News & Views

U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (NC-13) (Courtesy photo)

The election of Donald Trump to a second term in the White House has caused a great deal of consternation for many Americans. While all caring and thinking people cling to hope that Trump will concentrate on governing and refrain from the acts of political vengeance and ideological extremism that he forecast during his campaign, the early signs – particularly the remarkably unqualified slate of cabinet nominees he has advanced – have not been encouraging.

So how can concerned leaders – Democrats, Republicans and independents – best monitor and respond to Trump’s actions? Recently, North Carolina Congressman Wiley Nickel offered an intriguing suggestion. He proposed that Democrats and their allies borrow an idea from parliamentary systems and form what’s known as a “shadow cabinet” to monitor and respond to the actions of the new Trump administration. And last week NC Newsline caught up with Nickel to discuss the idea.

Read Nickel’s recent op-ed in The Washington Post here.

Davidson College Political Scientist Susan Roberts (Courtesy photo)

Across the United States, elected leaders, analysts, pundits, and millions of average Americans are reflecting on and trying to make sense of Donald Trump’s victory in the recent presidential election. This is especially the case in North Carolina, where despite Trump’s win in the state presidential contest, Democrats fared well in statewide and legislative elections.

One North Carolina expert who has some interesting and in some respects, outside-the-box takes on this situation (and North Carolina’s status as a so-called purple state) is Davidson College professor of political science Susan Roberts. And this past week, NC Newsline caught up with Professor Roberts at her Davidson office.

El Pueblo director Iliana Santillan (File photo)

One group of North Carolinians for whom the election is likely to have a significant impact is the immigrant community. With President-elect Trump promising a wave of mass deportations and our state legislature plowing ahead with legislation to force local sheriffs to partner with federal immigration control officials, a new period of uncertainty and upheaval for thousands of families (and the businesses that rely on immigrant workers) appears to be in offing.

Despite all this, voter surveys indicate that Trump did better with Latin American voters than some had expected – a fact that illustrates how diverse the Latin American community is. Earlier this week, NC Newsline got a chance to discuss this situation and what’s likely to come next with the leader of one of our state’s leading Latino issues advocacy organizations – the executive director of El Pueblo, Iliana Santillan.

Galen Bacharier (File photo)

While a tiny handful of races have yet to be officially called, we now know the results of the vast majority of contests in the 2024 election and topping the list in North Carolina, of course, is the governor’s office, where attorney general Josh Stein will soon be sworn in as North Carolina’s 76th chief executive. Earlier this week we sat down with NC Newsline reporter Galen Bacharier to discuss Stein’s landslide victory, the controversies surrounding Republican candidate Mark Robinson and what his future may hold, the potential changes in the North Carolina General Assembly’s composition and the prospects for additional Hurricane Helene relief – both in Raleigh and Washington – prior to year’s end.

Read more of Bacharier’s reporting here.

Reporter Lisa Sorg (File photo)

Donald Trump’s second administration is poised to soon do a great deal of damage in several important areas – including health care, education, reproductive freedom, immigration, foreign policy and the economy. That said, when it comes to the damage that will be truly irreparable, no pledge looms darker or more ominous than Trump’s plan to scuttle efforts to combat climate change.

So, where do things stand? Will the federal government now roll back efforts targeting the climate crisis even as its effects grow more devastating each year? And what can we expect from policymakers and polluters in North Carolina? Recently, NC Newsline caught up with Inside Climate News reporter Lisa Sorg to get her takes on these questions and, not surprisingly, the news she delivered was, for the most part, quite sobering.

Read more of Sorg’s investigative reporting here.

Mary Ann Wolf (Photo: Public School Forum)

Yet another area in which the recent general election is likely to have major impacts is public education. Here in North Carolina, education advocates are hopeful that the combination of a new governor and a slightly different state legislature could lead to a boost in public school funding – something that’s desperately needed given our state’s bottom-of-the-pack rankings in key funding categories, the ongoing shortage of qualified teachers, and the destructive impacts of Hurricane Helene.

At the federal level, however, prospects for progress are uncertain at best given President-elect Donald Trump’s stated plan to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Recently, in order to get a handle on these developments, NC Newsline sat down with one of our state’s top public education advocates, the President and Executive Director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, Mary Ann Wolf.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) (Photo: House.gov)

The 2024 election is now mostly in the rear-view mirror, and as we all know by now, huge change is in the offing thanks to the return of Donald Trump. Trump’s election would appear to bode ill for a host of important and successful federal government initiatives of recent years on such matters as health care, environmental protection, education and more.

One member of Congress who will be doing her best to defend many of those successful initiatives is Wake County U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross. Ross was reelected by a wide margin this past Tuesday and as she told NC Newsline when we caught up with her the day after Election Day, she’s hopeful that Democrats can add some balance to Washington and that her colleagues will return to Capitol Hill in the next few weeks to provide much more aid for hurricane-impacted areas of western North Carolina.

Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Coope (Screengrab from video recording)

Even though North Carolinians gave the state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump, last Tuesday was, in many ways, a status quo election in our state, in which very little has changed in the way the two major parties are controlling key levers of power. What’s more, as we learned in a conversation the day after the election with Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper, there is every indication that despite its performance in recent presidential elections, North Carolina remains one of the nation’s most deeply purple states. Cooper shares his takeaways from the November 5th elections.

Jason Kanawati Stephany, Vice President of Communications & Public Policy at Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina

This year’s election may have come and gone, but one thing that hasn’t gone anywhere in North Carolina this year is hunger. Especially since congressional Republicans blocked the reauthorization of some key social safety net programs that led to great success during the pandemic, food insecurity has expanded to the point at which more than 560,000 people in our region alone fit this troubling description.

And with the recent devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene, things have been even more dire in western North Carolina – a fact that has led the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina to ship truckloads of goods to the mountains. Earlier this week, we learned more about this effort, the work of the food bank more generally and the need for average folks to become anti-hunger advocates in a conversation with the food bank’s Vice President of Communications and Public Policy, Jason Kanawati Stephany.

Click here to learn more about how you can contribute.

Karen Brinson Bell, NC State Board of Elections (photo: Screen grab from virtual press conference)

Tuesday is Election Day and the beginning of the end of what’s been an incredibly long political season. One group of people who are acutely aware of this situation and the sharp national focus it has brought to North Carolina are the dedicated professionals who run our state’s elections.

Between repeated rule changes and lawsuits, crazy conspiracy theories spread by irresponsible politicians, and the impacts of Hurricane Helene, it’s been another trying year for state and county election officials. Fortunately, North Carolina is lucky enough to have a competent and unflappable leader at the helm in State Board of Elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell, and as she reminded us when we caught up with her – her team is well prepared to oversee another honest and smoothly run election.