Boliek should be the first to resign. NC hasn’t been anywhere close to a true democracy for decades.
For those hiding under a rock, please know that the GOP will stop at nothing to maintain power because if they lose, at best, the money spigot turns off or worse for them but good for the people, they’re prosecuted.
I volunteered again as a Democratic poll observer during early voting and on election day. I encourage everyone to consider doing it for the fall. (IIRC, you can still volunteer if you are an unaffiliated voter).
Here is phone number for the North Carolina voter hotline at 1-833-868-3462. (I have added it to my phone contacts). There are also multi-lingual national voter hotlines which can be found here: https://866ourvote.org/
I continue to read of Republicans committing voting crimes. It’s always seemingly them, not us. They cannot help themselves when it comes to cheating, but accuse us
Got an email form minority whip Jay Chaudhuri last night about the subject of Boliek campaigning for Berger, and immediately thought back to when a good friend of mine worked as a chief precinct judge in Chatham County(you probably know her, Thomas. She knows *everybody*). She said she couldn't even put a bumper sticker on her CAR endorsing a candidate, never mind campaign for one.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
The Rockingham County BoE was apparently CLOSED for at least 4 hours yesterday, with a homemade notice printed up and taped to the door saying:
“Board of Elections is closed today.
Election is being reconcilled. [sic]
Please do not disturb!”
So MAYBE it’s just a coincidence that:
* Rockingham County went for Page by 2:1 (67%)
* There’s no reporting I’ve seen that the GUILFORD County BoE needed to “reconcille” anything (emphasis on “that I’ve seen” — maybe that happened.)
* The deadline for curing provisional ballots is TODAY (Friday 3/6)
* The guy overseeing the election was campaigning for *THE GUY WHO GAVE HIM THAT JOB* just last week
* Berger plowed $10 MILLION into a legislative race and still lost
Yeah, all that *could* have happened by coincidence. But it still reeks.
⬆️"Berger plowed $10 MILLION into a legislative race and still lost".
I am tickled that this is $10M that will not be available to other NC GOP senate candidates in close races in Nov. I'm sure other GOP candidates are p*ssed at Berger.
I love that while the NC GOP is in disarray, the NC Democrats managed to rid us of some GOP collaborators who joined the GOP to override Gov. Stein's vetoes. And to do so resoundingly! The normal partisan narrative is that Republicans are disciplined while for Democrats it is like herding cats. IMO, this election has negated this narrative.
I'm only familiar with Rev. Sadler out of the new primary winners, but I know he will make a great representative who will work for all of his constituents!
Anderson Clayton has proven to be quite the capable cat herder. But even more important than that, she has fielded a candidate for *every single seat in the NCGA*. Even thrones considered "hopeless". Go back and look at the legislative elections c. 2012, and BOTH SIDES left roughly half of the other party's seats unchallenged. That meant that half the legislature was elected before the race even began. And these are the most important elections you will ever hold, because these are the people who make the decisions that impact you most directly. The NCGA denies how we run our elections, how we fund our schools, how we spend our money, and if they're running unopposed, they have no reason to fear for their jobs. The Republicans -- national and here at home -- figured this out 50 years ago, which was the driving force behind ALEC. They understood that if they consolidated power in the states, they would hold the levers of power nationwide because the states determine how we elect our federal decision makers. Clayton understands this. I'm not sure any of her predecessors at the NCDP (and a lot of her contemporaries in other states now) ever did.
When I read about them closing their BOE, I should have been shocked, but the Republicans will do anything they can to get the results they want. It's not like Page would be any better but he doesn't have the power that Berger foes. I'm truly disgusted with all of them.
In a way, a Berger win in the primary might actually work out better for us. If the Page voters in the district -- especially those in Rockingham County -- think Berger cheated his way to a win (and that doesn't need be *true* -- it just needs to be *believable*) there's a pretty good chance they're mad enough to either the general election out -- or better yet vote for the Democrat running against him, Steve Luking. (I confess I had to look it up, because I had no idea that who was running on the Democratic side in that district would be a relevant topic. But here we are.) Luking is a doctor with a family practice in Reidsville that he opened in 1993, so he's established in the community, and he made a respectable showing against Berger in 2024, getting 41.1% of the vote in the general. He still lost by double digits, but if he can hold onto that 41% and pick up some disaffected Republican voters who're sick of the status quo picking off that seat isn't out of the question. And if there's a stench lingering around the win in the primary you could see a LOT of disaffected Republican voters, especially if Berger wins.
