Under the Dome podcast: Sens. Sawyer, Murdock on police, UNC protests and transit

Start your week in North Carolina politics with our latest Under the Dome podcast, for the week of May 6, 2024. Dawn Vaughan here, your podcast host and The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief. On this episode, we have bipartisan guests: Republican Sen. Vickie Sawyer and Democratic Sen. Natalie Murdock.

They’ve been on before, but you haven’t heard them like this. We talk about everything from the protesters at UNC to the law enforcement officers killed in Charlotte to transportation policy, the budget, this legislative session and the controversial bills passed last session.

Plus, all of this was recorded before a live audience, our first live recording, at the N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh. You can listen to the episode on all podcast platforms, and embedded below. And we have it on video as well. Here also are some topics we covered during the discussion.

Police in Charlotte killed

The four law enforcement officers killed in Charlotte serving a warrant are adjacent to Sawyer’s district, which includes Iredell County and northern Mecklenburg County. She talked about how the incident “hit close to home.”

Sawyer said she wanted law enforcement and others she has spoken with to know that “we do need to look at why criminals are being let loose on the streets. And why some Carolinians are not safe, and why our police officers are continually under fire.”

Murdock represents Chatham County and Durham, the latter of which has faced significant gun violence over the years.

“I view the issue of public safety and crime holistically. I’m coming off of visiting a lot of schools. And it’s my understanding, particularly with young children, you can kind of see if they’re going in the wrong direction as early as first, second grade. And for some young people, you’ve really got to get them back in the right direction that early on,” Murdock said. “So I am supportive of really addressing the root causes of crime, not just education, but opportunities after school.”

There’s a lot more to that conversation about violent crime, and also on the subject of the protests at UNC-Chapel Hill over the Israel-Hamas war.

UNC campus protesters

Murdock is an alum of UNC, and said when she was a student there, she “was very active with an organization called the Black Student Movement. And so I definitely participated in a number of peaceful protests. One was, actually we organized the students on other campuses to have one right downtown, just a result of some organizations that weren’t very supportive of diversity.”

She said protests should be peaceful and respectful.

Murdock said students have a right to protest. “And I think the reason students are protesting is they feel helpless, they want to feel heard, and they are very passionate about their causes. But above everything else, we do have to keep everyone on campus safe, especially with it coming to the end of the school year.”

Sawyer noted protests in history and said students should “realize that in order to be taken seriously, then they need to understand how they can sit down and have a civil conversation with those that can make true decisions, and not just be vagrants and vandals and violate and and tear down our universities. At what point are we gonna hold these young children accountable for public destruction?”

Listen to the podcast for their full discussion about campus protests.

Transportation and more

Murdock and Sawyer serve together on the Senate Transportation Committee, which Sawyer chairs.

Sawyer also talked about Mecklenburg County’s proposed Red Line commuter rail line.

“I do want to caution folks to say that you’re asking for a tax increase on a promise that was made 20 years ago. So that doesn’t necessarily go over very well. I’m not saying no. I’m just saying that you better show me first,” Sawyer said.

Murdock said the Triangle needs to provide more options to get people out of their car, as there is no light rail or commuter rail here yet.

Sawyer said the state Board of Transportation made promises years ago for roads that haven’t been built yet and wants to have “an honest conversation about broken promises.”

Stayed tuned to the end when I ask them what they’d do differently than their parties’ candidates for governor, and what they’d pick for a Headliner of the Month.

Listen to our latest episode below and catch up on previous episodes. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music and Stitcher.