Politics

Republican Mike Schietzelt, a 37-year-old married father of four who served in the U.S. Marine Corps as part of the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and currently works as a litigation attorney at a Raleigh law firm. Voters should be cautious about buying into what Schietzelt (pronounced Sheet-zelt) is selling. It’s easy to be fooled when reading what he thinks about providing more funding for our public schools or supporting efforts to keep our air and water clean. Once you scratch below the surface and look deeper into his background, the picture of who he is as a candidate becomes clearer – and it’s not pretty.

One of the far-right Republican legislators up for reelection is Rep. Allen Chesser, who has represented the 25th district in the North Carolina House since 2022. While endorsing Chesser, Destin Hall, the House member presumed to become the next Speaker of the House, stated that Chesser’s reelection is “vital in ensuring we are able to keep our super majority in the next election”

For those familiar with Tricia Cotham, Frank Sossamon’s story might sound similar. Sossamon, a reliable Democratic primary voter for over two decades, abruptly changed his party registration to Republican after 2020. He then ran for a seat in the State House as a Republican, won, and has been a reliable vote for the party’s far-right policy priorities ever since.

First-term state House Rep. Ken Fontenot (R-Wilson) shares the same views as Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson when it comes to abortion and education. And it turns out that he has something else in common with Robinson – they both seem to be “not very good at math” and confused about what purchases they’re legally allowed to make using campaign contributions.

Ken Fontenot is not a household name in North Carolina. Still, for the people who live in House District 24 – which covers all of Wilson County, plus a small section of Nash County – it’s a name they should familiarize themselves with.

A lawsuit filed by former Rockingham County Commissioner Craig Travis claims that a dark money political group, along with the Berger family, ended his political career as retribution for not supporting a plan to build a Stokesdale casino.

Significant changes to North Carolina’s election rules were introduced recently in a state Senate committee.