State politics will reach pivot point in 2014
Published January 2, 2014
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, January 1, 2014.
North Carolina has an exciting political year ahead in 2014, one that might determine whether the state’s acceleration toward the Republican Party and hard-right politics continues or wanes.
At the state and federal levels, North Carolina will have hotly contested races in both the primaries and general election. And when the legislature convenes in May, fireworks are likely over budget changes needed for fiscal year 2015, especially teacher raises.
The national media are calling the U.S. Senate race here critical to Republican hopes to control the upper chamber.
Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, is likely to be renominated by her party and has built a sizable war chest.
On the Republican side, five candidates will fight for the affections of an increasingly hard-right GOP primary electorate. While N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis is considered the frontrunner, the Rev. Mark Harris of Charlotte (who once served Center Grove Baptist Church in Clemmons) and Dr. Greg Brannon of Cary are both stockpiling considera-ble political and financial support. Local radio host Bill Flynn and Wilkes County nurse practitioner Heather Grant are also candidates in a race that will be seen as a battle be-tween traditional Republicans and the tea party.
Congressional districts in our area are heavily drawn to favor one party of the other, but these districts should produce lively primary races. In the 6th Congressional District, retiring U.S. Rep. Howard Coble has opened the door for a slew of Republicans seeking to replace him. Again, the battle will center on issues related to tea party priorities. In the 12th District, Democrats will fight it out to replace Mel Watt, who leaves this month to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
But in the 5th District, Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx probably won’t face any serious challengers in her primary. And any Democrat running against this veteran fundraiser will have a tough time.
Democrats have been weakened in Raleigh and their party leadership has been in disarray of late, but liberal groups, some business groups and others disaffected with legislative decisions on public education are laying the groundwork for challenges to vulnerable Republican lawmakers. Democrats don’t expect to win control of either house, but they see a chance to reduce their disadvantage heading into 2016’s elections, when they hope to bounce Gov. Pat McCrory.
The leaders of the Moral Monday protests promise more demonstrations both in Raleigh and statewide this year as legislators complete the work of their two-year terms. Teacher raises will highlight the budget debate, but battles over the new voting law, UNC, unem-ployment benefits and Medicaid will also likely come up.
In 2014, we will all live in “interesting times.”
January 2, 2014 at 10:44 am
Norm Kelly says:
So Republicans continue to be labeled hard right. The TEA people continue to be denigrated.
What's new?
In order for the Demons to win in the next round of elections, there are 2 possible courses of action. First, they do nothing special, say nothing special, and know that their uninformed base will simply vote for them because there is a D after their name on the ballot.
The second method to win a race is to plainly, clearly, state your plan, your objectives. This is something that Demons have proven to have great difficulty with. Their plan consists of raising taxes, raising spending, increasing central planner control of daily life. If their plan differs from this, for the first time in half a century, all the DemocRAT candidates will have to articulate it clearly.
Candidates like Kay will have difficulty getting a majority of legal voters to believe her. She can turn on Obamacare all she wants, but she is in fact an ardent supporter of it. The only thing that K thinks is better than the current socialized medicine plan step 1 is to implement socialized medicine plan step 2. K has defined for us what she believes is the next best step. K does NOT believe that Obamacare is a disaster that needs to be repealed. Just the opposite, K believes that Obamacare has too much involvement by private business. K's preference is that a single payer system replace Obamacare. Sometime, when she expresses her dissatisfaction with obamacare, ask her what her plan is. She will disguise her response as much as possible, but the truth is that her response will be a single payer system. She might use the phrase 'single payer system', but maybe not. You see, most of the people in the country are smart enough to know that this is code for socialized medicine completely. A complete take-over of the medical industry, from manufacture to service to paying for it all. It will be interesting to see how she hides her true thoughts on the subject. But if all Demons running for elected office are honest about how they would 'fix' things if elected, then not a one of them stands a chance of winning elected office. The interesting part is going to be watching how they disguise their true colors to pull the wool over enough eyes to win election. There is NO other way that Dems can win these days. Too many legal voters are aware of Dem true stands and plans. Of course, it's possible that their plan for illegal voters will overwhelm the legal votes and they could win that way. But if they get their way, will we ever know that they won by illegal means? Trust me, any unions that exist in the state, including the teachers, will do what they can to help them win, and help them to disguise the 'questionable' activity.
I distrust most politicians. I distrust ALL DemocRATs. I distrust ALL unions. I distrust people who promise something for nothing. Somewhere along the line, someone is paying for that freebie that some politician is willing to 'give' away. Continued deficit spending is NOT good for the economy. Giving money to 'disadvantaged', 'the poor', the 'under-privileged' does not spur the economy. Taking money from one group of people to give it to some other group of people is simply a drag on the economy. It makes some people feel good, but does little else. Regardless of what the Dems say about it.
June 12, 2014 at 2:57 am
Mark G. Eyre says:
Wake up; having millionaires pay less taxes than their secretaries IS taking from one group and giving it to another. If the rich and the corporations paid their fair share we would not have to fight over helping the least among us - which is the Christian (and American)thing to do.
Virgina Foxx is such a disgrace and an embarrassment. It is impossible to watch her speak on the floor of the House without cringing over her lack of self-awareness. I have lived in her district and the key to her success has been keeping people poor and uninformed and scared like "Norm" - the R J Reynolds model.
NC is a "right to starve state" and wages have not gone up since the 1970s. One on five North Carolinians cannot read and write, one in five children go to bed hungry every night. Has Foxx done even one thing to alleviate this problem? No, she feeds it and relies on it.
