North Carolina — Last week, seven members of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation joined over 100 fellow Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives in amplifying baseless conspiracies about voter fraud in order to vote to overturn the presidential election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania, blatantly defying the will of the tens of millions of Americans who cast their ballots for President-elect Joe Biden. By challenging the results of the 2020 election without any evidence and elevating dangerous conspiracy theories, these members played a clear role in inciting the violent 1/6/21 attack on the U.S. Capitol led by armed pro-Trump white supremacists.

In response, NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Executive Director Tara Romano released the following statement:

“There was no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election and pushing that conspiracy theory, as these North Carolina lawmakers have done, helped lay the groundwork for the violent attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The only goal in refusing to certify the Electoral College was to overturn the election results and disenfranchise the voters, particularly voters of color. By continuing to perpetuate this lie, these seven lawmakers are stoking violence and undermining our democracy.

There is no place in Congress for politicians who refuse to accept free and fair election results. The violent attack we saw at the U.S. Capitol, on the same day a multi-racial, multi-generational grassroots movement sent Georgia's first Black Senator and first Jewish Senator to Congress, is sadly a continuation of our country's long history of white supremacist oppression and violence. North Carolina lawmakers should know this history and should be committed to ensuring it never happens again. Sadly, these seven elected officials have chosen to ignore that history. We call for their immediate removal from office, either via their resignation or, if necessary, expulsion from Congress.” 

The 1/6/21 attack on the U.S. Capitol was eerily reminiscent of North Carolina’s Wilmington insurrection of 1898, the only successful coup to happen in the United States of America. During the 1898 Wilmington coup, a white supremacist mob violently removed newly- and legitimately-elected leaders, and murdered Black residents, who were part of the multi-racial Fusion political movement. All North Carolinians, especially our elected leaders, should be aware of this shameful era in our state's history and be committed to ensuring white supremacist political violence like that never happens again. We are deeply disappointed in the NC House delegation members who chose to stoke the fires of insurrection rather than lead for the good of all North Carolinians.

As an abortion-rights organization, we are unfortunately all too familiar with the kind of violence and threats seen around the country since the November 2020 election. The tactics used to attack the U.S. Capitol on 1/6/21 are actions we've seen from anti-abortion protestors attacking abortion clinics, providers, and patients. We call for an end to this kind of violent and inciting rhetoric, and demand our elected leaders, no matter their personal political beliefs, prioritize protecting our democracy over their own political aspirations.

The seven members of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation who voted to overturn the election results include: Reps. Gregory Murphy (CD-03), Virginia Foxx (CD-05), David Rouzer (CD-07), Richard Hudson (CD-08), Dan Bishop (CD-09), Madison Cawthorn (CD-11), and Ted Budd (CD-13).