The New Hanover County Republican Party voted on the censure at its Tuesday evening county convention. Kraybill wasn't alone — the county party also voted to censure North Carolina Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr for their lack of "financial responsibility."
Will Knecht, chair of the county’s Republican party, said the unanimous party vote wasn’t personal, but called it essential because Kraybill was not “aligned with Republican values.” (The New Hanover County GOP released a statement on Wednesday evening, which you can find at the end of this article.)
Knecht cited the frustration of parents over not having a say in several issues at the New Hanover County Schools district, including the approach to returning — or not returning — to in-class instruction due to Covid, an issue which didn't always play out along party lines. Knecht also noted parents' concern over what he called ‘indoctrination,’ referring to social-emotional learning and DEI initiatives. (The county GOP has posted about its concerns on this issue on its website, including this post about critical race theory).
While Kraybill said she had no warning from her party about the censure she said she was not concerned about it. She said she'd heard Knecht's public statements — speaking to Nick Craig on 980 The WAAV on Wednesday morning — about the censure and while they weren't specific, she says her stances on returning to school, masking, and the district’s transgender athlete policy likely drew the ire of the GOP. After a contentious meeting last June, Kraybill was one of the five votes approving a new policy allowing middle school students to play on the sports team that fits their gender identity.
“My guess is it's about going back to school in the fall — January 21, was our first decision, to not send kids back to school. So that, and then the masks, and I think the transgender thing just basically threw them over the edge. And again, that [decision] was made, because you can't marginalize any group of students. So those three things I think, are the biggest," Kraybill said.
Related: New Hanover County Board of Education passes transgender athlete policy
Kraybill said she’d considered running with a different party affiliation in the past. She placed fifth behind four winning candidates in the 2010 Republican primary for the Board of Education — but then watched as Elizabeth Redenbaugh, who left the GOP for the Democratic party in 2011, drew concerted criticism from establishment Republicans.
Still, Kraybill describes herself as an independent-minded person — and said she made the party, and chair Will Knecht, aware of this when they recruited her.
“I am not a party-line voter on everything. I'm not, you know, go pull the ticket, you know, the Republican ticket, so that we elect all Republicans, I like to think I like to analyze, I like to make my own decisions… I think the Republican Party was just not happy with me on this because I dared to step out of the box, analyze things for what they are, and then make a decision based on that. So that's what I think," Kraybill said.
The censure wont block a future run as a GOP candidate, but it does mean garnering support from the party will be tough. Kraybill said she feels the censure means that, if she runs again in 2024, she’ll have to change her party, although she said she's "not thinking that far out" right now. She added that, in the meantime, Tuesday's censure won’t impact how she votes.
Below: Statement from the New Hanover County Republican Party.
New Hanover County Republicans Censure Their Own
On March 15, the New Hanover County (NHC) Republicans took the extraordinary action of censuring three of their own elected party members: New Hanover County Board of Education Chair Stephanie Kraybill, The Honorable Richard Burr of North Carolina, and the Honorable Thom Tillis also of North Carolina. It is important to understand why we took this action, what it will mean for these three officials, and what the NHC GOP will do going forward.
Censure is a formal rebuke by an organization. While censuring is the mildest form of discipline, it is imposed on an individual whose actions are not in alignment with the goals of the organization - in this case the NHC Republicans. We did not take this action lightly. Neither will we avoid the responsibility of keeping those elected as Republicans accountable to the fundamental values the define us.
We became concerned over Ms. Kraybill’s actions soon after she was elected. She very quickly aligned herself with organizations whose objectives are at clear odds with parents - the very ones who elected her. Throughout her time in office - especially during the response to the COVID-19 virus - Ms. Kraybill constantly adopted and promoted stances that ignored the wishes of parents and promoted progressive ideologies of gender-dystopia and race theory. All these actions put our children at risk by allowing biological boys access to girl’s bathrooms, promoting racial tension, and ignoring the science that seems to indicate that mask use is more harmful to youth than the risk of catching COVID. When approached by both parents and the NHC GOP, Ms. Kraybill did not respond to our concerns - instead she chose to limit even more the ability of parents to have a say over how their kids are educated and treated in our schools.
We censured both of our United States Senators primarily over what we saw as a lack of fiscal responsibility. We recognize and support the need for infrastructure spending. Getting our roads, bridges, power lines and other critical services in order makes sense. However, the infrastructure bill - as written - send very little money to critical projects and instead banks many causes that do not align with the values of Republican voters. At a time when Americans are watching every penny, we believe the Federal Government should be even more careful with our money.
Senator Burr also voted to impeach President Donald Trump. While the President was ultimately acquitted, we believe that neither impeachment trial was based on any law that the President broke - but merely a reaction to his strong leadership and his popularity among voters. Senator Burr chose to impeach a president of his own party in a trial that was rushed and overtly a political reaction to the events of January 6, 2021. We believe the Senator’s actions were similarly not a matter of law - but of a desire to be politically accepted by those whose values do not align with our party.
We let you down. In the case of Ms. Kraybill, we accepted and promoted an elected official whose actions do not align with the values of parents throughout this county. Republicans believe in the strength of the family, in the ability of parents to make wise choices for their children, and that gender is a biological fact and not a fluid decision. We should have examined her values more thoroughly, and taken a better look at her affiliations. If we had done so, we would not have encouraged Ms. Kraybill to run as a Republican, and would have put forth a candidate for office that more closely aligns with the values of New Hanover parents. We must do better next time - we will do better next time.
While Senator Burr is not seeking re-election, we pledge that we will keep in better contact with Senator Tillis - indeed all elected officials - to keep them accountable. Republicans stand for fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, and limited government spending on necessary projects. Elected officials who do not adhere to these principles will hear from us - and they must listen.
We invite your feedback on this action we took to hold our Republican elected officials accountable. Republicans are the party of family empowerment, fiscal responsibility, and freedom. We invite you to join us as we make New Hanover County - and America - better than it has ever been before.
