The 2026 campaign season has officially kicked off (although many campaigns have been going for months now) with the start of candidate filing. 

With the primary less than three months away, we're digging into the races worth watching, from Congress to legislature to the Wake County district attorney. Two political reporters, Adam Wagner of the NC Newsroom and Dawn Vaughan of The News & Observer, join WUNC's Colin Campbell for the conversation. 

Local news is a tough business these days, with journalists routinely laid off and small-town newspapers closing up shop. But North Carolina’s journalism scene does have success stories. 

WUNC's Colin Campbell spoke with the leaders of two locally owned media companies that are seeing growth. David Woronoff owns The Pilot, a thriving newspaper in Southern Pines, and magazines including Business North Carolina and Walter. Kyle Villemain started The Assembly in 2021, and it’s since grown to a staff of 43 people producing in-depth stories on all things North Carolina. They discussed the business models that can work to support journalism and how they're approaching underserved communities.

At age 88, former Gov. Jim Hunt continues to be a prominent figure in state politics, but the state’s growth means that many North Carolinians weren’t around during his record 16 years in office. So to better understand what he accomplished and what lessons his political career offers for today’s landscape in state politics, WUNC's Colin Campbell spoke with longtime Hunt aide and biographer Gary Pearce. Pearce says Hunt's powers of persuasion helped him expand the influence of the governor's office and improve the state's education system.

North Carolina no longer has any particularly competitive Congressional districts, thanks to the new map passed this week at President Donald Trump’s request. To get a better sense for how the new districts will play out in the courts and in next year’s midterm landscape, WUNC's Colin Campbell spoke with Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper. Cooper says odds aren't favorable for Democrats to pull off an upset victory in any of the GOP-leaning districts.

The 33-member N.C. House Freedom Caucus notched some major policy victories this year, defeating a proposal from Senate leaders to ban shrimp trawling while getting a gun-rights bill to the governor’s desk.

WUNC's Colin Campbell spoke with the Freedom Caucus’ chairman, Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, to find out how the legislative process unfolded. Kidwell also weighed in on the ongoing budget stalemate, the Freedom Caucus' role in next year's legislative elections, and his work on the new House Select Committee on Government Efficiency.

North Carolina’s Medicaid system is grappling with funding shortfalls, both from the state budget and from the Congressional megabill. The state Department of Health and Human Services says it will reduce provider reimbursement rates and cut coverage for popular weight-loss drugs if state lawmakers don’t approve additional funding.

And beyond that issue, more funding will be needed in the future to handle new Medicaid work requirements that were part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill. That bill also includes potential cuts to the program known as food stamps. WUNC's Colin Campbell sorts through the details with N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai. Sangvai also provided an update on the availability of COVID-19 vaccines this fall.

The state’s most conservative lawmakers have for years formed the House Freedom Caucus, and now there’s a similar caucus for legislators on the left.

The House Progressive Caucus formed this year and has about a dozen members, as well as a political action committee that will be involved in legislative elections next year. Two caucus members, Reps. Marcia Morey of Durham and Pricey Harrison of Greensboro, spoke with WUNC's Colin Campbell about the caucus' efforts to make a difference in a legislature dominated by Republicans. 

Note: This episode was recorded prior to the news of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death in a Utah shooting.

Can North Carolina’s troubled DMV finally turn the corner after years of long lines and finger-pointing about who or what’s to blame? Several months into his new job as DMV commissioner, Paul Tine says the agency is now making progress. Staff vacancies are being filled, and the legislature recently approved more staff positions and several new DMV offices. Tine spoke with WUNC's Colin Campbell after State Auditor Dave Boliek’s scathing audit report, which found that average DMV wait times have increased to an hour and 15 minutes. He says the agency is already working on many of the issues highlighted in the report.

North Carolina’s 2026 U.S. Senate race officially kicked off as former Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley have formally launched their campaigns for the seat where Sen. Thom Tillis isn’t seeking another term. To get a better sense of what we can expect from the campaign and the two leading candidates, WUNC's Colin Campbell sat down with two of the state’s top political strategists. Jim Blaine is co-founder of the firm The Differentiators and the former chief of staff to Republican Senate leader Phil Berger, and Kimberly Reynolds is a co-founder of the firm Maven Strategies and former executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party. Blaine and Reynolds expect the high-profile candidates and a big impact on the Senate balance of power could result in a campaign that breaks spending records.

North Carolina’s ballot access laws create an uphill battle for third parties seeking to get their candidates on the ballot, requiring more than 14,000 registered voters to sign their petition for access. Five of those parties were on the ballot in last year’s election, and six have started the petition process for the 2026 election cycle.

But only one party so far has made any serious progress toward getting 14,000 signatures. That’s the North Carolina Forward Party, which had amassed 2,200 signatures so far. 

The Forward Party’s chair, Patrick Newton, spoke with WUNC's Colin Campbell about the centrist party founded at the national level by former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

Newton sees ballot access for the Forward Party as a path for candidates who are too moderate to win a Democratic or Republican primary. Newton also spoke about the party’s proposals for election reforms, its work backing candidates at the state and local level, and how the Forward Party compares to last year’s “No Labels” party organization.