Buckhout has faced renewed scrutiny over her past associations and campaign controversies, with many questions surrounding her connection to former NCGOP Chair and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, who appointed convicted sex offender Harvey West to a position of power in the Republican Party.
North Carolina has been particularly hard hit by the Trump administration’s cuts to health care coverage and SNAP, which nearly 1.3 million residents rely on to put food on the table.
The press event hosted by Berger and Hall was now six weeks ago and as the short session moves forward there has been no legislative action towards a budget.
Voting rights advocates and community members gathered together at the “We Will Protect Our Vote” rally at Halifax Mall in protest against House Bill 958, a harmful voter suppression bill that places unnecessary obstacles to toss ballots.
NC Democrats have proposed bills to push back against restrictions and protect reproductive health care for communities, as well as bills to improve maternal health in Black and rural communities.
On Stevens’ last day in office, dozens of protestors gathered in front of the legislature with a giant farewell card for her, titled “Good Riddance.”
The people now exercising influence over North Carolina’s elections did not hide their views. They expressed them publicly. They built careers advancing them. And when they were given power over election administration, they brought those same views with them.
If passed, the Republican-sponsored election bill, HB 958, would create new barriers for voters and increase partisan control over North Carolina’s election processes.
Despite strong public opposition, Republicans on the Wake County Board of Elections have rejected the NC State University student center as an early voting site for the upcoming general election.
Three months after the story first broke, Whatley remains silent. That silence is becoming harder to defend as more North Carolinians ask a simple question: why did Michael Whatley knowingly give a convicted child sex offender power inside the Republican Party?