Alexander H. Jones

Do NC Republicans Risk Going the Way of the NC Whigs?

by Alexander H. Jones | Jun 1, 2023 | Politics | 1 comment

North Carolina has a long history of political competition–and of parties being undone by that competition. The Whig Party reigned over Raleigh throughout the 1840s, growing complacent and deflecting demands from the voters even as their position quietly grew...

Mark Robinson and His Rivals, Part II

by Alexander H. Jones | May 25, 2023 | Politics | 4 comments

This is part two of my little duopoly on the Republican gubernatorial race. Last week I evaluated Mark Robinson, still the prohibitive frontrunner even if the last few weeks’ developments have bruised his image a bit. But the fact is that several candidates have...

Mark Robinson and His Rivals, Part I

by Alexander H. Jones | May 16, 2023 | Politics | 13 comments

“We don’t need the climate of hate that [he] is talking about. We don’t need the climate of hysteria and fear that [he] proposes.” Mark Robinson? No, I. Beverly Lake, a now-forgotten intellectual racist who confronted Terry Sanford in the 1960...

Don’t Tread on She

by Alexander H. Jones | May 10, 2023 | Politics | 3 comments

For a male-dominated institution that rejected women’s suffrage and voted against the Equal Rights Amendment four ties, the North Carolina General Assembly did…exactly what one would have expected them to do. Fulfilling the inevitable, the white Republican...

The Most Interesting State in Politics

by Alexander H. Jones | May 2, 2023 | Politics | 7 comments

North Carolina has faded into the second tier of American political attention. Since its Obama-era heyday, the Tar Heel State has voted Republican too consistently to register as a marquee swing state, and most observers have shifted their gaze to the bluer states of...