Sean Rayford: Last News

Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, the state's Democratic candidate for Senate, received an endorsement from a major racial justice group that supports defunding and disbanding the police. The political action committee (PAC) for Color of Change, which former Obama White House adviser Van Jones co-founded in 2005, announced in August that it would support Beasley's bid for Senate in large part because of her platform of "reforming the criminal justice system." Color of Change regularly posts on social media in support of anti-police policies and the Black Lives Matter movement. "Police brutality shows us that more cops in Black neighborhoods doesn't keep us safe, it harms Black people," the group tweeted in 2020.

Past and present support for certain policies related to crime from left-wing Senate candidates could be a hindrance for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections as they seek to maintain control in Congress. At least four Democrats running for Senate positions around the country — John Fetterman, Rep.Tim Ryan, Mandela Barnes, Cheri Beasley, and Sen.

North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasley is a strong proponent of "ending the cash bail system," and during her time as a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court, insisted that there is "great value in that premise" of dismantling the criminal justice system and restructuring it. As outlined on Beasley's campaign website, the Tar Heel State Democrat supports "ending some mandatory minimums and ending the cash bail system particularly for nonviolent offenders." Beasley, who was appointed to the state's Supreme Court in 2012 and concluded her tenure in December 2020 as chief justice, delivered the State of the North Carolina Judiciary address in July 2019 and touched on the subject, noting that "many judicial districts are evaluating their bail policies." "Counties big and small, urban and rural, are changing the way they handle criminal cases pre-trial, and they are beginning to see positive results," Beasley said.