North Carolina's leading think tank fighting for freedom, justice, and an economy that works for everyone. YIMBY, esse quam videri, go Canes. 🏔
Joined July 2014
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22 Oct 2025
Hey y'all - you know what? It doesn't have to be like this.
We can demand better from Raleigh and a better state for us all.
If you've had enough and are ready to take action, join us. Fight back.
We fight for North Carolina. 👇
secure.actblue.com/donate/ca…
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Want to understand more about North Carolina's state legislature? Start with its districts.
This beautiful and informative detailed map of NC's State House and Senate districts shows how we're represented in Raleigh. Get yours! 👇
store.carolinaforward.org
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Real talk: under remotely fair maps, the Democrats would have a very strong shot to flip the North Carolina state legislature, and would probably already control at least one chamber.
But the Republican partisan gerrymander in place today is extremely aggressive and efficient. It makes it all but impossible for Democrats to flip the NC State Senate, and extremely difficult to flip the State House. (The latter isn't "impossible," just extremely difficult.)
The North Carolina General Assembly as currently constituted is totally illegitimate. It does not reflect the voters' will in any meaningful way. Returning representative democracy to North Carolina will require flipping the State Supreme Court, where a Republican majority currently runs interference to protect their co-partisans in the legislature.
Do you think dems will take power in the state legislature soon
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Carolina Forward retweeted
Jun 10
No fanfare but, at some point in the last 4 years, California stopped being a grid that occasionally beat fossil fuels and became one that does it on a daily basis.
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Carolina Forward retweeted
Jun 11
The inflation redistribution machine running full steam again. Energy prices are the largest contributor to inflation. Inflation pushes down real wages making the vast majority poorer. The flip side of high energy prices is windfall profits benefitting the richest of the rich.
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Your regular reminder that these people just hate Charlotte.
They're mad that it's a deep blue city now that is unwilling to submit to total domination by the party in power in our state legislature. They're also mad that no one wants to invite them to the good parties.
NC senator ‘being kind’ with proposal forcing Charlotte to repay I-77 toll costs charlotteobserver.com/news/p…
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On Friday evening, the Republican leaders of North Carolina's state legislature dropped a big, unannounced, 36-page omnibus bill stuffed to the brim with new voting restrictions and elections changes.
This thing is a voter suppression wishlist. Just some of its major provisions:
👉 Total ban on encouraging voter turnout: State and county board members are prohibited from any public statement "encouraging or promoting voter turnout in any election"
👉 Grants the Republican State Auditor total discretion to audit all machines, county offices and personnel involved in any election
👉 Reduces campaign finance transparency: the bill significantly raises the dollar thresholds for required reporting of dark money contributions or media expenditures, waiving reporting for the rest
👉 Requires voters to register with a political party a full year before voting in that party's primary election (up from 90 days)
👉 Total ban on any ranked-choice voting in any primary or general election statewide
👉 Strips some overseas voters of their eligibility to vote in any state elections
👉 Partisan staffing: changes up to 25 professional staff at the State Board of Elections from career civil staff to partisan political appointees
👉 Bans paid petition gathering
This bill just dropped last night and may not be online yet (they like to take their time). We got a full draft of the bill here: carolinaforward.org/images/h…
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Good clarification:
1. The change from 90 days to 365 is not for participation in primary elections but for candidate eligibility
2. The ban on paid petition gathering is for payment per signature not payment in general which is similar to the rule currently in place for voter registration drives
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Jun 12
The reasoning here from @Burgin4Senate makes good sense: nonprofit hospitals are exempt from paying many taxes, which makes North Carolinians de facto shareholders, so NCians should get a say over executive pay.
The big question: doesn't that reasoning apply equally to @DukeEnergy?
Their corporation is for-profit, but gifted a highly lucrative legal monopoly by those same people of North Carolina. In a very similar sense, NCians are very much shareholders in Duke Energy. Should they not get to set limits on executive pay? After all, our dollars pay for it.
