democrats

November 11, 2016 - Because of district lines drawn by Republicans, Democrats continue to be underrepresented in relation to their votes in Southern states' congressional delegations.

September 16, 2016 - Voting rights advocates are calling North Carolina counties' early voting plans finalized last week an "overall victory." A look at why early voting is so important to democracy.

September 8, 2016 - While Virginia's Democratic governor battles Republican lawmakers over restoring voting rights for ex-felons who've completed their sentences, almost 200,000 of the state's residents — almost half of them African-American — remain disenfranchised, mostly for nonviolent crimes.

August 25, 2016 - The North Carolina utility giant and other fossil-fuel interests are contributing to a national super PAC that's using divisive social issues like abortion and religion to boost the election chances of U.S. Senate candidates who reject the science of human-caused global warming.

July 29, 2016 - This week 69 state lawmakers from the Carolinas and Georgia, both Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter asking the Obama administration to block seismic testing permits for oil and gas deposits off the East Coast. They joined hundreds of other local communities, elected officials, business groups and scientists opposed to offshore exploration and drilling.

March 24, 2016 - North Carolina landed in the national spotlight this week when the legislature convened a special session to overturn a Charlotte LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance and threw in a ban on local minimum-wage rules. The controversial move is part of a broader trend of state pre-emption of progressive local policies.

March 11, 2016 - A look at the primary elections held in Southern states so far reveals a marked difference in turnout rates between the parties, a pattern that holds nationally.