Just filled out my absentee overseas ballot and voted straight Dem. What I hated to see though were unopposed races. We have got to do better finding good candidates to challenge republicans in every race. Not a single republican got my vote.
⬆️"In the end, Cooper will likely win, unless some sort of monumental event occurs in the next few weeks. Polls show him up by double digits, but that won’t be the final margin. Most of those undecided voters are disgruntled Republicans who will either come home or stay home."
If Republicans stay home that will not do anything to impact the margin by which Roy Cooper is ahead. Only if they come back to the GOP will it have an impact on tightening the race.
But I guess you can't discount the impact of the GOP's "Cooper is soft on crime" ads - even though they are patently false. All that Fox News viewership has conditioned the GOP to be easily triggered by hate and/or fear.
But we don't have to just be a spectator to this critical senate race.
I am continuing to write GOTV postcards for NC with Postcards to Swing States (https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/) since our Indivisible chapter ordered a boatload back in April and we are still working our way through the original order. We also have been writing postcards for Ken McCool who is trying to unseat Tricia Cotham in HD-105. (That campaign is winding down).
If you don't want to commit to a large quantity of postcards, there are also NC campaigns from the following groups who have "on-demand" platforms where you request the script and names/addresses online, then provide your own postcards (and stamps). Postcard stamps are currently $0.65 each.
➡️ Activate America (www.activateamerica.vote) has an "Elect Roy Cooper to the Senate" campaign that is mail as you go with a mailing deadline of Oct 15.
➡️ Field Team 6 (https://postcards.fieldteam6.org/) still has a small quantity of names and addresses left. This campaign focuses on registering new voters. The deadline to mail these is 9/29 since the online voter registration cutoff is Oct 9. (Hopefully readers of this substack know that NC allows same day registration at in-person early voting sites).
➡️Postcards to Voters (https://postcardstovoters.org/) has a joint postcard campaign for Roy Cooper and Anita Earls. As is their standard practice, they ask that postcards be mailed within 3 days of downloading the addresses. (You can request between 4 and 50 addresses at a time and then come back for more).
In addition there are two groups with NC letter-writing campaigns:
➡️ VoteRiders (https://voteriders.org/volunteer/) is mailing Voter IS Fact sheets to help ensure that NC voters have the ID they need to vote)
➡️ Vote Forward (https://go.votefwd.org/) has both "political" and "social" campaigns which combine voter information with a hand-written message about why it is important to vote.
For both these letter-writing campaigns, you print out the letters and provide First Class stamps and #10 envelopes. (First Class stamps are $0.82 each).
Thank you. I’m weary of the simplistic red-blue characterization of states and DC. It’s not helpful and it turns off voters. I once zoomed in on one of the most homogeneous precincts I could find. Sure enough, a few voters cast their ballots the other way, spitting into the wind, you might say. God bless them.
It’s not really difficult to see how the national media would arrive at that conclusion, though. Burr became a fixture (somehow), and since 2014 when Tillis lucked out the first time, NC has had both seats held by Republicans. Plus, you can count the number of Democratic presidential candidates that have carried the state in my lifetime on half a hand. Edward R. Murrow might’ve realized that the state isn’t “reliably Republican” but the national press doesn’t pay close enough attention to details to realize it.
I don’t have a lot of faith in polls anymore, but when the polling is accompanied by money drying up, I give them a little more credibility. ned for not the first time this week, The Downballot (which I highly recommend) has shown a GOP aligned bankrolled pulling $6.5 million out of NC. Word is the money is departing GA as well, for the same reason.
“There is still time, but even with at least $100 million, [Whatley] would need a campaign team capable of turning that money into actual points,” an unidentified GOP operative in the state told Politico earlier this month.
There is still a TON of GOP money afloat in the state, but the Politico article itself quotes another Republican operative as saying that Trump’s first visit to the state would help stop the bleeding. Which it does not appear to have done, based on everything I’ve read since then. And JD’s follow on performance is reported to have drawn around 300 people into a 3000-seat auditorium, and about half of them were struggling to stay awake and off their phones. (I doubt that anyone finds this surprising or difficult to believe.)
