Tar Heel Electioneering

As the mid-term elections begin to amble into focus, my home state of North Carolina, like many locations around the country, contains elements of blatant fuckery by the majority political party as well as signs of hope that there may be a path through the present miasma. 

I’ve written previously that the birthplace of Vince McMahon, John Coltrane and Michael Jordan is a purple state that’s been gerrymandered and re-districted of late to glow red. Republicans hold a 71-49 advantage in the state house of representatives and 30-20 edge in the state senate. Yet as recently as 2022, the state’s Congressional delegation was split evenly 7-7 with Republicans and Democrats. But the state legislature monkeyed with district maps ahead of the 2024 election and resulted in 10 GOP seats out of 14, despite less than 53 percent casting votes for Republicans. 

Hmmm, you might say, that doesn’t appear to be proportional representation. Fear not: they weren’t finished. After President Reflecting Pool called on Republican-led states to change the maps so that more elephants will be elected to Congress, the state drew new lines last year that will likely result in an eleventh GOP rep. To do so, they carved up all eight of the state’s majority-Black counties, which were concentrated in NC’s First District, and splintered them among several conservative-leaning districts (your counter-argument about blue-state gerrymanders is duly noted). 

Similar moves are being played out in several other Southern, conservative-leaning states, with the tacit backing of the U.S. Supreme Court. SCOTUS has chipped away at the 1965 Voting Rights Act in recent years, most recently in Louisiana v. Callais, essentially ruling that race-based voting districts are unconstitutional, partisan gerrymandering is perfectly acceptable, and good luck proving that race is the cause of any sort of voting or representative shortfall. Meanwhile, Republicans who control North Carolina’s state and county election boards want to move early-voting sites away from college campuses and to reduce Sunday voting. Both could impact student and Black voters, who tend to vote Democrat. 

Boliek. Yeah, this tracks.

A New York Times piece reported that three counties were instructed to move voting sites and one county to eliminate Sunday voting, which is popular among Black voters. Democrats and voting rights groups claim that the changes are the result of pressure from a gent named Dave Boliek, the Republican state auditor of election boards. Boliek has held the position since 2024 after the state legislature stripped Governor-elect Josh Stein, a Democrat, of power over election boards. Boliek subsequently appointed Republican majorities and a Republican chairperson to all 100 county election boards. 

For his part, Boliek claimed that pushback is typical partisan griping from Democrats after power shifted from their party to the opposition. He conveniently omitted that legislative scales were tilted to assure said Republican control. 

So where’s the hope, the glimmer of possibility that me and my Tar Heel State brethren aren’t sentenced to one-party rule and representation? Well, the governor’s mansion is a good place to start. Stein was elected comfortably in 2024, which marked the third consecutive gubernatorial election that a Democrat won. In fact, all three of the state’s top office holders, Stein, Lieutenant Gov. Rachel Hunt and Attorney General Jeff Jackson, are Democrats. The Republican-led legislature has done its darnedest to neuter the governor’s powers in recent years but both Stein and his predecessor served honorably. 

Speaking of his predecessor, two-term former Gov. Roy Cooper is running for the open Senate seat that Republican Thom “Unnecessary H” Tillis will vacate at the end of his term. Tillis last summer chose not to run for re-election after opposing Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill because of its cuts to health care and because of increasing discomfort over being forced into GOP lockstep with all things Trump. 

Cooper gives Democrats a solid chance at flipping the seat and narrowing the Republicans’ 53-47 Senate majority. He is polling ahead of GOP candidate Michael Whatley, the former chair of the state Republican party and chair of the Republican National Committee in 2025, a Trump endorsee who has never held public office. Cooper is running a simple, folksy campaign whose primary slogan is Make Stuff Cost Less. He refers to his campaign schedule as the Make Stuff Cost Less Tour. He doesn’t rail against Trump and keeps the rhetoric lukewarm. A favorite refrain is, “For so many North Carolina families, there’s just too much month at the end of the money,” which is about as close to glib as he gets. 

