Politics

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 24, 2016 - While outside groups involved in presidential politics don't have much to show for the money they've spent so far on this election, outside spending in North Carolina legislative contests tells a different story: In the 32 contested state House and Senate primary races that drew outside spending, more than 80 percent of the candidates with the most outside support won.

March 18, 2016 - In the wake of this week's primaries, North Carolina is the only Southern state where Democrats have reached near-parity in voter turnout with Republicans — and it happened amid widespread troubles at the polls due to confusion over the state's restrictive new voting laws.

March 17, 2016 - As lawmakers across the South try to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” Florida organizers offer a model for how to defeat legislation that threatens to undermine local police-immigrant relations.

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.

March 11, 2016 - Independent political groups representing business interests are spending big to influence this year's primary races for North Carolina state House and Senate. The outside groups have poured more than $1 million into races, mostly supporting Republicans and conservative Democrats.

March 11, 2016 - Latino youth from North Carolina say more can be done to reach out to this critical but under-engaged group of voters.