Will Sen. Berger's political machine save him or backfire?

In a two-vote race, the relationships that built Berger’s power could decide the outcome — or poison trust in the result.

Phil Berger’s standing as the most powerful politician in North Carolina has never rested on a title alone.

The Senate president pro tempore has formal authority, of course. He sets agendas, counts votes, shapes budgets, and decides which bills live or die.

But Berger’s deeper strength is the network he’s built across state government, one that doesn’t end at the legislative complex. It reaches into the courts, into local power centers back home, and into the ecosystem of lawyers, donors, consultants, and institutional allies who shape how disputes get resolved and how rules get interpreted.

That network is suddenly under a bright light as Berger stares at a two-vote primary deficit against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.

That web includes his own family. Berger has one son on the N.C. Supreme Court and another running the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners. Both could be tangentially involved in the process.

Add in his broader list of allies across the judiciary and elections world, and you get the central question of this moment. In a race this close, does Berger’s machine help him? Or does it backfire on him?