North Carolina
North Carolina’s Berger optimistic about budget, blames Democrats for primary loss
A top North Carolina lawmaker who suffered a stunning upset in his primary election last month spoke publicly about the result Tuesday, blaming the loss on political opponents across the aisle.
North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger — who has led the chamber since 2011 — lost the Republican primary for his seat to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by 23 votes, one of the closest elections in state history. Berger conceded defeat in a March 24 statement after a machine recount and partial hand recount yielded no change in Page’s lead.
Berger discussed the experience with reporters Tuesday after lawmakers convened for a short legislative session in Raleigh. Asked what message voters sent him in the primary, Berger said: “Democrats like to vote in some Republican primaries. That’s the message.”
Berger didn’t elaborate on his explanation. Registered Democrats are only allowed to take Democratic ballots in primary elections. But unaffiliated voters are allowed to participate in a party primary of their choice. Berger didn’t suggest changes to that law, but he mentioned possible examination of other election laws.
He said lawmakers should reconsider the number of days North Carolina allows for early voting in primaries. In-person early voting started on Feb. 12 and ended Feb. 28.
“Seventeen days of early voting just seemed pretty excessive and it really stresses the local boards of elections,” Berger said. Some county election boards struggle to find daily staffing for all of their voting sites in the early voting period, he said.
Minority Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, called Berger’s comments “an insult to his district and an affront to our democracy.”
“The voters sent him a clear message,” Batch said. “It’s time he accept it and get back to work to finish the job he still has, while he still has it. Pass a budget.”
State lawmakers haven’t adopted a comprehensive state budget since 2023. They were expected to do so last year, but Berger and Republican House Speaker Destin Hall have been at odds over a range of issues, including tax policy, Medicaid funding, and other line items affecting billions of dollars in state funding.
Berger said Tuesday that he and Hall were on the verge of a spending agreement for Medicaid, the government-funded health insurer for people who are young, impoverished or disabled. Republican legislators plan to approve Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s $319 Medicaid request, while adding guardrails and oversight measures to prevent fraud and waste.
To strike the deal, Berger said Tuesday that he had agreed to postpone discussions about funding for a massive new children’s hospital. The 2023 budget authorized about $320 million over three fiscal years for North Carolina Children’s Health — a partnership between UNC Health and Duke Health — to open in Apex in 2032. About $216 million has already been spent. Hall has said his caucus wants to reconsider the final installment of funds, about $103 million, while Berger has called on House leaders to release the money.
“We’ve agreed to move the discussion of whether or not the House is going to honor the agreement they made in 2023 to the full budget discussion,” Berger said Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, Hall told reporters that progress had been made on negotiating children’s hospital funding.
“It’s not resolved yet,” Hall said. “I think there’s some questions about how much more money it’s going to need exactly in order to be a viable project. And so, you know, those discussions continue.”
Those budget negotiations are ongoing, but Berger said recent conversations have given him reason to be optimistic. “We’re having conversations,” he said. “They are substantive. They haven’t gotten us to an agreement yet, but we are continuing to talk, continuing to exchange ideas,” Berger said.
Hall described budget talks similarly: “The trajectory is good [enough] to where we’re very likely to get a budget done, hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Berger said that, in the final months of his term, he wants to focus on policies that make North Carolina a top destination for businesses.
“I’d like to continue the progress that we’ve made over the years in making North Carolina number one state for business and making North Carolina a competitive state in terms of our tax climate and our regulatory climate,” Berger said, adding that he wants to boost education funding as well.
Addressing property taxes
House and Senate Republicans are also offering separate proposals for limiting property taxes in North Carolina.
House Republicans are pursuing a constitutional amendment that would give the state more control over how much cities and counties can raise property taxes. On Tuesday, Berger said he doesn’t think there’s a consensus on the proposed amendment and noted that it would take several months to enact into law. Voters must approve constitutional amendments at the polls in order for them to become law.
“It’s a start that we can look at,” Berger said of the proposed constitutional amendment. “But that, by itself, would not actually go into effect until after the voters approve it, if they approve it, and then the legislature actually passes some sort of legislation.”
Berger said he plans to introduce a bill that freezes municipal property tax revaluations for 12 months while legislators study the issue further.
“We’ve got to do something,” Berger said. “I just don’t know that there’s consensus as to what that something is.
“The best thing that we can do at this point is just call a timeout and give the legislature an opportunity to try to review whatever proposals might be out there.”
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — After nearly two hours of public comment, the Asheville City Council unanimously denied a proposed affordable housing complex off Caribou Road—despite the city’s ongoing housing crisis.
The proposal, submitted by developer Pennrose, would have brought 100 affordable housing units to a nearly 10-acre site in the Shiloh neighborhood.
“I’m going to vote against affordable housing tonight, and that’s not a norm for me,” said Asheville City Councilmember Sage Turner.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS MOVE FORWARD ACROSS WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
News 13 asked Vice Mayor Antanette Mosely why the city would deny this project amid a housing crisis in Asheville.
She said, in a statement, “I absolutely believe Asheville needs more affordable housing, and I have consistently supported housing projects across the city. But not every site is appropriate for every project.”
Residents who opposed the project said they were not against affordable housing itself, but believed the development was too large for the area.
MAY 13, 2026 – The Asheville City Council unanimously denied a proposed affordable housing complex off Caribou Road—despite the city’s ongoing housing crisis. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)
“The access is too narrow, there was only one access point, the streets are too narrow, we’ve got a big problem with traffic here,” said Shiloh resident Scott Raines.
