Beaufort Observer | Eastern NC Now

What happened in the election was a knee jerk reaction against Republicans due to the fuel prices. If you look at how North Carolinians voted on actual issues in the referenda on the ballot, they voted overwhelmingly conservative. supporting limits on taxation at the state and local level, and stronger photo voter ID.

That is seen in similar votes across the country, such as on keeping men out of women's sports. On actual issues, they voted conservative, but voted to punish Republicans for the fuel prices.

Commented: Thursday, November 12th, 2026 @ 4:15 pm By: Concerned Taxpayer

Election year 2026 is very much like 1974, very bad nationally for the GOP but even worse in NC for the GOP. Like 1974, there were reasons unique to NC and its party that made it worse here. Having been politically active in both election years, the comparison is easy.

Nationally in 2026, we were hurt by high fuel prices and related inflation in other things like groceries that had to be transported. The on-again off-again Iran War also played a role. We also lost votes due to overpromising and underdelivering on the "no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security" pledge. When they went to do their taxes, seniors found most of their social security still taxed and hourly workers often found much of their overtime still taxed. The Big Beautiful Bill watered down those promises leaving voters feeling betrayed. Congress should have stuck with the full pledge.

The unique things that hurt us in North Carolina:

1) The GOP and its candidates failed to respond to the Democrat "pedophile" ads, badly hurting our two top statewide candidates, and indeed hurting the entire Republican brand. This was political malpractice. If the GOP or a candidate or a friendly PAC had immediately responded with ads on Roy Cooper's pedophile buddy in Charlotte, it could have nipped this Democrat strategy in the bud instead of letting it fester throughout the campaign. It could have even given the GOP an advantage since Cooper's pedophile buddy was convicted of molesting several young BOYS and since their common political campaign was to let biological men into the restrooms and locker rooms of girls and women.

2) A very weak top of the ticket imposed by the elites. Both Whatley and Stevens were poor candidates with poor campaign skills who ran poor campaigns. When the top of the ticket is getting blown away by almost 20 points, it is hard for the candidates lower on the ballot to prosper. Candidates should never be imposed from on high, and that includes from Trump. When they do not have to sink or swim in a full fledged primary, it often means they just sink when it comes general election time.

3) Long time legislative leadership - from Thom Tillis to Tim Moore to Phil Berger - who listened to the special interests instead of the grassroots, often passing major liberal legislation that outraged the grassroots like repealing the Bathroom Privacy Bill, HB2, passing the Green New Deal, and passing the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.

4) The appalling failure of the NCGOP to activate its Judicial Campaign Fund. Meanwhile the Democrats used their PACs to run a massive smear campaign on our judicial candidates.

5) Very poor messaging decisions at the state level to address voters concerns. The NCGOP and statewide candidates were tone deaf.

6) A change in party culture that has hollowed out the party. In the 1970s, 80s, and most of the 90s, the NCGOP was a grassroots-oriented organization that operated from the bottom up. Since then, it has morphed into a top down organization that is much less attractive for volunteers to stay engaged. Our party badly needs to reverse that trend if we want to start winning again.

Commented: Thursday, November 12th, 2026 @ 11:46 am By: Steven P. Rader

Open Borders is the battle cry of both the globalists and the far left to destroy western civilization. They want to just ignore our immigration laws in both the US and Europe and let Third World freeloaders take over our countries. They bring mass welfarism and mass crime to our societies.

DACA? How can you believe anything an illegal alien tells you? They are notorious liars. They will claim any age or nationality they can get away with if it helps them to stay in a western country or make up any other thing that helps them. Several European countries have started verifying the claimed age of illegal aliens who claim to be "unaccompanied minots" and in every such country found that a majority of them were actually adults who were lying about their age. Austria found that a lot of Muslim illegal aliens were claiming to be homosexuals to justify asylum claims, but when government officials brought in such claimants in pairs and asked them to kiss each other to prove they were homosexuals, the jig was up for them as their reaction proved they were lying about being homosexuals.

DACA claims are the same, likely lies.

Commented: Thursday, November 12th, 2026 @ 9:46 am By: borderhawk