Editor’s note: The original version of this story mistakenly said six counties would flip from Democrat to Republican. Five counties will turn from Democrat to Republican, since Guilford County went from red to blue. The story has since been corrected. Republicans won a strategic victory on Election Day in North Carolina, claiming several formerly Democratic...
The number of Republican-controlled county commissions jumped from 56 to 61 this year. However, slightly more than half North Carolinians now live in counties with Democratic boards.
An executive order giving people a break on utility payments threw local governments across North Carolina into financial havoc. In late March, Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order banned utility providers from disconnecting non-paying customers. The executive orders aimed to protect people from losing water, electricity, natural gas, sanitation, or wastewater services during the COVID-19 pandemic....
A bipartisan bill to implement the state’s new constitutional amendment requiring photo identification to vote whisked through the Senate Select Committee on Elections by unanimous vote. A second round of debate in the Senate Rules Committee and a second floor vote are set for Wednesday, Nov. 28. Senate Bill 824, whose primary sponsors are Sens....
A constitutional amendment capping the state’s top income tax rate at 7 percent didn’t seem to spook national bond-rating agencies, state Treasurer Dale Folwell said. The three agencies recently reaffirmed the state’s AAA bond rating. Folwell made the announcement about the bond rating Wednesday, July 11. He noted North Carolina is one of only 13...
A Republican-sponsored bill in the General Assembly could allow the first ever municipal sales taxes in North Carolina. House Bill 900, sponsored by Reps. Stephen Ross, R-Alamance, and Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, would allow a municipality to hold a voter referendum on the adoption of a sales and use tax of 0.25 percent. The bill’s stated purpose is...
In making a final review of key elections to watch on Nov. 5, it’s worth paying attention to trends in county commissioner races in North Carolina. Republicans made gains into the mid-1990s, only to give back some of them in the late-1990s. What’s next?
