The Dive: A Heated Political Moment

New Hanover County Democratic Chair Jill Hopman had already had a packed day when she arrived home to find her car window and door had been smashed. 

Six Democratic campaign signs line her front lawn, others adorn her front porch. Her house is the only property on her street with campaign signs, she said, and she believes the vandalization was likely politically motivated.

A police officer told her the object used to hit her car was likely a golf club. A Wilmington Police Department spokesperson said it hasn’t yet confirmed a motive.

Hopman says she’s not sure if the vandal specifically targeted her house knowing her political position or whether it was just the yard displays. “I signed up for this,” she said. “I understand it.”

But she’s been reluctant to talk more—worried, she said, that it could discourage Democrats from campaigning in a vital, tense election year.

“It’s hard enough to get people involved in politics,” she said. “I don’t want anybody to be afraid of bumper stickers or yard signs.”

The vandalization happened several days before the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The shooting grazed Trump’s ear, left one spectator dead and two others critically injured, and invigorated national debates over political violence.

A Heated Political Moment

Vandals have allegedly damaged Democrats’ property at least twice this month along the N.C. coast, before and after the recent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.

For Hopman, the property damage at her home was another sign of just how toxic partisanship has become, even at the local level. “It was a, ‘Wow, things are this bad’ kind of moment,” she said.

Farther up the North Carolina coast last weekend, another openly Democratic property was vandalized.

– Johanna F. Still

Read this newsletter online or contact The Dive team with tips and feedback at wilmington@theassemblync.com.

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Over the publishing break, WUNC highlighted our recent article on the Shibumi sunshade phenomenon in a segment on Due South, its daily radio show. National magazine Slate also republished the piece. 

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Meeting Halfway

Ten years ago, it was common to hear local politicians around the Cape Fear region say 99 percent of what they did was nonpartisan—boring, even—and all in the service of the general public good. 

Today … not so much.

Because of that, Wednesday’s press conference celebrating a $242 million federal grant to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge felt like a nostalgic throwback. Spirits were high, undampened by the rain, and local, state, and federal officials huddled under an ad hoc tented area to praise each others’ bipartisan efforts, while a massive U.S. flag flew overhead, and the bridge itself rumbled in the background. (Even if the rain and the tents sort of ruined it, you can see the photo-op vision.)

The celebration comes with two caveats, though. 

First, the quarter-billion-dollar grant, first announced late last week, only covers half the estimated cost of a new bridge. The presser would have been the perfect opportunity to sweeten the deal by announcing the state could fully fund the other half—without the potential toll that’s haunted the bridge replacement conversation for the last several years. But while officials projected confidence and optimism they couldn’t quite commit to a toll-free solution. For now, there’s still “a lot of work to do,” as everyone from Gov. Roy Cooper to local transportation officials effectively put it.

Second, the presser wasn’t pure kumbaya. There were still the requisite pecking orders and cliques, mumbled asides, and jockeying for credit. And more generally, it’d be quite wrong to say the infrastructure bill signaled a new era of good feelings. Take Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who had to walk a fine line to take credit for bipartisan efforts without getting hunted down as a RINO by the right-flank of his party. 

But still, they got the damn thing done. Or half done. But they got something done. And I would love it if this more civilized level of partisan maneuvering—sometimes obnoxious, sometimes comical—was our baseline.

–Benjamin Schachtman

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Around the Region

Pickleball Etiquette: A debate over how long pickleball players can occupy an in-demand court reached the Topsail Beach Board of Commissioners, according to Port City Daily.  

Foust Ousted: The New Hanover County Board of Education is searching for a new superintendent after it fired Charles Foust earlier this month, according to WHQR. The board is also calculating Foust’s buyout fee.

Young Guns: Law enforcement leaders are raising concerns about the increase in juvenile firearm possession, the StarNews reports.

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Around the State

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