Jun 12
North Carolina lawmakers are zeroing in on executive pay at the state’s nonprofit hospitals — a proposal that could cause at least one healthcare executive to take a massive pay cut.
wcnc.com/article/news/politi…
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Jun 12
Once again, when @RoyCooperNC comfortably wins North Carolina's US Senate race by 5-6 points and it turns out all the polls were basically right, you'll need the Richter Scale to measure the levels of cope on this website.
Jun 12
That is disingenuous at best. Wishful thinking here.
Trump has the state and his endorsements carry weight.
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Jun 12
So after denying Charlotte a say over its own transportation infrastructure and trying to force through a plan that would materially harm many Charlotte communities, @SenatorSawyer and Republican leadership in the state legislature now want to to punish Charlotte yet again.
These people hate Charlotte not only because of how the city votes, but also because of who lives there.
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Carolina Forward retweeted
Jun 11
Expect this pattern from Boliek - make a big stink about Democratic-run cities, imply corruption, and release the ultimate exoneration to little fanfare. #ncpol
Jun 11
State Auditor Dave Boliek released his findings of the city of Charlotte's settlement with CMPD Chief Estella Patterson's husband.
The review did not find any evidence to suggest that the city acted improperly regarding the approval process or timing of its settlement with Patterson
Previous story: wsoctv.com/news/local/inside…
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Jun 11
After @BrendenJonesNC's old ally, Republican former Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene, was discovered routinely using racist epithets in his office, making false arrests, allowing inmate beatings at the jail, and engaging in so much widespread embezzlement in office that it triggered a federal investigation, Jones had nothing whatsoever to say about it.
Guess we know what triggers him.
Top Republican wants NC Democrats ‘disciplined’ after explicit language in video newsobserver.com/news/politi…
ALT Top Republican wants NC Democrats ‘disciplined’ after explicit language in video
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Jun 11
God bless these sweet summer children who never had to face the Great Recession of 2008-2009. (Gable was 6 at the time.)
They'll have their turn one day not too soon, if the economy doesn't change.
Jun 11
As long as Sen. Batch has been around, you’d think she’d already know that our projects are still being funded, and state employees are still being paid.
Democrats should avoid chiming in on fiscal policy, since the last time they were in control, our state was in billions of dollars of debt.
#ncpol #ncleg
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Jun 11
Very simple math: this house in question would have appreciated in value by an astounding 330%, or about 15% every single year, resulting in a market value of around $860,000 (assuming avg NC property tax rate of 58 cents/$100).
Congratulations, you hit the lottery!
Interesting. Explain why the house we have lived in for 10 years started with a tax bill around $1,500 and now has a tax bill that is almost $5,000?
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Jun 11
There are two big things happening in North Carolina to explain this U.S. Senate race.
1: @RoyCooperNC is the most popular political leader in recent memory, second only (maybe) to @JoshStein_ now. Voters just love them.
2: @SenThomTillis was the only plausible challenger to Cooper, and he was excommunicated from the GOP for insufficient submission to Trumpism.
Tillis's base was always right-leaning suburbanites - all the way back to his days in Huntersville. The problem for Tillis is that those people are Democrats now. They're repulsed by Trump-MAGA, and that movement hates them in return. Places like Huntersville elect Democrats like @ChristyClarkNC and @BethHelfrich now, and that's just how it is.
There's still plenty of room to grow among suburban North Carolina, and the Democrats are chalking up plenty of wins there. It's an open question whether Mecklenburg OR Wake will have a single Republican member in the legislature in 2027.
In the gerrymandered distortion field of North Carolina's state legislature, it's possible for Republicans to still hold on to power in that world. But it's probably not possible to win a statewide Senate seat.
Jun 11
NEW Crystal Ball Senate Rating Changes
Alaska Leans R to Toss-up
NC Toss-up to Leans D
Ohio Leans R to Toss-up
GOP still favored because they only need one of the four Toss-ups, while Ds need all four
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