Big Ag PAC pushing Armstrong tied to group that tried to put NC shrimpers out of business

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Big Ag PAC pushing Armstrong tied to group that tried to put NC shrimpers out of business

Published: Sunday, February 22nd, 2026 @ 10:53 am
By: John Steed ( More Entries )

Last year, many in eastern North Carolina were shocked by a move orchestrated by RINO state senate boss Phil Berger on behalf of some radical environmentalist organizations to shut down the eastern NC shrimping industry. It became known as Shrimpgate. One of the key legislators in STOPPING it was Rep. Keith Kidwell.

Fast forward to our legislative primary today. We have a Big Ag PAC affiliated with the NC Ag Partnership dumping gobs of money into our district to try to buy our legislative seat for their man Darren Armstrong. What do the two have in common??

It turns out that a key group pushing the ban on our shrimping industry, NC Marine and Estuaries Foundation and the NC Ag Partnership OPERATE OUT OF THE SAME RALEIGH OFFICE. It's address is 3700 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 310, Raleigh, NC. There also appears to be shared leadership between the two groups.

The PAC sending out the mailings is called the NC Ag Action PAC, but last year every single dollar it received came from the NC Ag Partnership, according to state elections board records. There were no other contributors. The NC Ag Partnership is a dark money group that does not have to reveal where it's money comes from.

Why would Big Ag want to throw shrimpers under the bus? That is simple. Runoff of agricultural chemicals harms water quality in our sounds. Big Ag would much rather make the shrimpers the scapegoats and put them out of business. All of this involves very, very dirty politics.

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Comments

Conservative Voter said:

( February 24th, 2026 @ 2:29 pm )

Shrimpgate and its connection to our House race (and Congressional race) is a major issue. Lets not go off on tangents. Keg at least started with the topic of the original post but finished by going off on a tangent. Then Rader answered his tangent that had nothing to do with the original topic. Bath parent took it further off topic, and Rino Hunter answered him/her.

Lets get back to Shrimpgate. It was an attack on eastern North Carolina, and those involved in it are now trying to take over our State House seat. We need to resist them.

Rino Hunter said:

( February 24th, 2026 @ 1:57 pm )

"Bath parent" sure seems to be pushing those warmed over longtime Democrats now trying to pass themselves off as "Republicans", Darren Armstrong and Monica Davis. Davis moved to Washington over 30 years ago and has been a Democrat actively voting in Democrat primaries until recently. The first time she voted in a Republican primary was in 2024. Darren Armstrong was a longtime Democrat in Hyde County, and a major financial contributor in several campaigns to liberal Democrat state senator Marc Basnight.

As I recall someone here had previously identified "Bath parent" as being actually a teacher at Eastern Elementary school. One of the candidates she is pushing also happens to have once taught there.

As to writing, what I would like to see is candidates being up front with the voters in answering candidate questionares from groups asking them where they stand on issues. Sneaky candidates do not answer those, and try to keep voters in the dark. Take the iVoter Guide. Darren Armstrong and Monica Davis played hooky on that one and refused to level with the voters on their positions on issues. Keith Kidwell and Steven Rader were upfront with voters and spelled out where they stood.

I also wonder if "Bath parent" might be smoking something other than a tobacco product when she claims Rader does not support Kidwell. I sometimes drive by Rader's house down in the historic district when I go to the waterfront and there has been a Kidwell sign in front of it for months. It was still there a few days ago and I presume it still is.

Fake "Republicans" are NOT what we need in public office. What we do need is candidates who tell us what their positions on issues are, not try to hide them as Armstrong and Davis have done.

Concerned Taxpayer said:

( February 24th, 2026 @ 10:40 am )

That plot to kill our shrimping industry was appalling. That video really tells the story. Sen. Bobby Hanig and Representative Keith Kidwell deserve our thanks for standing up to the insiders and defeating them. Those same people who tried to kill our shrimping industry are now hard at work pushing their special interest guy Darren Armstrong. We do not need to turn over our legislative seat to the special interests.

Bath Parent said:

( February 24th, 2026 @ 8:06 am )

Wow the guy Steve Rader commented on the same article he wrote. Funny how Keith is supporting Rader and the PAC is not supporting Keith. Wow I can see problems coming. So Rader will not admit to writing this article but would like to be an elected public official. Folks do your homework!!!! Keith and rader are not good for eastern NC VOTE THEM OUT!!

Steven P. Rader said:

( February 23rd, 2026 @ 3:57 pm )

You know, Keg, I kinda like having all of Beaufort County back in the First Congressional District. All of our county used to be part of the First District for many decades up until 1992. Then we were split with part of Beaufort County being in the First and part in the Third until 2011. It is only in the last 15 years that our county has been all in the Third District. Having myself served as chairman of the First District Republican Party from 1985 to 1992 when all of our county waw in that district, I am pleased to be back in it with our new district lines.

Keg said:

( February 23rd, 2026 @ 11:53 am )

Glad both Rep. Kidwell and Sen.Hanig stood up to politics when it came to shrimping. However, very disappointed that they both went along with politics when the District One Congressional district was redrawn. They certainly didn’t stand up for my interests and in that case just went along with what their party told them to do.

Bubba said:

( February 23rd, 2026 @ 8:28 am )

NC seems to have its own Deep State of special interest groups that are connected to each other. How can a group like this put so many thousands of dollars of dark money, that nobody knows where it really came from, into our district to try to buy this seat for Armstrong?

Kidwell has stood up against this Deep State. Armstrong is the candidate of the Deep State.

Bill said:

( February 23rd, 2026 @ 7:27 am )

The Marine and Estuary “Foundation” is a lobbying group started by Chuck Fuller, longtime Raleigh proponent of banning shrimping. The “foundation” pays lobbyists out of another shell org call NC Sound Economy, and BOTH receive funds from the CCA! The CCA said the bill was “not their idea” but in reality they were the ones funding these shell “foundations” to kill sprinkling and defeat Keith Kidwell and fund opposition to Destin Hall’s NC House Caucus that voted to stop the ban. It’s clear that this is an effort to flip the NC House blue, kill Keith Kidwell and Destin Hall’s agenda that PROTECTS OUR FISHERIES. We need someone to take a hard look at this Raleigh based group that creates shell orgs to destroy coastal communities

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