With Cooper at the top of the ticket, and candidates in every House and legislative district to ride those coattails, in a year where the federal GOP trifecta is a complete train wreck, the landscape looks quite favorable indeed.
Lets not take anything for granted. The race is not over until the votes are counted. I would hate to wake up the morning after the election and see that any Democrat has lost because we stopped working. Now is our chance to vote these corrupt Republicans out of office.
Believe me, the people I know haven't stopped working just because the polls show Roy Cooper ahead.
I'm in Charlotte and am involved with both the Meck Dems and Indivisible Charlotte. Between canvassing, phone-banking, postcard writing, and election protection both these groups definitely know the assignment!
For those who might want to donate $$ rather than time, Swing Blue Alliance is hosting a virtual fundraiser tomorrow evening:
Urban Charlotte Turnout: The Key to Winning Statewide
"Increasing turnout in Mecklenburg County, NC, especially Black turnout in Charlotte, is one of the keys to winning statewide in North Carolina this year.
All In for NC is partnering with two statewide organizations, Carolina Federation and Advance Carolina, to support their canvassing operations in Meck County, where roughly one-third of the votes needed to win statewide can be found but which has traditionally underperformed, especially among Black voters. These groups are working to build long-lasting voter turnout and engagement within Black communities."
Republicans have recently pulled $7 million in ad spending from NC. They still have sizeable ad buys in place, .... but the writing is on the wall, the Trump toady is about to fall.
The three open NC Court of Appeal races are important Thomas. Please write about them
Just filled out my absentee overseas ballot and voted straight Dem. What I hated to see though were unopposed races. We have got to do better finding good candidates to challenge republicans in every race. Not a single republican got my vote.
⬆️"In the end, Cooper will likely win, unless some sort of monumental event occurs in the next few weeks. Polls show him up by double digits, but that won’t be the final margin. Most of those undecided voters are disgruntled Republicans who will either come home or stay home."
If Republicans stay home that will not do anything to impact the margin by which Roy Cooper is ahead. Only if they come back to the GOP will it have an impact on tightening the race.
But I guess you can't discount the impact of the GOP's "Cooper is soft on crime" ads - even though they are patently false. All that Fox News viewership has conditioned the GOP to be easily triggered by hate and/or fear.
Hate and fear. bullseye
But we don't have to just be a spectator to this critical senate race.
I am continuing to write GOTV postcards for NC with Postcards to Swing States (https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/) since our Indivisible chapter ordered a boatload back in April and we are still working our way through the original order. We also have been writing postcards for Ken McCool who is trying to unseat Tricia Cotham in HD-105. (That campaign is winding down).
If you don't want to commit to a large quantity of postcards, there are also NC campaigns from the following groups who have "on-demand" platforms where you request the script and names/addresses online, then provide your own postcards (and stamps). Postcard stamps are currently $0.65 each.
➡️ Activate America (www.activateamerica.vote) has an "Elect Roy Cooper to the Senate" campaign that is mail as you go with a mailing deadline of Oct 15.
➡️ Field Team 6 (https://postcards.fieldteam6.org/) still has a small quantity of names and addresses left. This campaign focuses on registering new voters. The deadline to mail these is 9/29 since the online voter registration cutoff is Oct 9. (Hopefully readers of this substack know that NC allows same day registration at in-person early voting sites).
➡️Postcards to Voters (https://postcardstovoters.org/) has a joint postcard campaign for Roy Cooper and Anita Earls. As is their standard practice, they ask that postcards be mailed within 3 days of downloading the addresses. (You can request between 4 and 50 addresses at a time and then come back for more).
In addition there are two groups with NC letter-writing campaigns:
➡️ VoteRiders (https://voteriders.org/volunteer/) is mailing Voter IS Fact sheets to help ensure that NC voters have the ID they need to vote)
➡️ Vote Forward (https://go.votefwd.org/) has both "political" and "social" campaigns which combine voter information with a hand-written message about why it is important to vote.
