THE NORTH CAROLINA ANTI-EXTREMISM VOTING GUIDE

From rural school boards and city councils to Raleigh and D.C., extremists in power are completely out of touch with what our communities actually want and need, and they’re making our lives harder and more expensive.

The good news? North Carolinians from all backgrounds are fed up and coming together because of the tremendous government overreach and failures. We want change and voting in November is how we get it.

WHAT’S AT STAKE IN NORTH CAROLINA THIS ELECTION?

Extremists in Washington are driving up the price of everything we buy with illegal tariffs and unnecessary wars, and they still haven’t delivered the recovery money we were promised after Hurricane Helene.

Closer to home, extremists are running the Project 2025 playbook in North Carolina. Refusing to fully fund our public schools. Redrawing our voting districts in their favor. Closing polling locations and cutting early voting days.

Fifteen years of this has drained our schools, let our roads fall apart, and made everyday life unaffordable, all while gaslighting us through a 1,000-day budget standoff. It’s time to end the corruption and corporate kickbacks so our government can finally work for the people who live here.

In 2024 we broke the supermajority in the state House, but extremists are dangerously close to controlling it again, and they still control the state Senate. Both chambers are on the ballot.

Good candidates won their primaries this year, many by beating the incumbent representatives who abandoned their voters as soon as they got to Raleigh. Our job now is to turn out enough voters to make sure they win in November.

KEY RACES IN NORTH CAROLINA THIS ELECTION

How can we take back power in North Carolina and in Washington D.C. at the same time?

Electing Roy Cooper to the U.S. Senate by flipping the seat being vacated by Thom Tillis would be a huge win, not just for North Carolinians, but for the entire country. We also have the chance to flip multiple U.S. House seats. All these flips would get us closer to a Congress that will stop Trump and his Project 2025 agenda.

Why should we vote for North Carolina’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeals?

Reelecting Justice Anita Earls to the North Carolina Supreme Court is a must-win. Without her, extremists would hold the court almost outright and have no checks on what they could do to our voting maps

Also on your ballot: Judges John S. Arrowood, Toby Hampson, and Christine Walczyk for the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Most people don’t pay much attention to this court, but it decides even more than the State Supreme Court does. Civil rights, voting rights, employee rights, adoption, divorce. These cases are personal and most end here and go no further.

There are 15 seats, currently held by 12 Republicans and 3 Democrats. All three are up for election this year. Lose them and Republicans hold the entire court. These are eight-year terms, so whoever wins in November will still be deciding these cases in 2034.

What local races are on North Carolina ballots?

North Carolina has some of the most contested school board races in the country. We need to keep extremists and their book bans away from our kids’ education.

We can also put commonsense candidates into the U.S. House, state House and Senate, District Courts, Sheriffs offices, city councils, county commissions, and more.

You can use our tools below to look up your sample ballot and see — in certain priority races — Red Wine & Blue’s recommendations.

WHAT ARE THE KEY ISSUES IN NORTH CAROLINA THIS ELECTION?

WHAT ARE THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ON NORTH CAROLINA BALLOTS?

There are three constitutional amendments on every ballot in the state this year and we’re saying, “NO, NO, NO.”

North Carolina’s deceitful property tax and income tax amendments

The first amendment would limit how much property taxes can go up – which sounds appealing until you look at what property taxes pay for. If it passes, towns and counties won’t be able to raise enough money for local needs like public schools, fire departments, and emergency services.

The second amendment aims to reduce the cap on the income tax rate. The problem is, lowering that cap doesn’t mean lower spending. It just means the money has come from somewhere else, and that somewhere is usually sales taxes and local property taxes, which take the biggest bite out of working families’ budgets.

Here’s what they’re counting on you not knowing: The legislature spent years cutting the state’s share of funding for things like schools and fire departments, forcing our communities to make up the difference. Now the same legislature wants to cap the taxes it forces communities to raise, and put that cap in the constitution so it’s as hard as possible to fix. They made the mess, made us pay for it, and now they’re taking away our only tool to clean it up.

Extremists are running this same playbook all over the country and we need to vote NO on both deceitful tax amendments.

North Carolina’s Voter ID amendment makes voting harder

The third amendment adds unnecessary red tape for married women and other people who have changed their names, and military members serving overseas. It also gives the legislature more control over voting rules and locks that control into our state constitution. Vote NO on making it more difficult to vote.

Each of these amendments is a power grab to keep extremists in control of North Carolina. They would strip local governments and judges of their constitutional power while giving it solely to the state legislature in Raleigh. Vote “NO, NO, NO!”