Since the turn of the 20th century, North Carolina voters have picked Republicans for governor just four times: Jim Holshouser in 1972, Jim Martin in 1984 and 1988, and Pat McCrory in 2012. In each case, there was no Democratic incumbent. In each case, the GOP presidential candidate also won North Carolina. A similar scenario...
In December 2023, my family attended the North Carolina Theatre’s production of Elf. It was another thrilling night back with old friends in my nearly 40-year association with North Carolina’s largest professional theatre company — one of the few in America primarily dedicated to producing Broadway-caliber musicals with a world class youth-training organization. The vision...
Had Democrats succeeded with a 2021 plan to rewrite state Supreme Court recusal rules, Justice Anita Earls might have been disqualified from the recent Leandro hearing.
Every year in North Carolina, citizens convicted of a crime are not just subjected to punishments like imprisonment and parole, they are also forced to pay millions of dollars in court fees, fines, and penalties. Although these Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs) are intended to be an alternative to imprisonment and help recoup to the state...
Most of the executive-branch offices comprising North Carolina’s Council of State are either open seats in 2024 or will feature highly competitive races in both the primary and general elections. But none has attracted as many candidates as lieutenant governor. GOP incumbent Mark Robinson is running for governor. Fourteen North Carolinians want to succeed him...
There are times when citizens should be angry with election officials. For example, people were properly up in arms when the State Board of Elections (SBE) twice tried to illegally suppress election observers over the past few years. Another example is when the SBE participated in a “Sue and Settle” scheme to alter election laws...
Forty-one years ago, under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan, the National Commission on Excellence in Education found “a nation at risk.” If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we...
Recently, retired North Carolina Supreme Court justice and 2022 redistricting special master Bob Orr filed a lawsuit challenging the redrawn congressional and state legislative maps based on “fairness.” My colleague Dr. Andy Jackson explained how the plaintiffs’ central claim in this lawsuit is just another partisan gerrymandering claim presented under a new name. The case...