For both these letter-writing campaigns, you print out the letters and provide First Class stamps and #10 envelopes. (First Class stamps are $0.82 each).
Thank you. I’m weary of the simplistic red-blue characterization of states and DC. It’s not helpful and it turns off voters. I once zoomed in on one of the most homogeneous precincts I could find. Sure enough, a few voters cast their ballots the other way, spitting into the wind, you might say. God bless them.
It’s not really difficult to see how the national media would arrive at that conclusion, though. Burr became a fixture (somehow), and since 2014 when Tillis lucked out the first time, NC has had both seats held by Republicans. Plus, you can count the number of Democratic presidential candidates that have carried the state in my lifetime on half a hand. Edward R. Murrow might’ve realized that the state isn’t “reliably Republican” but the national press doesn’t pay close enough attention to details to realize it.
I don’t have a lot of faith in polls anymore, but when the polling is accompanied by money drying up, I give them a little more credibility. ned for not the first time this week, The Downballot (which I highly recommend) has shown a GOP aligned bankrolled pulling $6.5 million out of NC. Word is the money is departing GA as well, for the same reason.
https://thedownballot.substack.com/p/morning-digest-new-moves-show-house
He also cites a Politico article as reporting:
“There is still time, but even with at least $100 million, [Whatley] would need a campaign team capable of turning that money into actual points,” an unidentified GOP operative in the state told Politico earlier this month.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/12/gop-anxiety-grows-north-carolina-senate-race-01073311
There is still a TON of GOP money afloat in the state, but the Politico article itself quotes another Republican operative as saying that Trump’s first visit to the state would help stop the bleeding. Which it does not appear to have done, based on everything I’ve read since then. And JD’s follow on performance is reported to have drawn around 300 people into a 3000-seat auditorium, and about half of them were struggling to stay awake and off their phones. (I doubt that anyone finds this surprising or difficult to believe.)
With Cooper at the top of the ticket, and candidates in every House and legislative district to ride those coattails, in a year where the federal GOP trifecta is a complete train wreck, the landscape looks quite favorable indeed.
Lets not take anything for granted. The race is not over until the votes are counted. I would hate to wake up the morning after the election and see that any Democrat has lost because we stopped working. Now is our chance to vote these corrupt Republicans out of office.
Believe me, the people I know haven't stopped working just because the polls show Roy Cooper ahead.
I'm in Charlotte and am involved with both the Meck Dems and Indivisible Charlotte. Between canvassing, phone-banking, postcard writing, and election protection both these groups definitely know the assignment!
For those who might want to donate $$ rather than time, Swing Blue Alliance is hosting a virtual fundraiser tomorrow evening:
Urban Charlotte Turnout: The Key to Winning Statewide
Thursday, September 24
7:30 – 8:30pm EDT
https://www.mobilize.us/swingbluealliance/event/972879/
⬇️
"Increasing turnout in Mecklenburg County, NC, especially Black turnout in Charlotte, is one of the keys to winning statewide in North Carolina this year.
All In for NC is partnering with two statewide organizations, Carolina Federation and Advance Carolina, to support their canvassing operations in Meck County, where roughly one-third of the votes needed to win statewide can be found but which has traditionally underperformed, especially among Black voters. These groups are working to build long-lasting voter turnout and engagement within Black communities."
Republicans have recently pulled $7 million in ad spending from NC. They still have sizeable ad buys in place, .... but the writing is on the wall, the Trump toady is about to fall.
The GOP is a one-trick pony, IMO. All of Whatley's ads focus on public safety and most of them are patently false attack ads on Roy Cooper at that.
https://politifact.com/factchecks/2025/sep/12/michael-whatley/whatley-falsely-accuses-cooper-of-bearing-direct-r/
https://www.factcheck.org/2026/08/ad-attacking-cooper-makes-false-connection-to-murder/