Graham is the fifth announced candidate in this primary, following Robinson, state Treasurer Dale Folwell, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, former state Sen. Andy Wells and retired insurance executive Jesse Thomas.

Graham has been a significant donor to congressional Republicans over the years, and in particular for U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis' campaign. Jordan Shaw, who has worked with Tillis for years, is Graham's media consultant.

On the Democratic side, Attorney General Josh Stein and recently retired Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan are the only two announced candidates. In his minute-long announcement video, Graham took aim at Stein and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

“The Democrat politicians have been running Raleigh for too long,” he says in the spot. “And the liberals like Roy Cooper and Josh Stein, they’re ruining our state. But, Republicans, we keep losing to them. Let’s change that.”

Stein’s campaign didn’t immediately comment on the video.

The state's Libertarian Party also expects to field two candidates for governor: Mike Ross and Shannon Bray.

Correction: This article has been corrected. There are six Republicans announced in the 2024 race for governor, not five.