Nearly a decade ago, former Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff argued in the New York Times that democracy can only thrive when its practitioners respect the difference between adversaries and enemies. “An adversary is someone you want to defeat,” he wrote. “An enemy is someone you have to destroy.” Ignatieff was drawing on personal experience. He...
North Carolina Democrats got an early Christmas gift when Carolina Journal and other media reported that state Sen. Jeff Jackson, D-Mecklenburg, would be canceling his U.S. Senate campaign. His move clears the field for North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Jackson endorsed Beasley in his announcement exiting...
Among voters with graduate degrees, 60% of Republicans express the concern that disclosing their political views may harm them at work. Only 25% of Democrats express the same concern.
Take a deep breath. It’s finally over. Mostly. North Carolina’s 2020 election was a mixed bag full of unexpected results. Most voters are confident in the outcomes, but others aren’t so sure, a new poll shows. Some things we know for certain. President Trump won 50% of the state’s vote, turning North Carolina red in...
In a free society, government can’t just tell people to shut up. Nor can government divide private organizations into categories, allowing some but not others to spend money on politics.
Democrats never had a clue, I think, how poorly they handled the protests over the summer and fall that, all too frequently, devolved into destructive riots.
Whatever you think of it, political polarization hasn’t yet hunted split-ticket voters to extinction. They still matter — and candidates know it.
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Grillgate: In North Carolina, barbecue is for fighting. Cal Cunningham learned that the hard way. The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate tweeted an image of himself preparing to grill some hot dogs...
Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis went on the attack Monday night. He had to. Tillis went after Democrat Cal Cunningham more like an underdog challenger than an incumbent senator and former speaker of the House in North Carolina. Tillis finds himself in one of the nation’s most contested Senate races, the outcome of which could...
Swings of six percentage points or so between August and Election Day are entirely in keeping with the actual behavior of North Carolina’s electorate.
State Republicans and Democrats should hold onto their money until they know the Democratic nominee for president, Anna Beavon Gravely, executive director of N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation, said during a post-primary briefing. Former Vice President Joe Biden had a good night on Super Tuesday, winning 10 states, including North Carolina, but it’s not 100% certain...