Bravo Thomas. I couldn’t have said it better. Rucho is a highly partisan politician with few ethics. He’s originally from Worcester Massachusetts and should be returned to that city on 7 hills 40 miles west of Boston on Route 9 and put head first into Lake Quinsigmond. No trip to Spags either
I can only hope that NC voters have finally started to wake up to the fact that they really screwed themselves royally by swallowing the propaganda from all the Koch money that flooded our state prior to the 2010 election. Voting in a Republican legislature and governor was far too much power for that party to hold at the time. I just hope it’s not too late to rectify at least some of the damage that’s been done by continuing the trend we’ve seen so far in NC and all the other states where Democratic turnout has been very positive.
⬆️"Voting in a Republican legislature and governor was far too much power for that party to hold at the time. I just hope it’s not too late to rectify at least some of the damage that’s been done"
If we can reelect Anita Earls to the NC Supreme Court this year, we would only need to flip 2 out of 3 GOP-held Supreme Court seats in 2028 to flip the balance of power. Then we would have the opportunity to outlaw partisan gerrymandering. We could follow the model set by the Wisconsin Democrats.
One of the key issues in the past has been ballot drop-off with voters favoring Democratic candidates. GOP voters are far more likely to vote the entire ticket. The judicial races have been too close for comfort. Check out the NCDP initiative to do Anytime Canvassing for Justice Earls.
Boliek should be the first to resign. NC hasn’t been anywhere close to a true democracy for decades.
For those hiding under a rock, please know that the GOP will stop at nothing to maintain power because if they lose, at best, the money spigot turns off or worse for them but good for the people, they’re prosecuted.
Good riddance to Rucho!
I volunteered again as a Democratic poll observer during early voting and on election day. I encourage everyone to consider doing it for the fall. (IIRC, you can still volunteer if you are an unaffiliated voter).
Here is phone number for the North Carolina voter hotline at 1-833-868-3462. (I have added it to my phone contacts). There are also multi-lingual national voter hotlines which can be found here: https://866ourvote.org/
Ever heard of Dallas Woodhouse? Google him. He’s scurrying around behind all of this, no doubt.
Oh, he's overseeing NC County Election Boards now. Surely he will be scrupulously honest and non-partisan. Just kidding. https://ncnewsline.com/2025/09/26/former-gop-official-dallas-woodhouse-to-oversee-nc-county-election-boards/
I continue to read of Republicans committing voting crimes. It’s always seemingly them, not us. They cannot help themselves when it comes to cheating, but accuse us
It’s not “voting” crimes or interference or integrity that’s compromised. It’s ELECTION interference and integrity engineered by the GOP.
SCOTUS legalized that though.
The SAVE anti-voter measure in congress doesn’t address that real problem; its only purpose is to make it harder for us to vote.
Got an email form minority whip Jay Chaudhuri last night about the subject of Boliek campaigning for Berger, and immediately thought back to when a good friend of mine worked as a chief precinct judge in Chatham County(you probably know her, Thomas. She knows *everybody*). She said she couldn't even put a bumper sticker on her CAR endorsing a candidate, never mind campaign for one.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
The Rockingham County BoE was apparently CLOSED for at least 4 hours yesterday, with a homemade notice printed up and taped to the door saying:
“Board of Elections is closed today.
Election is being reconcilled. [sic]
Please do not disturb!”
So MAYBE it’s just a coincidence that:
* Rockingham County went for Page by 2:1 (67%)
* There’s no reporting I’ve seen that the GUILFORD County BoE needed to “reconcille” anything (emphasis on “that I’ve seen” — maybe that happened.)
* The deadline for curing provisional ballots is TODAY (Friday 3/6)
* The guy overseeing the election was campaigning for *THE GUY WHO GAVE HIM THAT JOB* just last week
* Berger plowed $10 MILLION into a legislative race and still lost
Yeah, all that *could* have happened by coincidence. But it still reeks.
⬆️"Berger plowed $10 MILLION into a legislative race and still lost".
I am tickled that this is $10M that will not be available to other NC GOP senate candidates in close races in Nov. I'm sure other GOP candidates are p*ssed at Berger.
