major center-left special interest group endorses "conservative" Bob Brinson | Eastern North Carolina Now

One of the state's most powerful special interest groups, which has sometimes been called "the mother of all special interest groups", the center-left NC Chamber of Commerce has sent out a mailing endorsing Bob Brinson in the GOP primary for NC Senate.  The center-left Chamber assures us that Brinson is a "conservative" and they claim that Brinson, whose only public vote on taxes (on the New Bern city council) has been to RAISE them "can be trusted to cut our taxes."

In recent years, the Chamber has been associated with major liberal policy positions such as ending bathroom privacy by repealing NC's bathroom privacy law (thus legalizing biological men going into womens bathrooms and locker rooms), passing the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, and NC's Green New Deal, HB951.  On the Green New Deal, many businesses that use electricity testified at the Senate hearing against the bill due to its cost to them in higher electric rates, but major Chamber member, "woke" energy monopoly Duke Energy wanted the bill to boost its ESG credentials, so the Chamber pushed it to the detriment of many of its own members.  The Chamber is also historically very weak on illegal immigration issues.

The Chamber has moved steadily to the left over the years.  Half a century ago, it routinely supported Republicans over Democrats.  Then it moved to a position where it supported establishment Republicans over conservatives in primaries and establishment Republicans over Democrats in general elections.  The Chamber tilted even further left in 2020 by supporting a raft of Democrats against conservative Republicans in the general election for Congress, which led the US House Republican caucus to stop dealing with Chamber lobbyists on legislation.

When one compares Chamber positions with Brinson's stated positions, they do not match on many issues, just like the stated positions of Brinson do not match those of his major backers like liberal Senate boss Phil Berger and local liberal state senator Jim Perry.  All of that makes one wonder if Brinson is telling them something different from what he is telling voters.

The term "Chamber of Commerce Republican" has long been synonimous with "establishment Republican" or "Republican in Name Only (RINO)".  So now we have one of these critters running in our district.

https://www.beaufortcountynow.com/post/77523/who-are-the-outside-groups-behind-the-postcards-in-our-senate-race.html