Free Republic

North Carolinians flocked to early voting sites in record numbers ahead of the Nov. 3 election — turnout driven in large part by Democrats and unaffiliated voters who weighed in on constitutional amendments and picked candidates for U.S. Congress, the state legislature, courts and local offices. Early voting ended Saturday. The next opportunity for voters to cast a ballot in person is on Election Day, which is Tuesday Nov. 3. Polls on that day will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Voters are assigned precincts for Election Day voting. Precincts and sample ballots can be found using the...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WBTV) - A former North Carolina military contractor was arrested this week for leaking classified defense secrets and stealing Army night vision goggles, federal prosecutors said. FBI agents arrested 37-year-old James Ashbacher, a former U.S. government contractor, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in North Carolina. Ashbacher, who held a top-security clearance, was accused of leaking national defense information on a “popular social media site,” unlawfully keeping national defense information at his home and stealing night vision goggles from the U.S. Army. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ashbacher began working around 2021 for an unidentified private company...

A major Democratic super PAC also pulled out of the race in the final weeks. Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Democratic leadership, announced a $42 million investment in the state earlier this year. A group tied to the super PAC spent $29 million before cutting its funds in mid-October. Saving America’s Future, a pro-Trump group run by former White House aide Taylor Budowich, last week gave $1 million to NC First, a super PAC that has been funding pro-Whatley television ads, according to campaign finance reports. The amount, however, is significantly less than what Republican-leaning groups have already...

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is leading Republican Michael Whatley by 13 percentage points in the U.S. Senate race, according to the final Elon University Poll before Election Day. Among likely voters surveyed Sept. 29 through Oct. 8, 52% said they support Cooper, compared with 39% for Whatley. Six percent were undecided, while 3% backed Libertarian Shannon Bray, Green Party candidate Michael Dublin or another candidate. The poll surveyed 800 North Carolina adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.03 percentage points. When undecided voters were asked to choose between the two leading candidates, Cooper's...

RALEIGH — In recent years, health related issues have arisen for national figures like former President Joe Biden, as well as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the abrupt passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).With that as a backdrop, North State Journal asked former Gov. Roy Cooper’s Senate campaign if he was committed to fulfilling his six-year term if elected in November and if there were any health problems that might impede him. Cooper is 69 years old.North State Journal (NSJ) has previously emailed questions to the campaign eight times this year, and all but two went unanswered. The ninth time,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of six senators on Sunday called for President Donald Trump’s administration to “immediately reverse course” on a plan to purchase diesel from Russia as part of an effort to lower high fuel prices. Trump shocked lawmakers when he announced on social media Friday that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call. He said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional...

More Republicans are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision to let Vladimir Putin’s Russia temporarily export diesel fuel on the global market, expanding the bipartisan blowback over the deal. Six GOP senators joined six of their Democratic colleagues in a letter Tuesday urging Trump to cancel the arrangement allowing Russia to supply 4.8 million metric tons, or nearly 36 million barrels, of diesel through mid-April. “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded,” the lawmakers wrote. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Oklahoma’s Alan...

North Carolinians who have been inundated with TV campaign commercials may start noticing a gap in ads for Senate candidate Michael Whatley. The Whatley campaign has temporarily pulled ads on television, a campaign source told McClatchy. The source said this is a short-term adjustment of who the campaign is targeting. “We are confident we have the resources to target our late-breaking supporters and win on Election Day,” the source said. The campaign’s decision comes as national Republicans pull away from North Carolina’s Senate race to focus on other candidates nationwide. Whatley, 58, a Republican from Gastonia, is facing off against...

Outgoing RINO Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) apparently wants President Donald Trump to know that the phone-number game can go both ways. During an appearance Monday on ABC’s far-left daytime program “The View,” Tillis delivered what sounded like a thinly veiled warning to President Trump after the hosts brought up Trump’s decision to publicly post Senator Tom Cotton’s phone number over the weekend.

In the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes, then-Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration steered some $100 million in disaster funding toward affordable housing projects — despite hundreds of storm victims stuck in temporary homes, according to an analysis. Under Cooper’s watch, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) sent $100 million for affordable housing as the $1 billion agency was suffering from a gaping budget shortfall, an analysis by the John Locke Foundation, a free-market think tank in the state, found. One of the affordable housing projects, Starway Village, was a $9 million 278-unit complex that opened...

