Repubs sweeps state appellate courts, but fall just short of veto-proof General Assembly; Dems gain in state US House delegation, while national picture remains undecided -- Full team coverage At the top of the ticket this year, three-term congressman Ted Budd defeated former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley in a close race to determine who replaces retiring Sen. Richard Burr.
...Cheri Beasley
The latest polls show that the gap between Cheri Beasley and Ted Budd continues to narrow, while the candidates’ differences on key issues have sharpened ahead of what could be their one and only debate. Budd, who avoided debates during an extended and contentious GOP primary, agreed to go toe-to-toe with Beasley, who faced nominal opposition and no debates in the Democratic primary, on Oct. 7. The event will air on Spectrum News and be moderated by Tim Boyum.
...With the start of early voting just seven weeks away, Democrat Cheri Beasley continues to run stronger than pundits had projected. It’s probably just a coincidence that the Pantone company chose "Very Peri," a vibrant purple, as its 2022 color of the year, but it would be hard to find a better shade to describe North Carolina’s electorate. Both are trending this fall.
...WASHINGTON — With two months left of the 2022 campaign season, a majority of Republican candidates are continuing to skirt away from not only talking to local and national media outlets about their policy issues, but their own constituents, leaving voters with little information on their policy positions. “If we are to hold our elected officials accountable on their policy stance(s), we have to know what they are,” said Nicholas Valentino, a political science and research professor in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan.
...Pivotal contest that some had already conceded to the GOP is shaping up to be closer than expected With less than three months to go before the start of early voting, North Carolina’s closely watched contest for an open U.S Senate seat remains as close as it is contentious. Going into summer the race between Rep. Ted Budd and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley appeared tilted in favor of the Republican.
...Stage to be set for momentous 175-day sprint to November 8 Election Day for the 2022 primary arrives tomorrow, but in North Carolina the general election campaign has already begun for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, a race that is expected to be one of the costliest and combative in state history.
...Presumed Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley faces an uphill fight, but will bring plenty of experience and funding to the effort Absentee ballots are starting to roll in and in-person early voting began Thursday in this year’s U.S. Senate primary, an election in which nearly all of the focus is on the bare-knuckled fight in the Republican race. But even before that’s decided, the country’s top political prognosticators are out with predictions for the fall.
...Jeff Jackson dropped out of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and offered a full-throated endorsement of Cheri Beasley Thursday in another twist in the closely watched election. In a two-minute video message to supporters released Thursday morning Jackson, a four-term state senator from Charlotte, said it was time for Democrats to rally together...
...Celebration and consternation greeted the weekend announcement that former Vice President Joe Biden had secured the electoral votes to become President of the United States. President Donald Trump has so far refused to concede and continues to baselessly insist there was widespread fraud and election irregularities.
...Editor's note: As part of our ongoing effort to inform North Carolinians about the state judiciary, Policy Watch is publishing a series of Q&A's over the coming weeks with the candidates seeking statewide judicial office this fall. Each of the 14 candidates (six who are contesting three Supreme Court seats and eight who are contesting four seats on the Court of Appeals) was asked the same seven questions by former PW Courts, Law and Democracy Reporter Melissa Boughton.
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