Source: Editorial Board
Republican North Carolina Senator Lisa Stone Barnes represents the state’s 11th Senate District, but it’s fair to ask if she’s representing her constituents or the MAGA extremists she associates with in Raleigh.
Barnes is running for reelection in a newly altered district that now covers parts of Nash, Franklin and Vance counties, including the municipalities of Henderson, Louisburg, Nashville, Franklinton and Spring Hope. Her challenger is Democrat Lt. Col. U.S. Army Reserve (Ret) James Mercer, founder, president and CEO of a nonprofit dedicated to helping veterans and children in Nash and Edgecombe counties.
Barnes has served in Raleigh since 2019, first as a House member and then as a state senator beginning in 2021.
Like many of her constituents, Barnes is familiar with farm life and the agriculture industry. Her campaign ads often mention her time growing up and raising her kids on a farm. Along with her job in Raleigh, she also helps to run her husband’s Nash County farm, Barnes Farming. Her involvement in the state’s agriculture industry has likely helped her appeal to her constituents, but recent events on her family’s farm may hurt her campaign – a worker dying on your farm is generally not a good look for a business or a candidate.
Barnes’s farm is facing nearly $190,000 in fines from the NC Department of Labor (NCDOL) after an investigation found Barnes Farming committed multiple violations that played a role in the heat-related death of a migrant worker from Mexico last year, WFAE reported earlier this year. This was not the first time the farm had been fined for NCDOL violations.
A husband and father of two, José Arturo Gónzalez Mendoza, 29, of Guanajuato, had been working on the Spring Hope farm for less than two weeks when he died in the field on Sept. 5, 2023. The NCDOL cited Barnes Farming with a “willful serious violation” and two other “serious” violations, which resulted in a $187,509 fine for the company – the maximum penalty allowed. The NCDOL’s investigation showed that it took 50 minutes for anyone to call 911 and when someone did, it was a fellow employee, not a manager.
The senator has not commented on Gónzalez Mendoza’s death.
The farm was also cited for only allowing workers one five-minute break while harvesting crops, failing to provide any shaded or cool areas, and not providing enough water or any way to drink the water while workers were in the fields.
While Barnes has very little to say about someone dying on her farm due to dangerous conditions, she has plenty to say about her extreme political beliefs.
Barnes has said she is “pro-Life, pro-Trump, pro-Guns” and that she is “steadfast in [those] values.” She also called herself “an unapologetic pro-life supporter.”
Barnes voted to implement the state’s current 12-week abortion ban, including voting to override the governor’s veto of the bill. She also justified her vote in a heinous and deceptive way, by claiming the ban would “expand the rights of women” (it didn’t) and not take their rights away (it did). Barnes was the deciding vote on the state’s abortion ban and called it a “great day for North Carolina” as the new restrictions became law.
Barnes has voted a total of 15 times to restrict abortion since 2019, including votes to table amendments that would have:
- Codified the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey into law
- Prohibited interference with someone seeking an abortion, including physical interference, threats, harassment, etc.
- Protected from prosecution anyone who provides transportation to a woman to get an abortion
- Expanded the definition of a medical emergency, eliminated the 72-hour waiting period in medical emergencies and allowed an abortion as soon as a physician determines it’s reasonable to do so
Barnes is also opposed to giving any state funds to organizations that provide abortion services, like Planned Parenthood, which also provides cancer screenings, contraceptives, mental health services, vaccines and regular preventive care.
In addition, Barnes has been endorsed by conservative groups like NC Right to Life and the NC Values Coalition. Some of her other right-wing extremist credentials include:
- Voted with Republicans 99.78% of the time in the most recent legislative session, 99.23% in 2021-22 and 97.28% in 2019-20
- Has held fundraisers with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has said if he were governor he would “pass a bill saying you can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.”
- Voted for a $463 million school voucher bill to send children of wealthy parents to private schools at a discount
- Supported funding private school vouchers with money intended for public schools
- Voted to eliminate the state’s three-day post-election grace period for receiving mailed ballots
- Is opposed to the separation of church and state
- Voted AGAINST an amendment to prohibit sex offenders acting as coaches or players, ban inspecting genitals, fund youth mental health and ban “conversion therapy”
Regardless of how Barnes portrays herself to voters, the truth is she’s just another MAGA extremist focused on taking our rights away. That’s why Mark Robinson’s allies are spending more than $1 million to get her elected. They know they can count on her vote for Robinson’s extreme abortion plan should he be North Carolina’s next governor.