Republicans are moving up to $10 million from North Carolina’s Senate race and putting it toward shoring up deep-red Kansas, The Post has learned, while the main Trump-backing super PAC and the official Senate GOP campaign arm are done spending in the Tar Heel State. The Senate Leadership Fund, aligned with Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), initially set aside $71 million to elevate North Carolina GOP nominee Michael Whatley — but is now cutting its losses after shelling out just $30 million, according to sources familiar with the super PAC’s thinking. One of those sources suggested that at least $8.2...

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) has a double-digit lead over his competitor, former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, in his state’s Senate race, according to a new poll. In the AARP poll, released Monday, 53 percent of respondents said they would “definitely” or “probably” back Cooper or leaned toward doing so in the case the election happened that day, while 42 percent said the same of Whatley. One percent backed “someone else,” and 5 percent were unsure about their candidate of choice. The poll comes amid a problematic electoral environment for Republicans, with slumping approval ratings...

A key GOP super PAC reportedly has removed $6.5 million in ad reservations from North Carolina's Senate race for the month of October with Republican candidate Michael Whatley trailing former Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper in polls. The GOP-aligned Old North Action pulled the reservations as Republicans assess their spending in the closely watched contest for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, Semafor reported Monday, citing media tracker AdImpact. The group still has $14.5 million in advertising reserved through Election Day. The Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Republican Senate super PAC, also adjusted its North Carolina spending,...

With just over a month until early in-person voting begins on Oct. 15, North Carolinians are squarely focused on pocketbook issues. According to a new Elon University poll released Thursday, 86% of registered voters surveyed said inflation and the cost of living are “very important” issues, with 73% describing the general economy and healthcare as most important issues this fall. Husser said that probably won’t help Republicans in competitive races in November. “President Trump largely was re-elected because people thought he was going to handle the economy better than [Kamala] Harris,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll....

North Carolina Democrat state legislative candidate Shelly Headen posted a Facebook story from a vacation showing her in front of ovens in a German concentration camp memorial, saying, “Visiting Dauchau [sic] Concentration Camp in Germany… This is where Trump supporters belong.” Headen was reportedly visiting Dachau, where the memorial states that 41,500 people were murdered. In social media photos, Headen is seen smiling as she stands in front of what appears to be crematorium ovens, which were used by the Nazi SS to burn the bodies of Jews and other prisoners who died or were murdered at the camp. Headen...

A bipartisan six-member delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana on August 25, two days after Kazakhstan elected the first members of its new unicameral Kurultai. Tokayev called the timing symbolic and proposed closer dialogue between Congress and the new legislature. The delegation was led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith and included Greg Murphy, Carol Miller, Ronny Jackson, Wesley Bell, and Ed Case. Smith said President Donald Trump had called him at 2 a.m., several hours before the meeting. Trump sent his regards, expressed appreciation for his relationship with...

CMS students head back to the classroom on Tuesday, but Channel 9 learned the man accused of threatening to kill students at five different schools is now out of jail. Investigators say Drew Owens laid out mass shooting plans for a few elementary, middle and high schools. At 11:30 Saturday morning, Owens walked out of the Mecklenburg County Jail. Now a lot of parents tell us they're looking over their shoulders. "Is he going to show up at one of the schools? It's not good," said one parent. She was so afraid that she didn't want her face shown. "I'm...

The FBI interviewed Salvatore Gravano, the former underboss of the Gambino crime family known as "Sammy the Bull," to ask if ex-FBI Director James Comey likely knew what the term "86" means, according to court documents.

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is maintaining his lead over former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley in the state’s Senate race, according to a new poll released Friday. A High Point University Poll found the Democratic candidate had a 5-point advantage over his GOP opponent among likely North Carolina voters. Fifty percent of respondents backed Cooper, while 45 percent supported Whatley in the contest. The candidates will face off in the November race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. The North Carolina seat is one of the six GOP-controlled seats Democrats are hoping to flip...

(The Center Square) – A southern state that banned medical gender transition for children is funding a network of doctors and therapists who promote some of those same controversial treatments, an investigation by The Center Square found. A nonprofit called Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group openly touts puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones as treatment options for minors. And through 2027, it's receiving $1.28 million from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, records and interviews show. North Carolina state law strictly forbids body-altering gender treatments on children younger than 18, including puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries. Health and Human...