I love that while the NC GOP is in disarray, the NC Democrats managed to rid us of some GOP collaborators who joined the GOP to override Gov. Stein's vetoes. And to do so resoundingly! The normal partisan narrative is that Republicans are disciplined while for Democrats it is like herding cats. IMO, this election has negated this narrative.
I'm only familiar with Rev. Sadler out of the new primary winners, but I know he will make a great representative who will work for all of his constituents!
Anderson Clayton has proven to be quite the capable cat herder. But even more important than that, she has fielded a candidate for *every single seat in the NCGA*. Even thrones considered "hopeless". Go back and look at the legislative elections c. 2012, and BOTH SIDES left roughly half of the other party's seats unchallenged. That meant that half the legislature was elected before the race even began. And these are the most important elections you will ever hold, because these are the people who make the decisions that impact you most directly. The NCGA denies how we run our elections, how we fund our schools, how we spend our money, and if they're running unopposed, they have no reason to fear for their jobs. The Republicans -- national and here at home -- figured this out 50 years ago, which was the driving force behind ALEC. They understood that if they consolidated power in the states, they would hold the levers of power nationwide because the states determine how we elect our federal decision makers. Clayton understands this. I'm not sure any of her predecessors at the NCDP (and a lot of her contemporaries in other states now) ever did.
Have you seen Thomas's Substack Live where Anderson was a guest?
https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-post-primary
I've seen her on several of those. She's a regular on Restless Natives
When I read about them closing their BOE, I should have been shocked, but the Republicans will do anything they can to get the results they want. It's not like Page would be any better but he doesn't have the power that Berger foes. I'm truly disgusted with all of them.
In a way, a Berger win in the primary might actually work out better for us. If the Page voters in the district -- especially those in Rockingham County -- think Berger cheated his way to a win (and that doesn't need be *true* -- it just needs to be *believable*) there's a pretty good chance they're mad enough to either the general election out -- or better yet vote for the Democrat running against him, Steve Luking. (I confess I had to look it up, because I had no idea that who was running on the Democratic side in that district would be a relevant topic. But here we are.) Luking is a doctor with a family practice in Reidsville that he opened in 1993, so he's established in the community, and he made a respectable showing against Berger in 2024, getting 41.1% of the vote in the general. He still lost by double digits, but if he can hold onto that 41% and pick up some disaffected Republican voters who're sick of the status quo picking off that seat isn't out of the question. And if there's a stench lingering around the win in the primary you could see a LOT of disaffected Republican voters, especially if Berger wins.
Since when has the GOP been bothered by any GOP candidate cheating before?
When they're running against each other.
Bravo Thomas. I couldn’t have said it better. Rucho is a highly partisan politician with few ethics. He’s originally from Worcester Massachusetts and should be returned to that city on 7 hills 40 miles west of Boston on Route 9 and put head first into Lake Quinsigmond. No trip to Spags either
I can only hope that NC voters have finally started to wake up to the fact that they really screwed themselves royally by swallowing the propaganda from all the Koch money that flooded our state prior to the 2010 election. Voting in a Republican legislature and governor was far too much power for that party to hold at the time. I just hope it’s not too late to rectify at least some of the damage that’s been done by continuing the trend we’ve seen so far in NC and all the other states where Democratic turnout has been very positive.
⬆️"Voting in a Republican legislature and governor was far too much power for that party to hold at the time. I just hope it’s not too late to rectify at least some of the damage that’s been done"
If we can reelect Anita Earls to the NC Supreme Court this year, we would only need to flip 2 out of 3 GOP-held Supreme Court seats in 2028 to flip the balance of power. Then we would have the opportunity to outlaw partisan gerrymandering. We could follow the model set by the Wisconsin Democrats.
One of the key issues in the past has been ballot drop-off with voters favoring Democratic candidates. GOP voters are far more likely to vote the entire ticket. The judicial races have been too close for comfort. Check out the NCDP initiative to do Anytime Canvassing for Justice Earls.
https://www.mobilize.us/ncdems/event/870793/
https://www.ncdp.org/quickstart
Right on. I was hoping Ben Wikler would lead the Dems nationally because he was instrumental in getting rid of gerrymandering in WI. But alas.
We needed that expertise here in NC.