After celebrating his victory Tuesday night, North Carolina lieutenant governor Republican nominee Hal Weatherman said he would hit the road once again on Wednesday, ready to take on his general election opponent, Democrat state Sen. Rachel Hunt.
For the past 16 months, Weatherman traveled to all 100 counties of the state, some multiple times.
During his speech he spoke about taking the stigma away from the vocational trades and pushing for a two-and-two new form of a degree in a new partnership between the community college system and four-year universities. Weatherman also said that he has a “very dark foreboding feeling about the direction of our country right now.” He spoke of train derailments like those that happened in East Palestine, Ohio, which he said had strategic materials that, in effect, weaponized the train when it went off the track, as well as the rolling blackouts in North Carolina in December 2022.
“We were told by the officials expect that to happen again,” he told the crowd in Wake Forest. “We’ve seen electrical substations in the center part of our state attacked, and this is interesting, they’re attacking the parts that we don’t have replacement parts for. Let that sink in.”
He also mentioned the chaos at the southern border, with it being overrun by illegal immigrants, some of whom have been on the terror watchlist.
“We are naïve as a people if we don’t think the next governor and lieutenant governor of this state are going to have to deal with what is being called homegrown Jihadi-based terrorism on our own soil,” Weatherman forewarned. “It’s not homegrown at all. It was allowed to walk across our southern border, and we need to prepare as a state.”
Weatherman went on to say that he sees China buying our country’s farmland and that if China controls our food, “China controls us.” He also mentioned the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the state’s military installations and nuclear power plants.
“We as a people had to sit by impotently and do nothing,” Weatherman said. “That is when you know your state is not prepared for the world that we live in today.”
Questions from reporters afterward pivoted toward abortion. Hunt was reportedly scheduled to have a press conference announcing legislation that she introduced Wednesday to amend North Carolina’s Constitution to protect abortion. When asked for his reaction, Weatherman said he thinks that is all she will talk about during the campaign.
“When I talk about the economy, she’s going to talk about abortion,” he said. “When I talk about our civil liberties, she’s going to talk about abortion. When I talk about the high crime, she’s going to talk about abortion. When I talk about how our North Carolina citizens are gonna have to deal with the terrorism that’s going to come into our state because of the failed southern border of the Biden Administration. she’s going to talk about abortion.”
When asked for his own views on abortion, Weatherman, who has said in the past that he supports a “Heartbeat Bill,” which would typically mean a six-week ban, said there would be plenty of time to talk about the subject later.
“I’ve been on the road for 16 straight months and those are not the issues that the people are worried about,” he stated. “Not at all. They’re worried about how they’re going to pay for groceries, how they’re going to afford gasoline, and about the crime rate that’s soaring all over the state. They’re worried about fentanyl coming into their community because our southern border has been completely left negligent. They’re worried about all of these things and so much more.”