Displaying items by tag: Republicans

If the Supreme Court guts Roe v. Wade, as the leaked opinion implies, then the political landscape going into the 2022 election is almost certainly changed. The election will focus on the impact of that decision and progressives need to take advantage of the new political environment.

RALEIGH — In a typical election year, the assumption is that Democrats will dominate early voting and Republicans will catch up on Election Day. But in 2022, at least during the primary, this usual pattern has gone out the window.

With only a few days left to cast ballots in the 2022 primaries, most North Carolinians are worried and frustrated. Many are furious. Some 62% of voters responding to a recent High Point University poll said the country had “gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track.” Even higher shares of state voters said something similar in surveys by the John Locke Foundation (65%) and Meredith College (66%).

RALEIGH — Democrats in North Carolina are mum on a major breach of decorum in the leak of a draft opinion in a major national abortion case at the U.S. Supreme Court, a violation of unprecedented magnitude.

Madison Cawthorn has learned one lesson of the Trump era well: Republican politicians are above the law.

RALEIGH — A new Civitas poll shows that Republican candidates running for U.S. Congress and the state legislature in North Carolina are in good shape heading into the 2022 midterm election.

It appears that Republicans are closing ranks around Ted Budd in the U.S. Senate primary. Earlier this week, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger announced his endorsement and this morning, Budd is running ad with Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson touting his support. I suspect some of the consolidation is an attempt to prevent a costly and divisive runoff, but it begs questions about where the GOP is heading in North Carolina. 

ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County residents who plan to vote in the upcoming primary election on May 17 have only a few days left to register.

Some partisans I know insist political allegiances are so rigid that elections have become little more than turnout contests. Whichever party gets its base out wins. Persuadable swing voters used to exist in significant numbers, they concede, but are now about as hard to find as Bigfoot.

RALEIGH — A new statewide poll shows that a majority of Republican primary voters oppose expanding North Carolina's Medicaid entitlement program. Once the details of Medicaid expansion are offered to respondents their opposition climbs, pointing to a potential messaging hole for expansion opponents.