GREENSBORO, N.C. — The biggest race in the state of North Carolina is for Governor. On the Republican side, you have NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson. On the Democrat side, NC Attorney General Josh Stein.
With one week until the election, WFMY News 2 sits down with both of them. We asked similar topic questions, and we asked them what they thought of each other. You can watch the entire raw interviews on WFMY+ - available on Roku, Fire, and Apple TV. Here are a few excerpts:
WHY ARE YOU RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR?
Josh Stein: I love North Carolina. I grew up here, and I believe in the promise of North Carolina, that if you work hard, no matter where you come from, it should never limit how far you can go.
Mark Robinson: We're running because we realize that there are challenges that the state faces and a lot of those challenges go straight to the heart of the people of North Carolina and their experiences.
LET'S TALK MONEY AND THE STATE'S ECONOMY.
Mark Robinson: You go through Greensboro and Charlotte and High Point and Winston and Raleigh, you know, and you see great economic opportunity everywhere you turn, but you head east and you head west and all of a sudden you see what some people say is a lack of opportunity. What I see when I travel this state to the east and western parts of the states is not lack of opportunity. I see opportunities, not taking advantage of them. It's time for the state to stand up and start taking advantage of those opportunities.
Josh Stein: I certainly, certainly don't want to raise the sales tax. I've proposed a working family tax cut that is about cutting taxes for working families, middle-class families so they have more money in their pocket that we left out of poverty and stimulate local economy. Those dollars get circulated one-to-one back in the local community.
WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THE ABORTION ISSUE?
Josh Stein: I support the Rowe versus Wade framework which empowers women to make their own healthcare decisions early in the pregnancy and imposes some restrictions later in the pregnancy unless the woman's life or health is at risk. The Republican General Assembly curtailed that right with the ban last year and what's clear Mark Robinson wants a total ban.
Mark Robinson: Right now, our law is 12 weeks with exceptions for rape and incest, which I'm fully in favor of. And that's the law that we have to follow.
Tanya Rivera: So you wouldn't be pushing for that six weeks? I know you had wanted that at first.
Mark Robinson: No, I'm a person who when it comes to that, I let the legislature take the lead because the legislature speaks for the people and the people speak to their legislature.
STEIN ON THE 2ND AMENDMENT:
Stein: I support the second amendment. People have the constitutional right to bear arms, to own a gun, but we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous violent people. People who have criminal records and people who are abusing their spouses. We need to have comprehensive background checks to do that, and it frustrates me to know that this legislature refuses an actual law to get guns out of the hands of dangerous violent people. We need red flag laws so that family members can petition the court to temporarily remove the gun from somebody who poses a risk to themselves or to others. There are some basic safety measures we can take, they will not solve the problem, and we won't end gun deaths, but these measures are shown to reduce the number.
ROBINSON ON THE NEED FOR HIGHER WAGES FOR CHILDCARE WORKERS:
One of the biggest problems that those folks have right now is wages. They are struggling to compete with places like McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, and other fast food restaurants that are paying anywhere between $15 and $20 an hour and they're only able to afford to pay maybe $10 or $12 at the most. I believe as a legislature and as a Governor in this state, we need to put our heads together with those folks and others to figure out a way where we can help those small businesses be successful because let's make, make no mistake about it, if you have - great to have, the Toyotas (plant) and it's great to have the big companies, but when folks go to work there, they're gonna need daycare.
WHAT THE CANDIDATES SAY ABOUT ONE ANOTHER:
Josh Stein: We knew he was singularly unfit to be governor He said the most awful things about people. He says women are not qualified to lead and that they only have abortions because they can't keep their skirts down. He called public school teachers wicked, and gay people filth. This summer he yelled that some folks just need killing. It's not just what he says. It's what he would do.
Mark Robinson: I'm not shy about saying this. My opponent has been pretty nasty in the things he said about me. He has cut and pasted my words, cropped my words, cut out parts of speeches, and not played the entire quotes that I've made. The most infamous one, the one about the 'Keep Your Skirt Down', which is one that I take high exception to because, you know, it's, it's funny to me, it's never been reported that right after I said, keep your skirt down, I said, keep your pants up in the same, same breath almost.