In this series, SPN highlights leaders within our Network who are driving positive change in their states and achieving victories that serve as a model for others.
North Carolina has a rich and storied history. From the Edenton Tea Party in 1774, when 50 women in Edenton declared their intention to boycott all British goods in protest of unjust taxation, to the Wright brothers’ first flight in Kitty Hawk, the Tar Heel State is steeped in American tradition and has positioned itself as a hub for economic opportunity.
Today, the state is one of the fastest growing in the country with large corporations like Apple, Amazon, and Google attracting more workers to the Research Triangle Park (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) than Silicon Valley. Population growth has exploded, and in the last two census cycles, the state came close to getting two new Congressional districts.
The state is also a model for tax reform and education freedom. Once holding the highest tax rate in the South, North Carolina joined the state flat tax revolution in 2013, providing economic relief to taxpayers, and is now in the process of eliminating the corporate income tax. In 2023, the Opportunity Scholarship Program, the state’s education freedom program, was expanded to universality. These reforms have been shepherded and championed by the John Locke Foundation, an SPN affiliate. Co-founded by SPN board member John Hood and former North Carolina budget director Art Pope, the John Locke Foundation has been the state’s leading voice for free markets, individual liberty, and limited government for more than three decades.
Locke doesn’t just produce good policy ideas. It also cultivates and shapes the next generation of liberty movement leaders.
2008 was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and for many fresh college graduates like Donald Bryson, employment opportunities were scarce.
“I had just moved to North Carolina with my wife, and it was very difficult to get a job. I had a spreadsheet to keep track of the 70 different jobs I had applied for, and I was not getting a callback,” he said.
Donald’s luck finally changed when he saw an advertisement for an internship with the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in Raleigh. “Going from unemployed to $8.00 an hour when you’re married was a big deal. I was very excited,” he said.
This was Donald’s entry into the liberty movement. He later worked as Americans for Prosperity’s state director for North Carolina and president and CEO of the Civitas Institute, which has since merged with Locke. The merger came after a conversation with former Locke CEO Amy Oliver Cooke at an SPN CEO retreat, and looking at both North Carolina’s shifting policy landscape and the shared goals of both organizations. “We realized that we were less effective separately than what we could be together,” said Donald.
When Donald took the helm at Locke in 2023, he noted that running a state think tank is not for the faint of heart, and connecting with a community of leaders is essential to accelerate customized policy solutions.
“One of the primary ways I have interacted with SPN is through the CEO peer groups. Being able to talk through ideas with a group of think tank executives that are going through similar things or have gone through similar things in their state or organization is very, very helpful,” he said.
Donald has engaged with CEOs from other states, and they have provided valuable insights into policy successes and pitfalls. For example, Donald spoke with the Beacon Center of Tennessee’s CEO Justin Owen on Beacon’s experience securing a state constitutional amendment to protect the rights of workers and how North Carolina could pursue a similar reform. He has collaborated on opinion pieces, co-writing an op-ed with Pelican Institute CEO Daniel Erspamer about the challenges of Medicaid expansion in Louisiana and highlighting the potential risks and drawbacks of expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. While North Carolina has since expanded Medicaid, it was one of the last states to do so, and Locke has been vocal about its challenges.
As the Network has evolved, state think tanks have moved beyond writing white papers to connecting with people and ensuring good ideas resonate with them. And that starts with key messaging and tailoring that message to different audiences.
“Our freedom movement is about ideas,” said Locke co-founder and SPN board member John Hood. “Ideas alone don’t drive outcomes. We need to elevate ideas that policy leaders understand and that grassroots organizations and the general public believe in.”
One way Donald and the team at Locke elevate free-market ideas to new and existing audiences is through the Carolina Journal, Locke’s investigative journalism outlet. A brainchild of John Hood, who believed there was a space in the market for a center-right publication to talk about North Carolina policy and politics, the Carolina Journal now has a distribution of more than 43,000.
“If we want to wield influence on Jones Street, where the legislative building is, the quickest way to get something done is actually to get a column printed in the Carolina Journal,” said Donald. “We have a daily email update that goes out, and every state legislator gets a copy of the print edition.”
Locke is also reaching new audiences through Noticias Carolinas, the Spanish version of the publication. North Carolina’s Spanish-speaking population has increased by 40 percent, with the Hispanic electorate almost tripling within the past decade.
In 2022, Locke joined SPN’s “owned-audience cohort,” which helps affiliates engage with their communities and new audiences on particular issues through powerful storytelling and crafting key messaging strategies.
Brooke Medina, Locke’s vice president of communications, said: “SPN’s support has been invaluable to Locke. Their programming, tools, and one-on-one coaching have had an outsized impact on our organization’s ability to effectively execute a successful owned-audience campaign. SPN took an active mentorship role in our efforts, working with us to clearly define our goals and help us create a roadmap that allows us to meaningfully engage with tens of thousands of North Carolinians we otherwise would not have met.”
When the focus of many Americans shifted toward Washington, DC, and the recent presidential election, Donald and the Locke team beat the drum on critical policy issues, like energy, education, and tax reform, and kept voters informed—a critical strategy in a swing state like North Carolina. Despite the media frenzy and political turmoil, Donald emphasizes the importance of state-level policymaking:
“What happens at the courthouse and at the statehouse is often just as important as what happens at the White House. Because let’s be honest, Washington isn’t going to do very much,” he said. “In terms of advancing actual policy, it’s going to happen in states like North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida, and Utah.”
