The N.C. General Assembly voted along party lines Wednesday to move the 2022 primary election back three weeks from May 17 to June 7. The Senate passed the measure, House Bill 605, with a 26-17 vote, while the House approved the change, 69-50. “The bill will alleviate voter confusion,” said Senate Elections Committee Chair Sen....
Legislative Democrats and Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper are making it clear they will oppose the legislation to move North Carolina’s primary election date from May 17 to June 7. Legislative Republicans will vote this week to delay primaries by three weeks. It’s a move first reported by Carolina Journal over the holiday weekend. Cooper is...
Legislative Republicans are likely to vote to delay North Carolina’s primary elections until June, multiple sources confirm to Carolina Journal. Moving the primary date would ensure the General Assembly has time to redraw legislative and congressional district maps if ordered to do so by the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court. All state and local primary elections...
Mecklenburg Republican Charlie Mulligan decided he could no longer wait. This week he announced his campaign for the newly drawn N.C. Senate District 41 in southern and eastern Mecklenburg County. It includes the GOP-leaning towns of Matthews and Mint Hill. “In Mecklenburg, not only can we do better, we deserve better, and that’s why I’m...
A ruling against legislative defendants in North Carolina's latest redistricting dispute would require multiple questionable decisions from the state Supreme Court.
Democrat Party-aligned groups challenging North Carolina’s recently enacted election maps told a three-judge panel Thursday that the maps are extremely partisan. They said the maps for legislative and congressional elections are so partisan in favoring Republican candidates that they violate North Carolina’s constitutional guarantee of “free elections.” That was a key argument in closing arguments...
A liberal UNC-Chapel Hill professor testified Tuesday that GOP-crafted election maps represent a conservative white backlash against rising black political power. Professor James Leloudis appeared on behalf of Democratic Party-aligned plaintiffs working to overturn voting maps passed by the Republican-led General Assembly, arguing that the maps are unfair to black North Carolinians. Leloudis, a UNC-CH...
Does a one-seat partisan advantage in the drawing of North Carolina’s new congressional district maps amount to an extreme partisan gerrymander that is impermissible under the N.C. Constitution? That was much of the focus on the first day of a trial on the constitutionality of new congressional and legislative maps recently passed by the General...
Democrats on the state Supreme Court will not use their narrow 4-3 majority to forcibly remove two GOP justices from a critical case dealing with state constitutional amendments. In an order released without fanfare just before Christmas, the court has in essence preserved the status quo. It has preserved a practice that’s been in place...
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...
Editor’s note: This article has been updated. State Sen. Jeff Jackson has dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination in North Carolina’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. Announcing his decision via social media, Jackson has endorsed former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley. Carolina Journal learned from multiple sources, both Democrat and Republican,...
