North Carolina House Republicans Want the National Guard in Charlotte

Three North Carolina Republicans are asking the governor to send the National Guard to Charlotte, embracing President Donald Trump’s use of the military for local law enforcement.

Reps. Pat Harrigan, Mark Harris and Chuck Edwards all signed the letter asking Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the North Carolina National Guard to the state’s largest city. The Republican lawmakers’ letter to Stein is in support of a request from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police.

The police union wrote a letter to local leaders last month asking the city’s mayor, Stein and Trump to send in National Guard troops “due to the ongoing failure of city and police leadership to address the severe staffing crisis within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which we believe has led to a violence crisis in Charlotte.”

“Governor Stein is deaf to the desperate pleas of Charlotte’s police and residents,” Harris wrote in a statement. “He refuses reinforcements to crush the violent crime surge—exposing him and his party as pro-crime Democrats who coddle criminals while ignoring victims.”

Crime in Charlotte and North Carolina at large has been a consistent focus of these three members since a man fatally stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on the city’s public transit in August. Zarutska’s death gained national attention, and her death was often cited by conservatives as a reason for Trump’s tough-on-crime agenda.

Trump has sent federal troops to major cities like Washington, Memphis, Tennessee, Los Angeles and Chicago. A federal judge ruled Sunday that Trump could not send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building that has been the site of daily protests for months.

The Republican House lawmakers’ letter cites a 200% uptick in the murder rate in Uptown Charlotte. The Charlotte Police Department reported that there was a 8% drop in overall crime citywide and a 20% decline in violent offenses during this year’s third quarter.

A spokesperson for Stein told NOTUS in an emailed statement that “Local, well-trained law enforcement officers who live in and know their communities are best equipped to keep North Carolina neighborhoods safe, not military servicemembers.” Last month, Stein requested a $195 million public safety package from the state’s General Assembly to fund pay increases and recruitment and retention bonuses for law enforcement.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis told NOTUS in September that he did not want Charlotte to be Trump’s next target. “I haven’t seen any evidence that they’re going to focus on Charlotte,” Tillis said about the Trump administration. “If they do, it’ll be a problem for me.”

The lawmakers acknowledged in the letter that National Guard troops are not a “long term solution” but rather an “emergency measure designed to stabilize a crisis situation and protect innocent lives.” They point to the troops’ presence in Washington, and Memphis as examples that the National Guard has helped local law enforcement.

Harrigan, Harris, and Edwards represent districts near Charlotte. Alma Adams, a Democratic representative whose district includes the urban center of Charlotte, did not sign the letter.

A spokesperson for Adams did not immediately return a request for comment.

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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The Assembly.