North Carolina politics reporter for @WRAL covering all things #ncpol. Formerly @newsobserver @sanfordherald @dailytarheel
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Joined April 2010
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President Trump in Greenville tonight called the media who are there (including @WRAL) to cover his rally "fake news" ... but then approvingly played a long video of clips of newscasts (again including ours) of the Iryna Zarutska case.
Mr. President, thank you for watching.
UNC-Chapel Hill settled a USDOJ civil rights investigation into allegations of affirmative action and antisemitism. Other universities the Trump administration went after had to pay tens of millions to settle. UNC paid $0. And made some promises about doing better in the future.
Unclear if that's more of a reflection of the seriousness of the allegations, or of the political effectiveness of UNC's Republican trustees and administration.
More on the settlement and the changes UNC is promising here #ncpol wral.com/news/local/justice-…
Notable that the state's (Jewish) governor has few details on the settlement the state's flagship university just reached over allegations of antisemitism. Gov. Stein told @carolineyaffatv today: "I hope that UNC has reached a good settlement, and I will eagerly study it."
That's more money than Michael Whatley had left in his entire campaign heading into this month, I reported yesterday. As of Sept. 30 the Whatley campaign had $916,000 cash on hand, compared to $12.5 million for Roy Cooper #ncpol
Trumpworld appears to be giving Michael Whatley a lifeline in #NCSEN: The big-Trump aligned nonprofit Securing American Greatness gave NC First PAC a $1 million check last week, and the group just disclosed a $1.2 million ad buy against Roy Cooper, per FEC filings.
As Trump gears up to visit North Carolina tonight, the head of the DNC tells us they want him campaigning here even more often
A new Elon poll backs that up, showing voters are more likely to use Trump's endorsements to choose who to vote against, not for wral.com/news/nccapitol/trum…
And here's my reporting yesterday on the deep financial advantage several Democrats in #ncpol races for seats in Congress (not just Cooper) have heading into the final stretch wral.com/news/nccapitol/roy-…
Heading into the final month of their 2026 US Senate campaign, Roy Cooper has $12.5 million cash on hand to Michael Whatley's $916,000, according to new FEC data #ncpol
It's not just Cooper. Democrats are also up in 2 key #ncpol US House races, including in western NC where Republican Jennifer Balkcom has raised just $355,000 to Democrat Jamie Ager's $5.4 million.
More here: wral.com/news/nccapitol/roy-…
Will Doran retweeted
Full story --> wral.com/news/nccapitol/thom…
Will Doran retweeted
At NCFREE, we generally agree with the first statement, but would say the NC House is currently “Lean R.”
It will not be a cakewalk for Republicans to get to 61 in this environment.
#ncpol
According to @loujacobson, when handicapping NC General Assembly seats, "Any House district at 55% Republican or lower should now be considered in play" #ncpol
He rates both #NCGA chambers as "likely Republican" centerforpolitics.org/crysta…
According to @loujacobson, when handicapping NC General Assembly seats, "Any House district at 55% Republican or lower should now be considered in play" #ncpol
He rates both #NCGA chambers as "likely Republican" centerforpolitics.org/crysta…
There are 24 NC House seats where 46% to 56% of voters backed Trump in 2020 (the most recent data the NCGA has)
Republicans currently have 19 of the 24. Democrats would have to hold all of theirs this year, and also flip most of the GOP seats, to take the majority. #ncpol
Will Doran retweeted
NEW: Megadonors have now poured *2.3 billion* into the midterm elections.
Leading the pack is Elon Musk, the world's richest man, who is now the biggest individual political donor in American history.
Six donors have given $100M+. Read here:
washingtonpost.com/elections…
It's a small snapshot, but here are the numbers from the 1st day of early voting in the #ncpol midterms comparing 2022 to 2026
📈Unaffiliated turnout (65,392) up 72%
📈Democratic turnout (95,755) up 78%
📉Republican turnout (40,105) down 8%
Will Doran retweeted
Poll results released today by WRAL/WSOC found that North Carolinians *support* the GOP’s policies on crime and transgender athletes.
… but that hasn’t translated into support for President Trump or Michael Whatley.
Why? The economy is a bigger concern.
wral.com/news/nccapitol/wral…
Happening in federal court this morning: Prosecutors, state election officials and the FBI speaking about 10 people indicted for voting despite not being a US citizen #ncpol
More details here on the individuals charged by US Attorney Ellis Boyle #ncpol wral.com/news/state/6-indict…
Our report from court this morning on the people accused of voting illegally in #ncpol elections. Updates to come: wral.com/news/state/6-indict…