A big ‘un. A humdinger, game changer, end of the world, etc., etc.
Yeah, from a Democrat’s perspective, it was bad. Kamala Harris lost decisively to Donald Trump, a man barren of morals who encouraged a deadly insurrection on our capital, flouted the law repeatedly, and made bullying the hallmark of his campaign.
We have learned many lessons from this election, and from Mr. Trump, but I’m not going to dwell on those today. All I’ll say is that the American people will tolerate a level of dishonesty, crass behavior and immorality previously thought disqualifying for any presidential candidate.
With Republicans heading toward control of all three branches of government, we will see a transformation of our country over the next two years that could devastate the environment, public health and yes, even consumer prices.
Shall we forever more remember that it is, indeed, the economy, stupid. And well, immigration.
But let’s move on. It’s not all doom and gloom for Democrats, at least on the state and local levels, partly because North Carolina has a delightful habit of going for yin and yang when it comes to elections. This time we went solidly for Trump as president but overwhelmingly for Democrat Josh Stein as governor.
And on the Council of State, Democrats won a bunch of offices: lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction. Republicans won these: state auditor, agriculture commissioner, insurance commissioner, labor commissioner and treasurer.
“(Democrats) won half, so they gained a seat on the Council of State,” Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper said last week. (I’m required by law to shoot the bull with Cooper after every major election.) “They kept the First Congressional District, which was the only competitive district in the state. They clawed back the super majority.”
“It was not a bad night for Democrats in North Carolina,” Cooper said.
Hey, we’re not blue, but we’re kind of purplish. OK, maybe mauve. Ish.
Hey, we still have two very conservative U.S. senators. But the Dems’ success on the state level remains notable.
“The song remains the same, as Led Zeppelin said,” Cooper said, referring to our dual personality and purple streak. “It’s the same story. What’s interesting or different is that some other states joined us.”
In 2020, only five Democrats won election when they were on the same statewide ballot as Trump, and four of those were in the state of North Carolina, Cooper said.
“This time, there were some Democrats who still were elected in Trump states, and it’s because he won all the battlegrounds,” Cooper said.
But let’s get back to the super-majority issue, and the governor’s veto, probably the election’s most important development.
For the past several years, Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes have been mostly meaningless, as the Republicans could override them at will, thanks to a super majority provided by Mecklenburg Rep. Tricia Cotham, who switched from Democrat to Republican in 2023.
Having a Democratic governor with real veto power is huge for progressives and the future of state legislation, Cooper said.
“I think the Stein victory is, of course, important, and we saw it coming,” Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper said. “But it means so much more for the Democrats because it comes in conjunction with breaking the super majority.” // Photo credit: Western Carolina University
“I think the Stein victory is, of course, important, and we saw it coming,” Cooper said. “But it means so much more for the Democrats because it comes in conjunction with breaking the super majority.”
The veto is the “one legislative tool that the governor has in his toolbox, and if the Republicans had maintained the super majority, they could have overridden his veto without a single Democrat on their side,” Cooper said.
“So in practice, that means they could pass any legislation they wanted without a single Democrat agreeing,” Cooper continued. “It would have been a one-party state in terms of the legislation coming out of Raleigh.”
So, that’s pretty huge.
Another takeaway from this election is that Buncombe County is more Democratic than ever, even in the one territory Republicans made an effort to claim through favorable redistricting, House District 115, where Rep. Lindsey Prather, D-Buncombe, was the incumbent. She ran against Republican Ruth Smith, pulling out a victory with 51.4 percent of the vote.
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Lindsay Prather, shown on the House Floor in June 2023, prevailed in House District 11 against Republican Ruth Smith. // Credit: North Carolina General Assembly
As Cooper said, “It was close, but it wasn’t,” as Prather’s victory is safely out of recount territory.
“In that district, based on the 2020 vote, it favored the Republican Party by a few percent, so really, she outperformed her district by probably five percentage points,” Cooper said. “I think the reality is that probably means the district’s changed since 2020 — more people moving in. It’s liberalizing.”
Cooper is skeptical that another Republican will make it to the North Carolina House in Buncombe County in the foreseeable future.
On the flip side, I don’t see a Democrat going to Congress from the 11th District in my lifetime. (And yes, let’s hope that’s longer than, say, five or 10 years.) Democrat Caleb Rudow challenged incumbent Chuck Edwards, who delivered a beatdown, winning just less than 57 percent of the vote — and I thought Rudow ran a good campaign and was a very likable candidate.
