North Carolina
DOGE Eat DOGE?
This story is published through our partnership with NOTUS.
When the Department of Government Efficiency started slashing federal grants, North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District was the hardest hit in the country.
The solidly Democratic district in the Raleigh-Durham area is home to two tier-one research universities, 11,000 federal workers, and the largest research park in the country. As of May 2025, when Elon Musk left DOGE, the district had lost 186 federal grants, according to a tracker from the Center for American Progress.
The area is still reeling from the millions in lost federal funds. And those impacted said the cuts could play a role in the midterms, especially with the state home to one of the most closely watched Senate races of 2026.
“If you care about North Carolina as a purple state and as a state that could swing presidential elections, the House makeup, and the Senate makeup, these conversations that we’re having about the people who have lost their jobs are going to be economic stories,” said Brianna Clarke-Schwelm, executive director of the North Carolina Global Health Alliance. “Next year, people aren’t necessarily going to be talking about was it USAID or was it some other federal institution. They’re going to be talking about how many people don’t have jobs.”
Democrats in Virginia specifically cited the chaos surrounding DOGE cuts as one reason they did so well in November, as did labor unions who told NOTUS they saw increased engagement during the off-year election cycle.
It’s unlikely that DOGE cuts in North Carolina will be as salient an issue as they were in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, but they may be another reason voters are growing dissatisfied with Trump, said Thomas Mills, a former Democratic political consultant and election watcher in the state.
“You’re going to have motivated Democrats who are the people that are getting impacted by these—they are going to come out,” Mills said. “The biggest single driver of Democratic turnout is going to be Donald Trump and his policies.”
Rep. Valerie Foushee, who represents North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, said she doesn’t think the administration’s claim, that is rooting out waste and fraud, will land well in her district.
“You’re solving a problem that doesn’t exist, and in so doing, you’re creating a bigger problem by way of taking away people’s jobs, taking away people’s livelihoods and destroying local economies, even as you are destroying the national economy,” she told NOTUS.
RTI International, an independent scientific research institute in the Research Triangle Park, bore the brunt of the cuts, according to a report by Harris Search Associates, a consultancy for the higher education and research sectors. The firm’s report found that DOGE cuts cost RTI about $1 billion and forced the company to lay off one-third of its workforce.
Most of the grants stripped from RTI International came from the now-dismantled United States Agency for International Development. Others came from NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health.
“RTI is proud to partner with the current Administration in scientific and technical areas that are aligned with our mission,” Tim J. Gabel, president and CEO at RTI International, told NOTUS in an emailed statement.
“You’re going to have motivated Democrats who are the people that are getting impacted by these—they are going to come out.”
Thomas Mills, former Democratic political consultant
He said that RTI is actively changing its business.
“This means expanding beyond our traditional federal portfolio into high-growth commercial sectors such as health, energy, and food/agriculture,” Gabel said.
The administration’s decision to shutter USAID had direct impacts in the battleground state.
North Carolina is the fourth-highest recipient of USAID awards, according to the NC Global Health Alliance. The state received 153 active awards across 15 organizations from the agency. Nine of those went to the 4th District. Since January, North Carolina institutions have lost $3 billion in future USAID-funded awards.
“That was a massive hit to our institutions. We have major implementing partners here that employed thousands of people and impacted millions of lives around the world,” said Clarke-Schwelm.
FHI 360, a global health nonprofit in the Research Triangle Park, lost about half its revenue and laid off more than a quarter of its workforce, including 144 workers in North Carolina, after Trump dismantled USAID.
The alliance estimates that at least 625 North Carolinians lost their jobs due to the cuts.
Leonardo Williams, the Democratic mayor of Durham, called DOGE cuts a “self-inflicted wound.” He said that he’s never seen more middle-class people apply for unemployment.
“They’re basically not only dismantling some of these companies, they’re dismantling households. That’s what I see at the ground level in District 4,” he said. “I see less people shopping at the grocery stores. I see less people opting in to have their child at daycare. I see more daycares closing.”
He said voters in Durham and District 4 will consider Trump’s push to downsize government and promote fiscal responsibility, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to be “out of touch.”
“I think people are going to remember that in the midterms. I’m damn going to do my part to make sure they know about it,” Williams said.
