The boys club
Republicans should sit back and carefully consider their move on Brett Kavanaugh. He’s been credibly accused of attempted rape when he was a high school student 35 years ago and the accuser now is willing to testify before Congress. Instead of listening to her,...
More evidence of Democratic enthusiasm
Democratic turnout in primaries continued to surge last night. In New York, voters turned out in much greater numbers than they have in previous midterms. Twice as many voted yesterday than they did four years ago. In North Carolina, early absentee ballot requests...
NC-02 shows what Trump is doing to the GOP
Another poll is out showing Linda Coleman leading George Holding in the race for NC-02. That’s the third poll that has her leading the incumbent Congressman. Yesterday’s Civitas poll gives Coleman a one-point lead. They're all within the margin of error, though, so...
Will the GOP seawall contain the blue wave?
The GOP continues to get bad news about the midterm election cycle. Yesterday, Republicans revealed that they are worried about losing the Senate. A series of polls over the past week show Donald Trump’s approval ratings have dropped significantly. To many...
Hurricanes and politics
Hurricanes in North Carolina can alter races. Some argue that Matthew hurt Democratic turnout in 2016 because of the damage that it caused in counties like Robeson. A storm the size of Florence could cause severe damage all the way into the Triangle. Fran hit in...
In search of a message
Republicans are searching for a national message heading into the midterms. They had hoped to be running on the success of their tax plan or the failure of Obamacare. Neither of those has worked out. The tax plan hasn’t helped the middle class and Obamacare is...
They’ve got McCready’s back
Mark Harris’ road to Congress just got a little more difficult. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos put $10 million in a Charlotte-based super PAC called With Honor. The PAC supports veterans running for Congress from both parties. However, CEO Rye Barcott, who co-founded the...
An unpredictable electorate
On Tuesday night, Ayanna Pressley, a Boston City Council member, upset a 10-term Member of Congress in the Massachusetts’ Democratic primary. A poll in August had Pressley trailing by 13 points. She won by 18. The week before, Andrew Gillum won the Florida Democratic...
The home stretch
With Labor Day past, the homel stretch of the 2018 election season has officially begun. Over the next two months, people who’ve paid little attention to the news or politics will start to tune in. Candidates will begin their paid communication programs in earnest....
NC-08: Reflections of 2006
(Full disclosure: I'm consulting on the McNeill campaign now and worked with Larry Kissell in 2006.) After Labor Day in 2006, North Carolina’s last Blue Moon election, a Democratic wave was forming across the nation. While the economy was relatively strong, the war in...
