Most people following the state of politics in the country know what big money has done to destroy a once fairly progressive southern state. And the news has been pretty much all bad as we watch Art Pope and his minions pass bills allowing fracking, guns in bars and opting out of the expansion under the ACA. As they repeal the Racial Justice Act, cut unemployment benefits and institute drug testing for people applying for benefits. The list goes on and the horrors don't don't stop. But yesterday there was some good news in North Carolina. While we don't dare to get too excited here in the Tarheel State because we know we have an uphill battle, we are happy to celebrate victories when we can. Follow me below the fold to celebrate a small, but bright, victory yesterday.
Many of you will remember Montravias King, a student who decided to run for City Council in Elizabeth City, NC. A Republican controlled elections board barred Mr. King from running for City Council, citing his residency as the reason. Mr. King had lived at the same address in his district for four years but that address happened to be his dormitory. Ultimately, Mr. King won his battle to be on the ballot after the State Elections Board overturned the Local Election Board's ruling See Willard Landreth's diary here. Yesterday Mr. King won his bid for City Council overwhelmingly. In fact, he was the top vote-getter in a field of seven.
In other happy news in North Carolina today, the municipal elections in Raleigh were overwhelmingly won by Democrats. Some see it as a repudiation of Tea Party Politics.
North Carolina still has a long way to go before even having a chance of getting back to the progressive state that voted for President Obama in 2008. But in the first elections since the complete takeover by the GOP things are looking brighter. And all of the people who have resolved to stand up to these bullying Tea Party terrorists are celebrating too.
UPDATE: While this clearly isn't good news, check out Christian Dem in NC's
diary on the NC Gov's newest scandal.