He governed mostly center-left and without scandal, so attempts to portray him as some sort of radical will likely fall flat. The primary GOP accusation against him thus far is: he’s a Democrat, which for many is disqualifier enough. Republicans will sink a fuckton of money into the fall campaign because it’s a contested seat, and the race figures to be tight because, hellooo, purple state. Anyway, not necessarily sturdy limbs on which to climb, but these days you take what you can get.

Masking Agent

Today’s dispatch from the Tar Heel State, my current home, regards brave legislators working to keep the citizenry safe. Or something like that. 

North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly recently passed a bill that potentially criminalizes the wearing of face masks for any reason other than as part of a costume. Because nothing reflects conservative ideology like restricting choice and making people think twice about how they look and react to their surroundings. 

NC House Bill 237 of course comes mounted on the mantel of law enforcement, hence its title: the Unmasking Mobs and Criminals bill. It would increase the penalties for those who commit crimes while wearing a face mask and attempting to conceal their identity. What it also does is repeal a measure that was instituted early in the COVID-19 pandemic that permitted the state or various localities to implement mask mandates in the name of public health. 

Republicans say they’re simply fighting crime. Critics of the bill say that the elderly or those with compromised immune systems, or those who simply want an extra layer of protection in crowds and public spaces, can now be targeted by the po-po for wearing a face mask. GOP Sen. Eldon “Buck” Newton, the bill’s sponsor and an attorney by trade, said he was befuddled about opposition to the measure, which passed the Senate 30-15 on straight party lines. He accused critics of a basic misunderstanding of law enforcement and of using scare tactics to suggest that anyone wearing a mask can be arrested. He told Charlotte’s ABC affiliate, “I would like to meet the law enforcement officer or the DA that wants to prosecute Granny for wearing a mask in the Walmart. Unless she got arrested sticking steaks in her bag and trying to conceal her identity – then I could see it happening – and that’s what this bill is designed to address.” 

Hard to argue with the earnest intentions of a man who after college served as an aide to conservative grenade launcher and noted race-baiter Sen. Jesse Helms, and who during a campaign for attorney general several years ago told a crowd that those who wave rainbow flags are “upset about the way things have always been in this state” and to go back and tell family and friends “how hard we must fight to keep our state straight.” 

The House bill’s face mask repeal received most of the attention, but the conservative majority also included down-bill language that would exempt religious institutions from having to follow executive orders or even state or local government orders and restrictions. It also ratcheted up criminal penalties for demonstrators who block roads and highways, and it allows for civil liability against demonstration organizers if emergency vehicles are ruled to have been impeded from reaching victims. Decide for yourself how latter parts of the bill “unmask” mobs and criminals. Or former parts of the bill, for that matter. 

To be fair, the bill hasn’t yet reached the state House of Representatives, so it’s not law. If and when it does, there’s no reason to think it won’t pass easily. The legislature has Republican veto-proof majorities in both chambers – 30-20 in the Senate, 71-49 in the House – thanks largely to gerrymandered voting districts that exist at both the state and Congressional level. 

The “Unmasking” bill is of a piece with a good deal of Republican legislation and posturing that’s often accompanied by appeals to freedom and fear. Eliminating face masks is about catching criminals. Punishing protesters is about law and order. Vaccine requirements and pandemic mitigation measures are unwanted government intrusion. Voter registration hurdles and voter roll purges are about election integrity despite scant evidence of fraud. Abortion restrictions aren’t about women’s rights and women’s health but the sanctity of human life. Measures to reduce gun violence are an assault on the Constitution. Immigration restrictions are about stemming the tide of all those illegal undesirables. Broad health care and expanded safety nets are socialist giveaways to people who don’t deserve it. Opposition to LGBTQ rights and bathroom accommodations is a bulwark against deviants and predators. Regulation and oversight of corporations are a drag on capitalism and free enterprise. 

Both sides of the political aisle are complicit in our present dysfunction. No getting around that. But it’s clear that some will discard masks to score cheap points in one area while using them elsewhere for greater gain.