The Caucus: An Extraordinary Exoneration

---

Money Talks

Campaign finance reports show Senate leader Phil Berger with a dramatic fundraising advantage over primary challenger Sam Page. By the end of June, Berger had more than $1.8 million in available cash, while Page had little more than $21,000. 

Berger raised more than $1.7 million during the six-month fundraising period. Page took in a mere $17,115. (Read more about that primary race here.)

It’s not the only notable race with a money gap.

Democratic Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls has the financial edge in her 2026 reelection bid. On the Republican side, state Rep. Sarah Stevens of Surry County raised nearly $141,000. That’s less than a quarter of the more than $581,000 Earls brought in. Earls’ campaign entered July with $481,000 in available cash to Stevens’ $156,000. 

One reason for that gap: Stevens submitted her candidacy paperwork in early May, while Earls had six months to fundraise.

One donor who maxed out to Stevens proved notable: Lobbyist and former House Speaker Harold Brubaker. 

Bob Hall, former executive director of Democracy North Carolina, filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections last week arguing that the donation violates a state law barring lobbyists from donating to sitting lawmakers. (NC Newsline first reported on the donation and Hall’s complaint.) Stevens and Brubaker said the donation is legal since it was made to Stevens as a judicial candidate, not a state lawmaker.

On the Trail

Republican A.J. Daoud filed paperwork to run for Stevens’ seat. Daoud, a funeral director, unsuccessfully ran for state treasurer last year. 

Blake Boykin, a Republican and the chairman of the Wilson County Board of Education, is looking to oust Democratic Rep. Dante Pittman. Boykin entered the race last month.

With their outgoing supermajority last year, Republican lawmakers passed legislation allowing them to oust two Superior Court judges at the end of their terms and pick their replacements. Both judges had ruled against Republicans on contentious election issues.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins isn’t going quietly. Last month, he filed paperwork to run for state Supreme Court in 2028. Democrats hope to flip control of the bench ahead of the next round of redistricting.

— Bryan Anderson

---

Thanks for reading The Caucus, a politics newsletter anchored by Bryan Anderson. Reach us with tips or ideas at politics@theassemblync.com.

Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to get The Assembly’s twice-weekly politics newsletter.

---

An Extraordinary Exoneration

In a stunning turn of events, a judge exonerated four men convicted as teenagers in the 2002 murder of Nathaniel Jones, the grandfather of NBA star Chris Paul. 

Brothers Nathaniel Cauthen and Rayshawn Banner, along with three others—Christopher Bryant, Jermal Tolliver, and the late Dorrell Brayboy—had claimed for years that Winston-Salem police interrogated them for hours without lawyers or parents present and coerced them into giving false confessions. At the time, Banner was 14 and the rest were 15. They said detectives threatened them with the death penalty and told them they could go home if they would admit their involvement in Jones’ death. No definitive physical evidence ever tied them to the crime scene, and their statements were inconsistent with the evidence and with each other. 

Superior Court Judge Robert Broadie issued the ruling Friday. He vacated all the convictions and dismissed the charges with prejudice, meaning that the case cannot be retried. District Attorney Jim O’Neill blasted the decision. His office filed a motion to stay Broadie’s ruling, which was denied.

Jessicah Black was the key witness who sealed the teenagers’ fate. Black, then 16, had befriended them two to three months before Jones’ death, and they hung out nearly every day. Now in her 30s, Black has recanted her testimony, saying police coerced her into making false statements. She has been trying to rectify the lies she said she told that resulted in the convictions. 

Today, she still feels the weight of her guilt, but she also blames the detectives who questioned her. 

“It was crooked. Crooked and dirty. I think they knew they were dealing with a bunch of kids,” she said. 

Annie Sims, public information officer for the Winston-Salem police, said the department wouldn’t comment until litigation was over.

Cauthen and Banner are serving life sentences for first-degree murder. Bryant and Tolliver were released in 2017. Brayboy was released in 2018 but was murdered a year later. 

