The primaries in North Carolina will be March 5th. No real contest on the Presidential candidates. The Governor’s race is tighter with the Democrats having two leading candidates that may run to the wire. Nobody pays any attention to the Lt. Governor race, which is why we ended up with the unfortunate results the last time. The Democrats also appear to have a contest for Attorney General, and they may take back the Insurance Commissioner’s slot.
The Gerrymandering of legislative districts (both federal and state) is still being contested, but the ballots (and candidates) in the NC primaries follow the new alignments. Speculation is that the GOP will gain more seats from NC in the Congress. They already hold a majority in the House & Senate in the NC General Assembly.
With just a few weeks until the first primaries, election fever is warming up. Some states have senators up for election. We do not. So, it’s the Presidential Preference Election Primary that’s the big one. In North Carolina, the Democrats have an uncontested primary, the Libertarian Party has nine candidates, and the Republican Party has seven candidates for the NC Primary. Trump has been accepted as a candidate. The primaries in North Carolina will be held March 5th.
Trump has been challenged in several states. Michigan and Minnesota overruled a court challenge. Colorado and Maine have approved a court challenge. Several other cases do not have a ruling yet. The cases will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has not yet announced a date since the Appeals Courts have not made rulings. The request from the federal prosecutor on whether or not Trump is immune from prosecution has nothing to do with the elections. The real challenge will be the candidates in the new districts, both congressional and state. The GOP in the NC General Assembly redrew them after only two years so they could gerrymander them.
The 2023 elections in North Carolina were strictly local. Abortion appeared to be the primary issue in other states. The 2024 elections will be more active. There are 2 Democratic candidates and 4 Republican candidates declared in the Governor’s race so far. Our Senators are not up for re-election in 2024. The situation in the U.S. Congress and the NC General Assembly is quite different, however, and maps for the 3 elections have been announced.
The maps in 2022 were redrawn following a lawsuit, but it is unlikely that the current maps will be challenged. A suit likely would end up in the NC Supreme Court, which has a Republican majority. Candidates for Congressional, NC Senate, and NC House Districts have just started announcing their races since the maps are new. Some have chosen not to run for re-election, and some have moved to another district. Speaker of the NC House in the General Assembly Tim Moore announced that he will not seek re-election and announced his intention to run for Congress.