North Carolina – Republicans
Hunt, Helms and MLK
I was struck last week by Republican politicians posting tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., even as they fight everything he stood, marched and died for. Forty years ago, in 1984, the King holiday was a big issue in the Senate race between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Helms opposed the holiday. He filibustered…
Read MoreDemocrats Show Up
Democrats are fired up. Republicans are fleeing the fight. Democrats have candidates competing for 168 of the 170 state House and Senate seats. Republicans fielded candidates in only 137 races. It’s clear which party has energy and enthusiasm going into 2024. When Anderson Clayton was elected state Democratic chair last February, she pledged to contest…
Read MoreTillis vs Trump
Senator Thom Tillis stood up to MAGA Mark Robinson. Now he should stand up to Donald Trump. Tillis, North Carolina’s senior Senator, endorsed Bill Graham over Robinson in the Republican primary for governor. Robinson promptly labeled Tillis one of the “RINO elites” plotting “to take me down.” Previously, Robinson blasted as “cowards” unnamed Republicans “who…
Read MoreCapital Corruption
Corruption will be big in North Carolina politics in 2024. As soon as House Speaker Tim Moore (pictured) announced his run for Congress, his Republican opponent Pat Harrigan, a former Army Green Beret who won two Bronze Stars in Afghanistan, ambushed him: “Tim Moore carries a legacy of corruption, from being bought and paid for…
Read MoreOblivious on Abortion
It was THE story of Tuesday’s elections, but Wednesday night it took NBC 90 minutes to ask Republican presidential candidates about abortion. Their answers were tortured, because Republicans know they’re in trouble on the issue. But why didn’t NBC ask them sooner and push them harder? Why is big media so oblivious to the power…
Read MoreAbortion Lies
Watching Democrats and abortion rights win across the country Tuesday night, I tweeted: “Just a reminder that Mark Robinson and NC Republicans want a total ban on abortion, including in cases of rape and incest.” Several Republicans tweeted back, “That’s a lie.” One said, “It’s a lie. Please stop.” No. It’s true. And I won’t…
Read MoreCorruption Fighter
Jeff Jackson began his campaign for state attorney general by punching the political bullies right in the nose. In his announcement video, he climbs into a boxing ring and trades punches with an opponent. He calls North Carolina Republicans “corrupt politicians” and tags their gerrymandering, which drew him out of his congressional district, as “blatant…
Read MoreGhost of Gerrymanders Past
When I blogged last week that North Carolina Republicans are guilty of “the most extreme and egregious gerrymandering in American political history,” they responded: Democrats did it, too. No, they didn’t. Not like this. Democrats last drew maps after the 2000 census. The elections that followed were close, so close that one legislative session had…
Read MoreGerrymander-go-round
Donald Trump’s Big Lie is the father of today’s Republican gerrymandering in North Carolina. It’s the same authoritarian, democracy-denying DNA. Duke professor Jonathan Mattingly, who analyzed the Republicans’ new redistricting plan here, concluded, “The maps the legislature have proposed essentially negate the need to have elections for the U.S. House of Representatives.” Trump and MAGA…
Read MoreThe Final Nail
North Carolina Republicans have given Democrats our crowning issue for 2024: their cynical, corrupt, hyper-partisan gerrymandering of congressional and legislative districts. They’ve packed and cracked and sliced and diced a 50-50 state – the most closely divided state in the country, where fairly drawn districts produced a 7-7 congressional split – in a blatant effort…
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