“Perhaps the only thing that I consider as a dead stop for affordable housing is if people are going to be injured or possibly die from the traffic that’s created,” Michael Boses, another resident, said.
ASHEVILLE PROPOSES PROPERTY TAX RATE INCREASE TO CLOSE $8.9M BUDGET GAP
The Shiloh neighborhood, established in 1870, is one of Asheville’s last historically Black communities. Several council members said preserving the area’s legacy factored into their decision.
“My vote for no is because I feel hyper protective of our legacy neighborhoods, I feel hyper protective of Shiloh,” Turner said.
Pennrose responded to the denial in a statement, saying: “While we are disappointed in the Council’s decision concerning the rezoning application at Caribou Road, we respect the community’s interest in preserving the character of legacy neighborhoods.”
Mullin visits Chimney Rock, talks immigration, recovery
Markwayne Mullin visits Chimney Rock, discusses recovery and says he does not believe sanctuary cities are legal.
ASHEVILLE – The city will consider shifting $19.2 million of its Tropical Storm Helene recovery funding to repair single-family housing after its initial plan would only repair about eight homes.
Across Western North Carolina, contracts for the repair, reconstruction or rehabilitation of single-family homes damaged by Helene have come in at an average cost of $276,285, according to slides presented to the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery on April 20. The repair program, managed through RenewNC, is funded by a $1.4 billion Community Development Block Grant delivered to North Carolina from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In 2024, the North Carolina Office of Budget and Management estimated that over 70,000 homes were damaged by the storm, which caused an estimated $60 billion in damages and killed over 100 in the state.
After the city received its own $225 million grant from HUD, City Council unanimously voted to only allocated $31 million to housing for both multi-family projects and single-family home repairs. Of that $31 million pot, it only allocated $3 million to the single-family home repair program. During a May 5 Housing and Community Development Committee meeting, the city projected costs for just single-family home repairs at $30 million to $40 million.
In late 2025 and early 2026, city staff had suggested moving millions into the single-family home program to meet rising demand, the Citizen Times reported. During an April 1 Helene Housing Recovery Meeting, Director of Renew NC’s Single-Family Housing Program Maggie Battaglin estimated the $3 million in funding would only cover around eight homes.
Under the city’s agreement with the state, Asheville is not able to access the additional $807 million allocated to the single-family home repair program, meaning remaining applicants in Asheville would not be served. The agreement was first reported by Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Staff are now suggesting reallocating $19.2 million from other areas of its CDBG plan to fund the single-family repair program. The reallocation, which would require an amendment to the city’s plan, would pull $9.2 million from its multi-family housing program and $10 million from its CDBG-DR Infrastructure Program, where the city would pull from the funds from a project at the North Fork Water Treatment Plant. The reallocation would set aside $22.2 million for the program and will serve 55-65 households, according to state estimates presented by city of Asheville staff.
As of May 5, 285 applications for the program were filed in Asheville with 132 being considered “active” and eight being “under review.” Of the city’s applicants, 124 households have been deemed eligible for the RenewNC program.
The reallocation would set aside $22.2 million for the program and serve roughly 55-65 households, the city’s CDBG-DR Program Manager Elma King said during City Council’s May 7 Agenda Briefing. It’s still not enough to serve everyone, though, King said.
“Additional CDBG-DR programs, outside of infrastructure, may need to be re-evaluated to support single-family home repair,” King said.
As Western North Carolina continues to recover from Helene, lawmakers and regional leaders have pushed for more funding from the federal government. Despite high damages, Congress and FEMA have only distributed roughly $7 billion to the state, according to estimates from the Governor’s Office for Western North Carolina Recovery. Gov. Josh Stein has requested an additional $13.5 billion in federal aid, which would go through HUD’s CDBG-DR program.
Estimated damages in Asheville from Helene are far above the $225 million provided by the federal government, City Council member Kim Roney noted during the May 7 meeting.
“I keep coming back to the point that we don’t have enough funding, because $225 million sounds like a lot but it’s not $1.1 billion,” Roney said.
City Council will vote on the $19.2 million reallocation on June 23.
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com or message will_hofmann.01 on Signal.
A Cullowhee man was sentenced to three years of probation for threatening to kill Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, in a phone call.
Wyatt Austin Salus, 26, who is listed as an unaffiliated voter according to the N.C. Board of Elections, pleaded guilty Sept. 26, 2025 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in Asheville to making interstate threats, a felony.
Salus did not respond to a May 12 request for comment by the Citizen Times.
In the phone call made March 17, 2025, Salus called Tillis on his publicly listed Washington D.S. telephone number and left a message saying, “The only place you should feel safe in public if you see me is at a town hall. That’s the only place I want to see you in public. If I see you in public outside of that, buddy, you better start (expletive) running.”
Salus also accused Tillis of selling himself to corporate donors and called him a fascist.
“If I see you on the street, I’m going to run you the (expletive) over with my (expletive) car. You should not feel safe in North Carolina. Don’t you (expletive) show your face in the West. I will kill you if I see you,” Salus added.
Tillis is a second-term U.S. senator representing North Carolina who announced this year that he would not be seeking reelection. He recently came under fire from fellow Republicans for his stances opposing President Donald Trump’s policies, and in March 2025, his office published other death threats that he had received. Tillis also made headlines after he scrutinized former U.S. secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in March 2026.
Kara Fohner is the Citizen Times public safety and breaking news reporter. Reach her at kfohner@usatodayco.com.
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