By far the longest-serving governor in state history, Hunt's first and second gubernatorial wins were in 1976 and 1980, his third and fourth in 1992 and 1996.
Carolina Journal Editor-in-Chief Donna King and John Locke Foundation Senior Political Analyst Mitch Kokai discuss the legacy of former four-term North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, who has died at age 88.
Instead of focusing primarily on what Donald Trump did, consider the possibility that the outcome may be due more to what his opponents did or didn’t do.
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...
Of the 10 executive offices that make up North Carolina’s Council of State, half will be open seats in the 2024 elections. That is, there’ll be no incumbents. The politicians currently in those offices are leaving, either to retire or to run for something else. Catherine Truitt, the current state superintendent of public instruction, isn’t...
North Carolina will punch above its weight in 2024 when it comes to political significance. As noted last year by U.S. News and World Report: “From the race for president down the ticket to agriculture commissioner, a uniquely competitive political environment assures the state will be one of the centers of the political universe in...
It goes without saying that North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes for president will, as usual, be heavily contested next year by the two major-party nominees, who are presumed to be Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump. I’m not yet ready to accept that presumption, by the way. I think it’s possible, for example, that...
With my longtime friend Andy Wells, a former state senator, joining the Republican primary field for governor and Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan publicly considering a run for the Democratic nomination, now seems like an opportune time to answer a frequently voiced question. Why in the world would anyone want to be governor of North...
In Washington, Republican lawmakers are insisting that any deal with the Biden administration to raise the federal debt ceiling be accompanied by stricter work requirements for such programs as cash welfare, nutrition assistance, and Medicaid. In Raleigh, Republican state senators tried to make work requirements a condition for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act,...
I’ve been writing a newspaper column since 1986. During that time, I’ve had occasion to criticize the policies of six North Carolina governors: Jim Martin, Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, Beverly Perdue, Pat McCrory, and Roy Cooper. None has seen fit to have me flogged. An ancestor of mine, William Pendley, wasn’t so lucky. Some years...
Because I am an inveterate optimist who likes to think the best of other folks, I’m going to assume for the sake of the following argument that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former governors Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, and Bev Perdue sometimes sign documents they’ve not closely read. I make that assumption because they...