Christine Mumma, director of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, represented Cauthen and Banner in their recent appeals. On the day she found out about the decision, she said she could hardly breathe. It was just after 5 p.m. when she spoke with Banner, who is at Mountain View Correctional Institution. 

Banner couldn’t say a word, Mumma said. He just sobbed. 

We will have more later this week. 

— Michael Hewlett

---

Lights, Camera, Tax Action

Last month, the General Assembly’s Economic Development Caucus renewed its Film Industry Study Committee, first formed in 2023. 

The bipartisan committee will focus on whether the state should enhance its incentive program. Since 2020, the state has paid out at least $214 million in grants to film productions, with $41 million dolled out to 14 projects last year, according to state data.

The film incentive program has a $31 million annual budget and offers a 25 percent rebate to qualifying productions, capped at $7 million for feature-length films. More than a decade ago, it was far more generous, offering a maximum subsidy of $20 million per film.

In 2014, the Republican-led legislature allowed those incentives to sunset on the heels of a critical report from the state’s Fiscal Research Division, which concluded the program was essentially a waste. 

While some productions continued to roll, the decision devastated the local film industry. Georgia, with its uncapped incentives, hoovered up projects and local crews, turning Atlanta into a powerhouse for East Coast filming.

North Carolina lawmakers have gradually added more carrots but have yet to match incentives from film’s local heyday. 

“The GOP majority has been trying to fix what they broke,” said New Hanover County Rep. Deb Butler, a member of the Film Industry Study Committee. “So I fault them for breaking it, but applaud their efforts to rebuild.”

Even with less competitive incentives, North Carolina still nets big-name productions. In the post-Covid-19 streaming wars, the state attracted its highest-ever film spending in 2021, at $343 million (adjusting for inflation, that’s slightly less than the previous peak in 2012, the year Iron Man 3 filmed in Wilmington).

So far, Butler said the Film Industry Study Committee has only met once for an informational session. Future meetings will consider potential measures to make the state a more competitive filming destination, according to a release last month by House Democratic Leader Robert Reives.

Guy Gaster, director of the North Carolina Film Office, said most members of the committee are pro-film and looking to expand rather than cut back the current program.

But in a post-DOGE world, there could be some opposing views. The conservative John Locke Foundation recommends ending film incentives. In its latest policy solutions manual, the foundation said out-of-state Hollywood firms extort lawmakers to do their bidding. (Netflix’s Outer Banks notably filmed its first season in South Carolina after the fallout over the so-called bathroom bill.)

When studying similar programs elsewhere, researchers have found mixed results, often finding a negative return on investment. 

Gaster said these fiscal analyses don’t capture all the intangibles. Take, for instance, the free PR from half the cast of The Summer I Turned Pretty naming the Wilmington area as their favorite beach at their recent third season premiere, shared in a TikTok video with 2.3 million views last month.

“If you only look at the state ledger and look at what is collected via taxes versus what is paid out, you are leaving out a huge part of the story,” Gaster said.

So far this year, film productions have spent $184 million in North Carolina. The Runarounds, which filmed in Wilmington, premieres Sept. 1 on Prime Video, and The Summer I Turned Pretty, which also shot scenes in Chapel Hill, aired July 16. Charlotte-filmed The Hunting Wives is Netflix’s second-highest viewed show this week.

— Johanna F. Still

---

Around the State: Valerie Foushee rejects AIPAC money for her 2026 campaign (INDY). N.C.’s Democratic congressional delegation condemns EPA cancellation of Solar for All. (Inside Climate News/The Assembly). Could we see the future of passenger rail in North Carolina? (The Assembly)

---

Upcoming Birthdays: Reps. Marcia Morey, Joseph Pike, and Amos Quick and Sen. Ted Alexander on Thursday, Aug. 14; Sen. Ralph Hise on Friday, Aug. 15; Reps. Phil Rubin and Carson Smith on Sunday, Aug. 17.

Let us know what’s on your radar at politics@theassemblync.com.

---