A Narrative Jump Ball in Virginia
Blair Reeves is Executive Director of Carolina Forward. Last night, Republican Glenn Youngkin was narrowly elected to the office of Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Though polls had favored Democrat Terry McAuliffe in his quest for a second term as Governor,...
The House insurrectionist
Yesterday, the North Carolina House swore in a new member from Gaston County. Donnie Loftis replaced Dana Bumgardner who passed away recently. Loftis is a former county commissioner who stormed the Capitol on January 6. Democrats walked out of the chamber when he was...
What to Watch in the Virginia Governors’ Race
Seldom has one state's gubernatorial election portended so much for the entire nation. Tomorrow marks election day in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and what happens when voters go to the polls will signify a great deal about where our politics are headed for the...
Undermining democracy
I’ve been trying to avoid watching too much of the redistricting debate because I know what Republicans are going to do. They will maximize their advantage to rig the elections for themselves. Democrats, who are in the minority in both houses of the legislature, are...
Yes, Virginia, there is an election
I’ve been watching the Virginia governor’s race out of the corner of my eye. I haven’t been paying too much attention, but it’s hard to escape it with my Twitter feed. What I’ve seen has been ugly and misguided. Terry McAuliffe is trying desperately to make Glenn...
Governing in dysfunction
Watching Democrats govern has been frustrating to say the least. Biden seemed to start off with a bang, passing the American Rescue Plan and rolling out the vaccines quickly and efficiently. His infrastructure plan quickly garnered bipartisan support. Then, the...
Cal Cunningham and the Headwinds Facing NC Democrats
There's been a conversation on Twitter about whether Cal Cunningham jilted the Democratic Party. Many Democrats believe that Cunningham's selfishness and narcissism cost the party a vital Senate seat, landing them in the quagmire of Manchin-Sinema obstructionism, but...
Random thoughts on redistricting
As we get closer and closer to new district maps, I have a few thoughts on redistricting, some of which I expressed last week. In particular, there’s no way to take politics out of the process, but there are better ways than others to do it. In North Carolina, we’ve...
Every Attempt at Democracy Inspires Backlash Against Democracy
The muted response to North Carolina Republicans' proposed gerrymandered maps is quite revealing. The last time they set out to slice and dice North Carolina for partisan advantage, in 2011, political observers reacted with horror at the party's cynicism. After a...
Coal-Loving Joe Manchin Could Learn From North Carolina
In the late nineteenth century, North Carolina bet its future on an industry that would eventually collapse. Promoters for the state ardently pursued cotton mills, offering Yankee executives a robust supply of cheap labor coming off the farms and denying workers, all...
Medicaid Rejectionism and the Curdling of American Exceptionalism
In moments of idealistic whimsy, conservatives often pay homage to the notion of American Exceptionalism. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee thundered that his state's students will be taught "unapologetic American Exceptionalism." That he felt it necessary to thump his...
A multi-pronged attack on democracy
This weekend, I watched the new HBO documentary, Four Hours in the Capitol, about the insurrection of January 6. Combined with the news coming out of the investigations, any American patriot should be outraged. The perpetrators of the attack clearly intended to...