A liberal UNC-Chapel Hill professor testified Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court that GOP-crafted election maps represent a conservative white backlash against rising black political power. Professor James Leloudis appeared on behalf of Democratic Party-aligned plaintiffs working to overturn voting maps passed by the Republican-led General Assembly, arguing that the maps are unfair to black North Carolinians.
Democrats on the state Supreme Court will not use their narrow 4-3 majority to forcibly remove two GOP justices from a critical case dealing with state constitutional amendments. In an order released without fanfare just before Christmas, the court has in essence preserved the status quo.
The $1 trillion infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law on November 15 attracted the votes of both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Washington and has attracted praise from many North Carolina leaders, as well — once more illustrating the fact that bad ideas can also be popular ideas.
Gov. Roy Cooper says he will sign the first budget from the General Assembly since he took office in 2017. The announcement came in a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 16, and before the first vote from the Senate on Tuesday afternoon. As of Wednesday morning, the Senate has passed the budget 40-8, with 14 Democrats voting in favor of it. A final Senate vote is coming Wednesday with the House slated to vote Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.
Republicans in much of the country enjoyed significant success during the 2021 election cycle. They elected a GOP governor in Virginia, almost elected one in New Jersey, won several important judicial races in Pennsylvania, and even elected their first Republican candidate to local office in Seattle (city attorney) since the 1980s.
It’s one of the best quotes attributed to baseball legend Yogi Berra: "It's like deja vu all over again."It’s also a phrase that sums up North Carolina’s political landscape going forward as new legislative and congressional district maps are approved by the Republican-led legislature along party-line votes.
On Tuesday, November 2, The N.C. House voted along party lines in favor of its new House election district map, while the N.C. Senate approved new congressional maps. The votes come despite many Democrats saying the redistricting committee should “go back to the drawing board.”
Despite the massive firewall for Democrats in Northern Virginia, their party recently dispatched Barack Obama to rescue Terry McAuliffe’s sinking campaign for governor.
If you were reading this column a year from today, just days before the 2022 midterm elections, I’d tell you that North Carolina Democrats were about to experience a catastrophe.
The N.C. House committee charged with drawing new state election maps will start the formal map-drawing process Wednesday morning. Members can work on maps from 9 a.m. to as late as 5 p.m. each weekday until the process is complete.
A bill that would prohibit public schools from promoting controversial viewpoints related to Critical Race Theory cleared the N.C. Senate on Thursday. Debate about the bill featured rare personal attacks among senators.
The push and pull regarding vaccination mandates continues, both on Capitol Hill and in. the state legislature, from Republicans and from Democrats.
