Gene Nichol’s Righteous Grief
"Lessons from North Carolina" is a phrase that in a recent political context seems unlikely to be edifying. After all, the last 12 years have seen our state transmogrify into an exemplar of modern-day retrogression. But somehow Gene Nichol has managed to write a book...
Robinson makes it official
Mark Robinson is officially a candidate for governor. He’s the least experienced lieutenant governor in modern history. He has no political record or accomplishments. He’s the first social media phenomenon to win statewide office in North Carolina, maybe the nation....
More houses equals lower rent
For years, I spent several weeks every summer in Minneapolis. In 2019, the city was in the midst of the divisive 2040 campaign. Housing advocates proposed a plan to eliminate single-family zoning in the city as rent and housing prices were driving people further and...
The GOP Base is Hurting the GOP’s Ability to Win Elections
Jesse Helms never lacked pariahs to demonize. Building a political career when the legacy of segregation echoed powerfully in North Carolina, Helms promoted various Black political figures as villains in the drama of American politics. In 1984, he released dozens of...
The GOP’s shrinking margin in the suburbs
John Hood recently wrote a curious column about the rise of the Republican Party in North Carolina. Much of it is right. The number of registered Democrats has been shrinking continuously for decades. The number of registered Republicans has been growing. However, the...
back to the future
The electorate and the country are in transition. Politically, we’re in the midst of the most significant realignment in 40 years. Economically, we’re shifting from a manufacturing-based economy to a technology/knowledge-based economy. We are quickly becoming more...
A New Wave of Aggression from the Religious Right
Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech had little to do with the Soviet Union. Delivered to the National Association of Evangelicals, the bulk of Reagan's address was a feast of red meat for the Republican base's 1980s fixations: drugs, prayer, sexual promiscuity. The...
The brewing backlash
Republicans seem to be trying to define themselves as the party of extremes. In state after state, they pass abortion bans that will almost certainly drive a wedge between them and women voters, especially young ones. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis probably just sunk...
There was no conspiracy
There’s a conspiracy theory floating around Democratic circles that Tricia Cotham’s party switch was planned before she got into the race in 2022. Proponents of the theory cite contributions to her campaign by business oriented PACs. They believe she was a “Trojan...
History repeating itself
When Tennessee Republicans expelled two legislators from the Tennessee House of Representatives, they laid bare the problem of having a monolithic party. They claim that the actions were about protocol, not race, but the specter of an all-White body punishing two...
Tennessee racists and other thoughts
I have three things on my mind this morning. The first is the disgraceful display of anti-democratic behavior by the Tennessee GOP. The second is about party switching. The third is the state of North Carolina’s Democratic Party. I’m not sure there’s a common thread,...
The Human Consequences of Tricia Cotham
There have been many personal critiques of state Rep. Tricia Cotham's character. They are well deserved, and I hope you'll read them. But rather than her self-pitying political opportunism, I want to focus on the consequences that the newly minted Republican's...