Daniel J. Franch

Republican ex-state representative Jason Saine, the former top budget writer in the NC State House, has been formally indicted for felony embezzlement and obtaining property under false pretenses stemming from the sprawling "Greater Carolina" corruption scandal he led. One of Saine's accomplices, David Coble, a prominent Republican activist, has also been indicted. Four Raleigh lobbyists were also indicted, three of whom paid a small fine and agreed to help with the investigation; the fourth, Kevin Wilkinson of The Southern Group lobbying firm, still faces investigation. The charges stem from the multiple bourbon distillery tours in Kentucky that Saine and his "Greater Carolina" group organized for dozens of Republican lawmakers in 2022 and 2024. Greater Carolina allegedly accepted large undisclosed cash contributions from liquor and gambling companies to secretly lobby Republican politicians and evade legal disclosure. Carolina Forward was proud to bring the official complaint that resulted in these charges coming to light. But this is just the tip of the iceberg of the massive political corruption epidemic that has infested the North Carolina state legislature for years. Clean-up is coming. Full story: newsobserver.com/news/politi…

In the 2026 blue tsunami election, North Carolina Democrats flipped 25 seats in the state legislature (21 in the House, 4 in the Senate). One Independent candidate, who is expected to caucus with the Democrats, also flipped a Republican-held seat, making 26 total seats that changed hands. This is the same number of seats that gave Republicans complete control of the North Carolina legislature in the 2010 wave election - but there's one big difference. The 2010 election cycle was approximately an R+9 year - meaning that all around North Carolina, the approximate average Republican margin over Democrats was about 9 points. That was enough to give them complete control of legislature. But the 2026 election cycle was much larger - approximately D+15. Across North Carolina, Democrats had an average of a 15-point margin over the Republicans. In other words, because of the Republican partisan gerrymander of NC's election maps, even with a MUCH larger wave election in their favor, Democrats were only able to capture the same number of seats Republicans were with a smaller swing. Democrats were also unable to win a majority in the State Senate.