NC Senate leader Phil Berger won’t face Republican primary challenge from sheriff

There was talk that North Carolina Republican Senate leader Phil Berger might face an internal party challenge in the 2024 primary elections.

The potential challenger was Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, who has served as the sheriff since 1998 and pitted himself against Berger in one of this year’s largest political battles, regarding the legalization of casinos in the state.

But Page on Thursday opted not to file for Berger’s Senate seat, which includes Rockingham and Guilford counties, and instead kept in line with his original plan to run for lieutenant governor, an office which serves mostly as a bully pulpit. That announcement came a day after a meeting between Page and Berger, and after talk of a campaign finance complaint being filed with the state’s board of election.

According to a news release shared by his campaign manager, Charles Hellwig, Page filed on Thursday to run for lieutenant governor.

“I have dedicated my entire adult life to public service, and, as your next Lieutenant Governor, I promise to continue protecting and serving the people of North Carolina,” Page said in the news release.

“There’s been lots of speculation and interest in my decision, but in the end I believe I am doing what I’ve said I’d do all along – putting the needs of the citizens first and running to put a spotlight on Public Safety, Fighting Crime, Border Security, and Education Reform – all things I can tackle as the next Lieutenant Governor and use that bully pulpit to focus attention where it is most needed – to protect the people,” he said.

The lieutenant governor is Senate president and can preside over the chamber, voting only to break a tie. Lieutenant governors also serve on several boards, including the State Board of Education.

Potential run

Hints of a potential Senate run by Page began after a poll in late November suggested that he could defeat Berger.

This poll, requested by a group known as the North Carolina Conservative Project, asked 300 Republicans to choose between Page and Berger. Page came out 30 points ahead, as previously reported by The News & Observer.

The pollster working for the organization wouldn’t tell The N&O the names of individuals involved, but said they were looking for someone to take on Berger and that they’re fans of Page.

Asked about the poll in late November, Page told The N&O that it had given him a lot to think about and discuss with family. He also said he and his team had not conducted their own poll.

And while this poll showed Page leading, defeating Berger would likely not have been an easy feat. Berger was first elected to the state Senate in 2000 and has been serving as the Senate’s leader since after the 2010 elections when Republicans won a Senate majority for the first time in decades.

Berger, in addition to leading the Senate’s political agenda, also uses his power to pull in earmarks for his district, including in this year’s budget for water and sewer infrastructure.

Both Berger and Page are well known in Rockingham, with Berger’s son having served two terms as the county’s district attorney before becoming a state Supreme Court justice. His younger son, Kevin Berger, is a Rockingham County commissioner.

Page, apart from decades as sheriff, also served from 2010 to 2011 as president of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association. He is a 1975 graduate of Reidsville High School in Rockingham County. After graduating, he served in the U.S. Air Force from 1975 to 1980 as a Security Police K-9 handler.

Page led the Sheriffs for Trump group in 2016 and served as Trump’s North Carolina chairman in 2020, according to the news release.

Berger and Page have a tumultuous relationship dating back to at least 2005, when Page didn’t endorse Phil Berger Jr. for district attorney, The N&O reported.

Campaign finance complaint and meeting

Asked about the poll, Berger told reporters in late November that he thought it was generally “unwise to put any credence in an anonymous poll, and I certainly have not received a reception in my district that leads me to believe that that poll is in any way accurate.”

The North Carolina Conservative Project, the organization that requested the poll, has not filed disclosures with the state’s board of elections, and it’s unclear what requirements it may be beholden to.

Dylan Watts, a spokesperson for Berger, told The N&O in an interview Thursday that the Berger campaign was “working through” details to file a potential State Board of Elections complaint in regards to the undisclosed organization.

The complaint “isn’t really about the individual or Sheriff Page or anything,” he said. “It’s about a group that spent money and had expenditures and isn’t actually a formally created organization. So we’re working through it.”

Watts also said that Berger and Page met on Wednesday in Raleigh and had “a good conversation.”

“No deals were proposed. No deals were accepted. But they’ve spoken and today he filed for L.G.,” he said.

The meeting was “kind of coordinated by someone from Rockingham County, and they just wanted to do what’s best for Rockingham County, and that’s kind of why it got brought together,” Watts said.

Other candidates running for lieutenant governor include state Sen. Rachel Hunt and former state Sen. Ben Clark of Raeford, both Democrats, and several Republicans, including Rep. Jeffrey Elmore and former state Sen. Deanna Ballard.

So far, Berger is not facing any candidate in the race for district 26.