Incumbent Mike Causey, a Republican, has defeated Democrat Wayne Goodwin in the third rematch between the two candidates for the position of North Carolina Insurance Commissioner.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday night that Causey beat Goodwin with 52% of the vote versus Goodwin’s 48%, a significantly higher margin than the 2016 race which saw Causey best Goodwin by just 39,000 votes.
In 2012, the two battled it out as well with Goodwin winning by a larger margin – nearly 160,000 votes.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Causey had received more than 2.7 million votes to Goodwin’s 2.5 million in this year’s race.
Causey said he is grateful to have another four years to further “tackle issues I have found to have hindered consumers, policyholders, agents and the fire service during my first term. I will continue to work with my team and the legislature to meet the insurance needs of North Carolinians, especially during states of emergencies, such as hurricanes, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Goodwin said in a statement it was an honor to serve two terms as North Carolina’s Insurance Commissioner.
“A close race in a battleground state for several cycles, I am very grateful for the millions of voters who supported me in this election for Insurance Commissioner. As in 2016, a close analysis of results for North Carolina’s statewide Executive and Judicial Branch races indicates that the 2020 election of North Carolina’s Insurance Commissioner was driven not by issues relevant to this office but by the hyper-partisan Presidential contest. Now that my vigorous campaign is over, I have called and spoken with Commissioner Causey to congratulate him and wish him well in his second term,” Goodwin said. “Collectively he and I will have served two terms each. For Tar Heel consumers and the market, it is my hope that he will be successful in addressing the concerns about affordable healthcare and preserving coverage for pre-existing conditions, navigating the property and casualty matters of this coastal state, and persuading the legislature to do a better job of addressing the needs of our firefighters. Now I return to take care of my children as we more fully mourn the recent loss of my wife and their mother.”
Causey talked to Insurance Journal prior to his re-election about some of his priorities if he continued in the position, including to continue reforming the North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB), which represents insurance companies writing property insurance in North Carolina and is not a part of NCDOI, one of his key priorities.
He said he’s worked while in office with the state legislature to “allow insurance companies more flexibility and more free market areas.”
“The political reality in North Carolina is the rate bureau overall has kept a very stable insurance market,” he said.
He also plans to continue fighting insurance fraud, which has been a top priority of his since he took office. He said when he came to the department, he learned from its criminal investigators that insurance fraud cases were hard to get through the courts so the department brought in attorneys to work with local district attorneys in prosecuting cases in North Carolina’s 100 counties. In 2019 he established the Criminal Investigations Reserve Unit to combat the extensive number of insurance fraud cases in the state.
Causey also cites on his website that he has worked with the state legislature to double the number of fraud and abuse investigators at the NCDOI.
“We want to put the fraud folks out of business, but we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.
Causey also plans to work towards establishing a private flood insurance market in North Carolina.
He has worked closely with NCRB to develop private flood insurance policy forms that have been approved and his goal now is to get insurance companies to begin offering flood coverage in the state by early next year.
“Dependent on the pricing and what the individual insurance companies would like to do, I believe you’ll see in North Carolina private flood insurance policies be offered for sale during 2021. And I think that’s a good thing for consumers,” he said.
Causey said he wants to continue moving toward a more free-market system “to the extent that we can with our system of regulation. Because I’m a free-market type person, I believe whatever we can do to attract more insurance companies here, the more the better. Competition’s a good thing.”
Causey touted his “great working relationship” with the insurance industry, saying he has an open-door policy with them to discuss any issues and concerns.
“My role is to protect consumers and to make sure that the consumer is protected, hold insurance rates as low as possible. At the same time, I want to keep a healthy and stable insurance environment,” he said.
The hotly contested contest between the two adversaries featured a particular focus on the corruption investigation by the FBI of North Carolina political donor and insurance CEO Greg Lindberg – now serving 7 years in prison for attempts to bribe Causey to secure preferential regulatory treatment for his insurance business. Lindberg has denied the charges and is appealing his convictions.
According to reports, Lindberg gave more than $5 million to state and federal candidates since 2016. Causey worked with authorities in the case against Lindberg, as well as sent a $240,000 donation to the FBI that he received from the state Republican Party, an apparent pass through from Lindberg. A former chairman of the state’s Republican Party is currently on probation for lying to federal agents for his role in the bribery scandal.
A 2019 Wall Street Journal article cited a fundraiser for Goodwin held by Lindberg in 2016 that, between that and other donations, amounted to $125,000 to Goodwin from Lindberg, his employees, business associates and some of their spouses and family members. “Lindberg also created a PAC that purchased ads in support of Mr. Goodwin and gave $425,000 to it, records show,” the Wall Street Journal article states.
Neither Goodwin or Causey were accused of any wrongdoing and both cooperated with authorities in the investigation.
*This story has been updated from a previous version with comment from Goodwin and Causey.
Topics Fraud Flood North Carolina Market
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