The political satire site, Wonkette, has a great piece out trashing U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R. NC) while also praising his opponent, Cal Cunningham (D), and making a great case to vote for him:
Like many Dems this year, Cunningham already had healthcare at the top of his campaign priorities even before the pandemic, pointing out that when Tillis was in the state legislature, he'd opposed expanding Medicaid, and in the US Senate, Tillis was firmly in favor of repealing Obamacare. Tillis likes to brag that he introduced a bill that would preserve the ACA's protections for patients with pre-existing conditions, but as we noted when the bill was rolled out, it was garbage: it would require Insurance companies to sell health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, but Tillis's bill would allow insurers to not cover treatment for those very conditions. So if you have heart disease, you can get a policy that will help you if you get hit by a bus, but if you have a heart attack on the way to ER, you're paying for THAT yourself. Such a deal!
Cunningham is hoping to benefit from demographic changes that have made North Carolina a much more purple state than in 2016, when Donald Trump narrowly won the state. For one thing, much of the state's growth has been in suburban areas, where Trump continues to poll poorly, despite his attempts to jump up and down and scare people with the idea that Cory Booker might come feed them vegan food and save them from a burning building.
Statewide, 30% of new voters have registered as Democrats, against 26% for Republicans. [Catawba College political scientist Michael] Bitzer said that among millennial and Gen-Z groups, Republicans have only just over 20%.
Black voters also make up 22 of the state's electorate, so get-out-the vote efforts will be key. Fortunately, Cunningham has a well-funded campaign; he set a state record for Senate fundraising in the second quarter, and he's benefiting from huge spending by outside groups, like the VoteVets superPAC, which is throwing $2.7 million into advertising on Cunningham's behalf. Tillis is also seeing big money coming from Mitch McConnell's PAC and from the usual suspects like the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and such.
Give the whole piece a read and when you’re done, let’s keep up the momentum to flip North Carolina Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Cunningham, Cooper, Biden and their fellow North Carolina Democrats campaigns:
North Carolina:
Yvonne Lewis Holley for Lt. Governor
Josh Stein for Attorney General
Elaine Marshall for Secretary of State
Cheri Beasley for Supreme Court
North Carolina Democratic Party
