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North Carolina Open Thread [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-07-13

Welcome. This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue . The platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we take back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation.

Please stop by each week. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads . If you are interested in starting your own state blog, weekly to occasionally, I will list your work below.

Colorado: Mondays, 7:00 PM Mountain

Michigan: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Eastern

North Carolina: Sundays

Missouri: Wednesday Evenings

Kansas: Monday Evenings

Please jump the fold for more, I hope you find this story collection useful and new to you.

I used to teach elementary school. I’ve worked in early childhood policy, sat on education boards, and am a parent of two kids. So, I no longer see school funding as just a line item—I see it as a living ecosystem. One that touches every part of how we grow up, how we govern, and how we feed both bodies and minds.

And when you take $169 million out of that ecosystem? You starve it.

Let’s be clear about the headline: $169 million in federal education funding, already appropriated for North Carolina public schools, is being withheld by the Trump administration.

That’s not just a number. That’s breakfasts unserved, teaching assistants laid off, classroom repairs delayed, and after-school programs canceled. In rural and urban schools alike, it means the things children need most—predictability, nutrition, safety—get pushed to the side while adults debate in far-off chambers. <More>

Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a trio of bills Wednesday, rejecting legislation that would allow private school employees to carry guns, bar local governments from further regulating pet shops and protect nonprofits’ member and donor information.

Stein, a Democrat, also signed a bundle of nine bills into law.

His vetoes go back to the Republican-controlled legislature, where lawmakers can attempt to override them. Any override votes are likely to easily pass in the Senate if all members are present; but in the House, Republicans are one vote short of a party-line supermajority. <More>

The tropical system caused massive flooding just days after Gov. Stein vetoed a bill canceling an interim carbon reduction goal of 70 percent by 2030. GOP lawmakers will likely attempt an override.

CHAPEL HILL—Perched above the Bolin Creek Trail, 46,000 tons of coal ash appeared to be intact Monday afternoon, the mound’s slopes anchored by bushes and vines.

But at the foot of the ash pile outside its fence, the force of the floodwaters from Tropical Depression Chantal had evicted large trees from the banks of the nearby creek. Rocks larger than bowling balls had caromed off one another. A dead crawdad lay on the trail, washed out from the creek. The air smelled vaguely of sewage.

Early Sunday morning, Tropical Storm Chantal had blown ashore in South Carolina, and by the time it meandered into central North Carolina, it had weakened to a tropical depression.

But by nightfall the impacts felt akin to a hurricane: 5 to 10 inches of rain fell within 12 hours. <More>

North Carolina Democrats’ hopes of weakening Republicans’ legislative power are resting on the shoulders of a Rocky Mount preacher.

James Gailliard, a former legislator who was unseated in 2022, is mounting a political comeback that — if successful — could weaken GOP lawmakers’ political power and force them to negotiate more with Democrats.

On Thursday, he launched his campaign for the state Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Sen. Lisa Stone Barnes — setting the stage for a multimillion-dollar tussle over what is expected to be one of the closest legislative races in 2026.

There are 50 state Senate seats on the ballot in 2026. But fewer than half a dozen will be competitive, and there’s no doubt among political insiders — on both sides of the aisle — that Barnes’ district, which covers Nash, Franklin and Vance counties northeast of Raleigh, could become the marquee race. <More>

In next year's midterm elections, the political slant of North Carolina's Congressional delegation and state legislature could hinge on a federal district court trial likely to wrap up this week in Winton Salem. Two consolidated lawsuits claim that GOP legislators drew district maps to purposely dilute the voting power of Black communities in certain parts of the state.

GOP state lawmakers redrew the challenged maps in 2023 after the state Supreme Court, with a majority of conservative justices that took over after the 2022 elections, reversed a previous high court decision. That earlier decision had found Republican legislators violated the state Constitution by drawing maps skewed by excessive partisanship.

Last year, those redrawn maps helped Republicans retain majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and changed the North Carolina Congressional delegation from a 7-7 split to a 10-4 GOP tilt. <More>

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Rabbis Ben Shull and Chaya Bender say the Jewish people are good at being resilient in the face of adversity.

“I have to boldly walk forward and be proud to be Jewish because people are always going to have hatred in their hearts,” Bender said.

Both are leaders of the local Jewish community. Shull is a rabbi at the Temple of Israel and Bender is a Rabbi at B’nai Israel. They say most people in Wilmington have been accepting of their faith.

“I certainly have felt as a newcomer that this is a place of openness and welcome,” Shull said. “But there has been this ugliness that we’ve seen begin to grow.” <More>

All Charlotte City Council seats are up for re-election. Candidates have until July 18 at noon to file.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One week into candidate filing for the 2025 Mecklenburg County elections, several high-profile races are beginning to take shape following what has been a particularly tumultuous term for Charlotte City Council.

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