Incumbent Chuck Edwards, right, easily beat Democratic challenger Caleb Rudow, winning 61 percent of the vote. // Photo credits: Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego, official congressional portrait 2023
Football hero Heath Shuler, a former NFL quarterback and Swain County native, was the last Democrat to hold that office, and he was essentially a Republican in many regards. Unless Shuler wants to run again, look for Edwards to stay in as long as he wants.
Speaking of beatdowns, Amanda Edwards put one on former Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan, who ran as an unaffiliated candidate in their race for the chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, taking 60.7 percent of the vote to Duncan’s 39.3. Duncan, a former Democrat, left the party after he said it essentially left him by drifting too far left.
Edwards hammered Duncan on his acceptance of a $125,000 retirement payout or retention bonus (depending on your point of view). But I don’t think that’s what did in Duncan, who was a highly popular sheriff.
Democrat Amanda Edwards crushed Van Duncan, who ran as an unaffiliated candidate, in their race for the chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. // Photo Credits: Buncombe County and John Boyle
I think what got him is he ran as an unaffiliated candidate in a very Democratic County and didn’t have any party backing.
Cooper has written a lot about unaffiliated candidates and how they have a steep uphill battle in North Carolina, first to even get on the ballot and then to actually win.
“It just shows unaffiliated candidates can’t win,” Cooper said. “Four years, maybe two years from now, we’ll have another person read ‘Don Quixote’ and start tilting at windmills.”
“He was the best possible unaffiliated candidate and he didn’t come close,” Cooper said.
Which brings me to the end of today’s column.
Let’s start talking about that 2028 race! I can’t wait for the text messages to start!
[Correction: An earlier version of this column misidentified the House district in which Rep. Lindsey Prather, D-Buncombe, was the incumbent and the victor. It is District 115. The column also misstated Chuck Edwards’s percentage of the vote total in his race against Caleb Rudow. He won just less than 57 percent.]
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-01 13:32:00
(The Center Square) – Directions on curriculum measured age appropriate and access in public libraries to materials considered harmful to minors are in a proposal at the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Parental Rights for Curriculum and Books, also known as House Bill 595, adds to state law a section for age-appropriate instruction for students; a human growth and development program for fourth and fifth graders; and says reproductive health and safety education shall not happen before seventh grade.
Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston
NCLeg.gov
The bill authored by Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, and filed Monday additionally has sections on instructional materials and clarification of “defenses for material harmful to minors.” Public library access for minors is in a fourth section.
Gender identity instruction, a buzzword of recent election cycles, is prohibited prior to students entering the fifth grade. The proposal extends that to prior to the entering seventh grade.
The bill would require parental consent to learn about some elements associated with sex education – infections, contraception, assault and human trafficking.
State law allows schools the option to adopt local policies on parental consent for the reproductive health education.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 16:37:00
(The Center Square) – Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.
“As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”
More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in deportation of people accused of being in gangs in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app.
Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.
Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciar Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.
Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth.
“Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 15:21:00
(The Center Square) – Wildfires continued to burn Monday in the Carolinas, though a sign of optimism arose with a burning ban lifted in 41 South Carolina counties and measured rainfall in both states.
Largest of the fires is Table Rock in Pickens and Greenville counties of South Carolina. The Black Cove fire is burning in North Carolina’s Polk and Henderson counties, the Rattlesnake fire is burning Haywood County, and the Alarka 5 fire is in Swain County.
South Carolina’s Horry County at the Atlantic Ocean and North Carolina border, and the northwestern counties of Spartanburg, Greenville, Pickens and Oconee remain under a burning ban. In North Carolina, all 100 counties have a ban in effect.
The Table Rock fire size is about 13,191 acres in South Carolina and 574 in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission of the former said. Containment is about 30%.
The Persimmon Ridge fire is 2,078 acres in size with 64% containment. Rain Sunday into Monday measured nearly 1 inch.
The Covington Drive Fire in Myrtle Beach is about 85% contained and in mop-up and strengthened firebreaks stage.
In North Carolina, the Black Cove complex of fires are 7,672 acres in size. It includes the Black Cove (3,502 acres, 36% contained), Deep Woods (3,971 acres, 32% contained) and Fish Hook (199 acres, 100% contained) fires. Rainfall overnight into Monday helped the battle.
