2024 campaign

Closeup of election vote button for 2024 (Getty Images)

Ballot bites: A flurry of candidate filings and another redistricting lawsuit

BY: - December 5, 2023

To borrow a line from George Clooney in the movie “Ocean’s Eleven”: You’re either in or out. Right now. Monday marked the opening of North Carolina’s candidate filing period, and we’re learning more about who is in and who is out for the 2024 election cycle. After a decade in the state Senate, a leading […]

Pollster David McLennan discusses how the 2024 gubernatorial candidates are faring

BY: - November 27, 2023

The 2024 primary election in North Carolina is only just over three months away and according to the most recent Meredith College poll, we may very well already know which major party candidates are likely to prevail. According to Meredith College political scientist and pollster David McLennan the latest poll found Democratic Attorney General Josh […]

The White House seen from the north lawn

Three presidential debates, one VP debate scheduled ahead of 2024 election

BY: - November 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Democratic and Republican nominees for president would debate three times next year if both candidates agree to a schedule released Monday by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. “The United States’ general election debates, watched live worldwide, are a model for many other countries: the opportunity to hear and see leading candidates […]

President Joe Biden fist bumps a union member in a picket line

Biden tells UAW head Shawn Fain in Illinois: ‘You’ve done one hell of a job, pal’

BY: - November 13, 2023

Donning a red UAW T-shirt given to him by workers, President Joe Biden this week joined union President Shawn Fain in Belvidere, Ill., to celebrate victories in the “Stand Up Strike” against domestic automakers. Biden started his speech with a familiar refrain. “The middle class built America — and unions built the middle class,” the […]

COMMENTARY
Mark Robinson and Bill Graham

Money conservatives versus church conservatives in North Carolina

BY: - October 24, 2023

Mark Robinson’s freight-train drive for the Republican gubernatorial nomination has hit an obstacle. Unencumbered up till now by any viable opposition, the lieutenant governor must defeat a well-funded and battle-seasoned competitor in Salisbury attorney Bill Graham. Robinson retains his edge in this race, but his imminent confrontation with big money will test the dominance of […]

COMMENTARY
U.S. Capitol police officers point their guns at a door that was vandalized in the House Chamber on January 6, 2021

The U.S. dreads a Trump-Biden rematch. Lincoln Project co-founder says we should face reality.

BY: - October 4, 2023

Everyday folks don’t want to think about it because it makes them uncomfortable and sad. National news media types don’t want to think about it because they have stories to write throughout the next year. The truth is, however, barring a bolt from the blue, next year’s U.S. presidential election will feature Democratic incumbent Joe […]

Republican presidential candidates (L-R), former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina

GOP presidential hopefuls tear into each other and absent Trump at second debate

BY: and - September 28, 2023

The candidates polling from second to eighth in the race for the Republican nomination for president largely agreed on policy, fought over their records and took aim at former President Donald Trump at their second debate of the year Wednesday night. Trump, who leads polls of the race by substantial margins, skipped the event at […]

COMMENTARY
cartoon illustrations of a red elephant and blue donkey butting heads

The dumbest political attack of the year in a big roomful of contenders

BY: - September 5, 2023

As with all previous presidencies, there are undoubtedly some legitimate criticisms that can be leveled at the Biden-Harris administration for its performance over its first 31 months in office. While the decision to face reality and end the United States’s hopelessly futile occupation of Afghanistan proved correct, the process and communication surrounding it could have […]

COMMENTARY
a Barbie doll

Trump’s campaign survival is both like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”

BY: - July 26, 2023

“Barbie” had one hell of a weekend! I’ve never seen so many groups of women out and about, proudly wearing similar pink dresses. What normally would have been wardrobe warfare, was the happiest weekend in America. It was as if Easter, Prom and an abundance of weddings with way too many bridesmaids were all occurring […]

Vice President Kamala Harris

Despite poor polling numbers, Kamala Harris viewed as key for Democrats in 2024

BY: - July 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ poll numbers have stagnated at a lower level than many of her predecessors’ ratings, a daunting problem for a running mate as the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway. Professors and political experts interviewed by States Newsroom say there are several reasons why Harris’ favorability numbers sagged after she took […]

President Joe Biden speaks at a podium

Biden in South Carolina calls out Republicans who tout major legislation they opposed

BY: - July 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden traveled Thursday to South Carolina — home of the first-in-the-nation 2024 Democratic presidential primary as well as two GOP presidential candidates — to rebuke Republicans for voting against bills in Congress that are now providing billions in federal dollars. “All those members of Congress who voted against it, suddenly realize […]

COMMENTARY
President Joe Biden

Of age, experience, wisdom and presidential success

BY: - April 25, 2023

The central argument against a second term in the White House for President Joe Biden is obvious. At 80, he’s already older than any previous president. He will be 82 at the Jan. 20, 2025, inaugural and 86 in 2029. Though absurd and offensive, Donald Trump and his allies repeatedly attacked Biden as “Sleepy Joe,” […]