RALEIGH — North Carolina’s new House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Granite Falls) has changed the communications landscape for Republicans in the General Assembly this year through an aggressively deliberate social media presence.
In the past, Democratic members of the General Assembly had dominated social media platforms. But Hall has changed that through a multipronged approach that includes pithy reactions and relevant memes.
Hall’s first move was to publish a full House calendar denoting days when votes would take place, and he has stuck to that calendar. He also instituted weekly “member minute” videos where a House member recaps some of the bigger news items that occurred.
The “member minute” videos have been disseminated by Hall’s official social media accounts and amplified through NC House Press, a new account on the social media platform X.
Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus), who has joined Hall in the messaging fight on X, told North State Journal they’ve got a young speaker and younger staff, which has facilitated reaching out to the “younger people who got more involved in the last election.”
“We want to reach that base and be part of what they’re learning in politics and going forward to help them make a smart decision on the candidate and know the issues better,” Jones said.
Hall has also instituted a weekly newsletter called “The House Huddle,” highlighting legislation being worked on.
“We’re always looking for new ways to get our message out,” Hall told North State Journal in an interview.
“It’s just something that I’ve sort of somewhat grew up with and know well, and I think it’s an important platform to get our message out,” Hall said when asked about his approach to state Republicans’ social media presence.
“More and more people get their news from social media. We see that year after year,” said Hall. “And so, it’s a great way to get out the message of the great work that the Republicans in the General Assembly are doing.”
The speaker also said people want to hear directly from lawmakers.
“They want to hear from the folks who are actually voting on these things,” Hall said. “They don’t want it to go through any gatekeepers at a national media level or the traditional media level.”
Hall said he has tripled the communications staff from one position to three to handle the increased social media presence.
“I’ve got a great staff who help with those things, but we always make it to be personally what I’m thinking at the time,” said Hall. “And I find that folks, for better or worse, have an interest in that most of the time, or they at least get a good kick out of a hefty debate with the left on Twitter.”
The speaker also credited the House Republican Caucus staff for their efforts. Hall referenced an image the caucus posted to X tying certain Democratic House members voting down a bill for state law enforcement to cooperate with ICE to actions by national Democrat officials seen as supporting MS-13 gang members who have been deported.
A recent example of Hall’s use of social media to counter Democrats’ messaging followed a “bill funeral” press conference held jointly by House and Senate Democrats.
During the press conference, Democrats lamented some 700 bills that did not make the crossover deadline for future action on legislation. Some of the bills listed by Democrats were companion bills, meaning two bills with similar or identical language.
Hall called the “bill funeral” press conference “interesting” and “late.”
“The funeral came very late, I thought, because those bills died months ago,” said Hall. “And I thought it was odd. I don’t know if it was something to do with the weather, but usually one doesn’t wait so long. I don’t know, maybe they didn’t have that close of a relationship with those bills. But in any event, they died long ago.”
The House Republican Caucus feed on X was referred to by Hall for a list of Democrat bills that were “all-time greatest hits,” including a bill prohibiting octopus farming, pickleball diversity and one attempting to allow North Carolina to become a sanctuary state for illegal aliens.
“I don’t hear a whole lot about pickleball diversity or octopus farming when I’m out talking to folks during campaign season,” Hall said. “Maybe it’s an emerging issue, I don’t know.”
The final hurdle for bills to make it to a floor vote is approval by the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. John Bell (R-Wayne), who said, “Maybe they need to file some better legislation,” while noting bills filed by both parties that failed to make crossover.
“But it wasn’t just Democrats. Some (bills) were (by) Republicans; even one of my bills didn’t make crossover, so it’s not just geared towards one party,” Bell told North State Journal. “Just because you file a bill doesn’t mean that it will automatically become law.”
Jones’ response to the “bill funeral” echoed Hall and Bell’s sentiments.
“This place is kind of like a zombie land,” said Jones. “There’s a resurrection day some days on bills, but on bad bills, we’re just not going to hear bad bills if it’s not good for all of the citizens of North Carolina.”
