If you seek political asylum the next four years, try Iceland.

We went there last week and loved it. Yes, it’s cold, dark half the year and expensive. But it’s also beautiful and historic; the people are friendly, peace-loving and progressive-minded; and it’s a six-hour direct flight from RDU.

Still, don’t give up on the USA, even with Trump’s Cabinet collection of crooks, quacks, traitors and perverts.

Take heart from the remarkable success of North Carolina Democrats in the 2024 elections.

That’s the number-one underreported and under-appreciated political story of the year.

Yes, Trump won here, but he won every swing state. Nationally, Democrats got caught on the wrong side of the change-vs-status-quo scale.

But North Carolina Democrats prevailed against national headwinds.

Josh Stein won a 55-40% blowout for governor. His 15-point margin is the biggest in a governor’s race here in the two-party era (since 1972) since Jim Hunt in 1976 (a 31-point win) and 1980 (24.4 points).

Some pundits pin Stein’s landslide on Mark Robinson’s weakness as a candidate. But I remind you: Just a year ago, Robinson was regarded as a serious threat who could capture the base Republican vote, which is about 47-48% statewide, and add enough Black voters to win. He won the Republican primary, against two credible opponents, with 65% of the vote.

Stein and a united, energized state Democratic Party – led by Governor Roy Cooper and Chair Anderson Clayton – defied expectations by running a well-planned, well-funded and well-organized campaign.

Democrats also beat Trump-MAGA Republicans for lieutenant governor, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction.

Justice Allison Riggs may hold onto her Supreme Court seat.

Don Davis won the only competitive congressional race in the South.

Despite extreme gerrymandering, Democrats broke Republicans’ supermajority in the legislature.

If districts were fairly drawn, Democrats might control both the state House and Senate, and our congressional delegation would be evenly split.

Republicans’ gerrymandering – and the resultant corruption – should be a ripe target for Democrats in 2026, 2028 and 2030.

But here’s what really warmed my heart while in Iceland:

Terence Everitt – one of the most decent, courageous and tenacious people I’ve ever met in politics – is the newly elected state senator from Wake and Granville counties.

In 2023, then Rep.-Everitt asked the Wake County District Attorney to investigate possible corruption charges against House Speaker Tim Moore based on what Everitt said were “credible allegations regarding his use of taxpayer money to continue illicit affairs.”

Speaker Moore promptly banished Everitt to a basement office the size of a janitor’s closet.

Then Republicans gerrymandered him out of his House seat.

This year, Democrats persuaded Everitt to run in a tough – also gerrymandered – Senate district.

But Everitt won, by 134 votes out of nearly 120,000 cast.

Next year, Senator Everitt will be back in Raleigh to defy Republican bosses and bullies and stand up for the Democratic program: better public schools, better jobs, reproductive freedom, gun safety and a clean environment.

Like Democrats across North Carolina, Everitt proved that we know how to fight – and win.

On to 2026.

Photo: Everitt with Josh Stein