Paul Newton (politician)

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina, Newton was one of five Republican state senators asked Governor Roy Cooper to allow the Coca-Cola 600, a NASCAR race, to be run at Charlotte Motor Speedway, although without a crowd of fans.^[4] The following year, Newton sponsored a "liability shield" bill to provide a limited form of immunity to businesses, government agency or nonprofit against lawsuits arising from COVID-19 transmission on their premises.^[5]

In 2021, amid nationwide Republican efforts to Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election, Newton proposed legislation that would prevent counties from counting valid mail-in absentee ballots postmarked before or on election day unless they were received by the polling places by 5 p.m. on election day. Newton argued that it was "suspicious" for valid absentee ballots to be counted after election day.^[6] In the 2020 elections, 11,000 ballots arrived in the three-day grace period after election day and were counted; under Newton's proposal, they would have been thrown out.^[6]

Newton, a retired Duke Energy executive and member of the state Senate's energy committee, opposed natural gas production limitations in North Carolina.^[7][8]

In 2021, as co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Newton sponsored a proposal to reduce the state income tax rate from 5.25% to 4.99%.^[9]

In November 2022, Newton was elected by his colleagues to become Senate Majority Leader for the 2023–2024 session.^[10] He served in that role until his resignation in 2025, after which he joined the administration at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[3]