All in Politics
Some partisans I know insist political allegiances are so rigid that elections have become little more than turnout contests. Whichever party gets its base out wins. Persuadable swing voters used to exist in significant numbers, they concede, but are now about as hard to find as Bigfoot.
A new statewide poll shows that a majority of Republican primary voters oppose expanding North Carolina's Medicaid entitlement program. Once the details of Medicaid expansion are offered to respondents their opposition climbs, pointing to a potential messaging hole for expansion opponents.
A three-judge panel in the N.C. Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the City of Asheville in a lawsuit brought by a historic preservation group over the city’s work to remove the Zebulon Vance Monument in the city’s Pack Square Park.
Edzell Lowry knows firsthand about rising gas prices. He owns Sun-Do gas station in Pembroke. Lowry, a former Democrat who later registered as unaffiliated, recently switched to the Republican Party.
On Monday, 68 police officers, firefighters and other Raleigh municipal employees filed a lawsuit against the City of Raleigh and Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin over the city’s denial of promotions to those who haven’t received a COVID-19 vaccine, and their requirement that employees either need to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.
The N.C. Court of Appeals has issued a temporary stay in a case dealing with felon voting in North Carolina. The stay blocks any felons from registering to vote until appeals in the case are resolved.
Fans of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina have been touting a recent change in attitude from the Senate’s top officer. He has dropped his steadfast opposition to expansion.
Winners of a recent trial court ruling on voting rights for felons want the N.C. Supreme Court to take up the case. The ruling could affect 56,000 felons who have completed active prison time.
The United States Senate voted 53 to 47 Monday, April 4, to discharge the Senate Judiciary Committee from further consideration of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. This after the committee deadlocked along party lines with a tie vote of 11 to 11.
State officials report that close to $800 million remains unfunded from a judge's $1.7 billion state education spending order. That assessment resulted from a court-ordered comparison of the spending plan and the new state budget.
The 2021 governors’ report was released by the free-market-focused American Legislative Exchange Council in late March, and many conservatives were surprised that Democratic N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper received a better-than-average rating on his performance.
Rep. Greg Murphy, M.D. (NC-03) sent a letter to USMC Major General James F. Glynn urging him to drop manslaughter charges against two USMC special forces operators who were forced to defend themselves from a drunken aggressor while on deployment in December 2019. The full text of the letter can be read here.
Significant attention has been given to how we conduct and certify presidential elections ever since the events following the 2020 election - and for good reason. The existing procedures are far too vague and contributed to the confusion we witnessed in the months following the election.
Below are a few recent stories that caught my attention. One of the more amusing recurring bits of news is media attempts to prop up the Biden administration. It's not going well, obviously. Even Chuck Todd of NBC said Democrats face a "shellacking." Well over two-thirds of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The legal fight over North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship Program focuses now on whether a single judge or a three-judge panel should hear the case. Lawyers for the state and the scholarships' parent supporters have filed new briefs supporting the three-judge option.
In late March, a super PAC started by U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s 2020 Democrat opponent, Moe Davis, endorsed Wendy Nevarez in the Republican primary for N.C.’s 11th Congressional District. The American Muckrakers PAC — also known as the Fire Madison Cawthorn PAC — encouraged Democrats to switch their affiliation to unaffiliated and vote for Nevarez.
State legislative leaders want the N.C. Court of Appeals to block a ruling that could add 56,000 felons to the state's voting rolls. A trial court issued the ruling Monday. It would open up voting to felons on parole, probation, or other post-release supervision.
A national group that focuses on election integrity issues is calling for North Carolina to clean up its voter rolls before the 2022 election. The group's latest report points to multiple areas that merit state election officials' attention.
