Rigging the constitution

by Thomas Mills | June 15, 2018 | 2018 elections, Editor's Blog | 6 Comments

The NCGOP is rolling out a cynical plan to boost Republican turnout in November. They’re loading up the ballot with constitutional amendments intended to motivate their base. They’re mostly bad ideas designed to lock in conservative principles that will harm working...

State sponsored voter fraud

by Thomas Mills | Jun 14, 2018 | Editor's Blog, Voting Rights | 6 Comments

Last night at 11:30pm, the GOP dropped another bill to limit access to the voting booth. This one would dramatically reduce the number of early voting days from 17 to 10. Rep. David Lewis says that’s not the intention of the bill and that 17 days will be restored. Who...

Democrats today are in a better position than Republicans were in June 2010

by Thomas Mills | Jun 13, 2018 | 2018 elections, Editor's Blog | 6 Comments

The closer we get to November, the more it looks like the election will be a referendum on Donald Trump. Last night in Republican primaries, Trump-type candidates won. In Virginia, Cory Stewart, who lost a primary for governor last year after wrapping himself in the...

Barriers to Democracy

by Kirk Kovach | Jun 11, 2018 | The Kovach Corner | 1 Comment

One side of the argument wants to enable everyone who can vote to do so, and the other seems to erect barriers every step of the way. Why is that?

Cleveland County

by Darren Janz | Jun 11, 2018 | NC Political Geography | 1 Comment

Less than twenty miles west of Charlotte, Cleveland County is located on the outskirts of the Charlotte metropolitan area in North Carolina’s western Piedmont. The county borders South Carolina and encompasses part of the state’s Foothills region, a distinct area of...

Subsidizing billionaires

by Thomas Mills | Jun 11, 2018 | Budget, Editor's Blog | 12 Comments

Mixed in the pork from the North Carolina GOP’s 2018 budget is a line item giving $1 million to an equestrian center in Polk County. That’s a big horse arena to host shows for wealthy owners from across the country. Among the owners are members of the Mercer family....

A sad and terrible anniversary

by Byron Williams | Jun 10, 2018 | Politics | 1 Comment

RFK became an opponent of the Vietnam conflict, a quagmire that his brother deepened and Bobby once supported as attorney general. And as a presidential candidate in 1968, he forged a coalition comprised of people of color and many working-class whites infused with hope and possibility.

Unfortunately, the Voter ID amendment will pass

by Thomas Mills | Jun 8, 2018 | 2018 elections, Editor's Blog | 34 Comments

Democrats should resist the urge to make opposition to the voter ID amendment that’s speeding through the legislature a centerpiece of their fall campaign. If it’s on the ballot in November, it will pass by large margins. A loud and high profile campaign opposing it...

NC-09: Mark Harris’s Paige Patterson problem

by Thomas Mills | Jun 6, 2018 | 2018 elections, Editor's Blog | 4 Comments

If anything defines Paige Patterson’s career, it’s misogyny. Patterson, who was fired this week from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, long maintained that women should be subservient to their husbands even in the face of brutality. On tapes released...

Unintended consequences of deregulation

by Thomas Mills | Jun 5, 2018 | Editor's Blog, North Carolina | 10 Comments

In their fervor to cut regulations and budgets, Republicans forget that most regulations and programs were enacted for good reason. The latest example of reckless repeals came with a steep price. Mudslides in western North Carolina killed five people and damaged...

Clay County

by Darren Janz | Jun 4, 2018 | NC Political Geography | 3 Comments

Clay County is a small, rural county located near North Carolina’s western tip in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The county borders Georgia and is separated from Tennessee only by the neighboring Cherokee County, from which Clay was formed in 1861. The...