The North Carolinian

Jane Campbell is a retired Navy captain and unaffiliated candidate for NC House. She's also openly gay. After learning her state representative was an architect of HB2 and running unopposed for reelection, she decided to do something about it.

Bob Edmunds is an Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court currently running for this third eight-year term. This episode is the counterpoint to our recent conversation with Mike Morgan, the Superior Court Judge vying for Edmunds’ seat. As you might expect, Edmunds offers some dissenting opinions. Edmunds rejects the notion that his campaign or the court itself are partisan entities. But can he - can anyone - really stay above partisan politics while running a campaign?

You may think you know nothing about North Carolina’s treasurer, but if you live in the state, it’s a job that almost certainly affects your life. Dan Blue III is the Democratic candidate for the office. He’s also the son of previous podcast guest Dan Blue, Jr., the minority leader in the North Carolina Senate. We talk about his nuanced view of Wall Street - he used to work there, after all - at a time when many voters want to watch it Bern.

How does a junior legislator in the minority party become a bona fide political celebrity? Two words: the Internet. Senator Jeff Jackson (D-Charlotte) unpacks his viral hits, from solo legislating on a snow day to creating the #WeAreNotThis hashtag. For this 33-year-old lawmaker, social media is not a gimmick: it’s a necessity and an obligation. We also talk about his fight against gerrymandering, which he calls “as morally ambiguous as bank robbery,” HB2 (he’s “1,000 percent certain”...

From low wages to non-existent benefits, things are not right for many American workers. But why do some workers vote against their own self-interest? MaryBe McMillan is the Secretary-Treasurer of the North Carolina AFL-CIO, a federation of unions across the state. We discuss the use of anti-union fear as a political tool, the one thing she likes about Donald Trump, the devious distraction of House Bill 2, and why the fight for a higher minimum wage gives her hope.

2016 could be the year that North Carolina Democrats come out of the political wilderness. But just as a they’re staging their comeback, the party system itself seems to be unraveling. What is the Democratic Party in the season of super PACS and Bernie Sanders? Wake County Party Chairman Brian Fitzsimmons has to answer that question. If he gets it right, he could change the course of the state - and the country. “There’s going to have to be a time when we recognize that Hillary - the...

The NC Senate Minority Leader breaks down the fast and flawed process that birthed House Bill 2 - a process so bad, he and his colleagues walked out in protest. “…we could not, in good faith, give legitimacy to a system that followed that process and used that as a way to turn back the hands of time with respect to anti-discrimination efforts in this state."

The Hillsborough Democrat explains why the infamous HB2 is about way more than bathrooms: he says it’s both an election-year wedge and a vehicle for an underhanded business agenda. He also describes the calculated economics of travel bans to North Carolina, why some Democrats voted for the bill, and what Republican lawmakers might try next.