The campaign arm for Senate Republicans, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, did not respond to a request for comment.
Universities also suffered cuts to their operations. University of North Carolina atChapel Hill has lost $38.4 million in federal grants since Trump took office, reported The Daily Tar Heel. Most of those awards came from the National Institutes of Health. At Duke University, the federal government terminated or froze more than $135 million in grants.
Mills said that Republicans may struggle to convince voters that blocking money from flowing into the state and downsizing the federal workforce will benefit them.
“A lot of this new populist Republican base is going to be motivated by things that the government can do for them, and that’s not historically where Republicans have been,” Mills said. “It makes it difficult to say, ‘We cut the size of the government, and somehow it benefited you.’”
Christa Dutton is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
A man kidnapped and killed a U.S. Postal Service worker while she was delivering mail in North Carolina last week, police said, orphaning her two daughters, who lost their father just a few months before.
Brandi Reynolds, 35, was found dead following a call for help to authorities in Hays, North Carolina, Friday afternoon, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
“I can confirm that Brandi Reynolds was delivering mail on her route when the incident occurred,” U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel said by email.
Prosecutors in Wilkes County charged William Craig Durham, 56, of the community of Roaring River, with first-degree kidnapping and murder, according to court records.
The defendant, arrested the day of the murder, remained in Wilkes County Jail on Tuesday, according to a third-party inmate information service used by the county. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
A warrant filed in district court alleged Durham committed kidnapping “by unlawfully restraining the victim, removing the victim from one place to another without the consent of the victim.”
It said Durham carried out the alleged kidnapping “for the purpose of terrorizing” Reynolds and “doing serious bodily injury” to her.
It’s unclear how Durham allegedly committed the killing. Any weapons that may have been used were not mentioned in the document, and any motive was unavailable.
On Monday, district court Judge Robert J. Crumpton ordered the defendant to remain in custody without bond, citing his “significant criminal record.”
State prison records show Durham has served time for second-degree kidnapping, assault on a female and possession of a gun by a felon, among other offenses.
An investigation into the killing was being conducted jointly by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the bureau said.
Reynolds was the mother of two girls, according to her obituary. She lost her husband, Brent Reynolds, on Dec. 23, 2025, when the pickup he was driving veered off a road in Rhonda, North Carolina, and struck a tree, according to NBC affiliate WXII of Winston-Salem.
His obituary stated at the time that he was the father of the couple’s two girls — “the light of his life.”
Reynolds’ obituary, likewise, stated that her daughters “were her whole world.”
She left behind her mother, two sisters and several nieces and nephews, it said.
“The U.S. Postal Service is deeply saddened about the death of our colleague, Brandi Byrd Reynolds,” Postal Service spokesperson Martha Johnson said by email. “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends, and co-workers at the Hays Post Office.”
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina lawmakers have released a long-delayed state budget proposal that includes higher pay for educators and state employees, along with new funding for community colleges.
The plan, still awaiting legislative approval, outlines several provisions that would directly affect Durham.
The proposal calls for an average 8% raise for teachers and a 3% raise for most state employees, plus one-time bonuses. It also fully funds “Propel NC,” a new community college funding model that rewards schools for training students in high-demand careers rather than focusing solely on enrollment.
Durham Technical Community College President JB Buxton said the model would strengthen programs tied to the region’s growing industries.
“It’s a very good budget for the community colleges,” Buxton said.
Full proposed budget
Durham Tech expects increased support for programs in life sciences, healthcare, and skilled trades — fields that continue to drive the Triangle’s economy. Buxton said those programs reflect the needs of employers across the region.
“If you think about things like electrical systems and technicians, in addition to HVAC, and plumbing and welding, if you think about biomedical engineering, those are areas that are in demand here,” he said.
Buxton said building a strong talent pipeline is essential as the region expands.
“We want to be the workforce development engine in this area, but we also want to be an economic development engine and kind of power our companies,” he said. “Not only bring people to opportunity, but give companies what they need to grow.”
The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on the budget on Wednesday and Thursday. If it passes both chambers, it will go to Gov. Josh Stein, who said he plans to review it closely before deciding whether to sign it.
“What we want is for the state to pass a budget that invests in our people,” Stein said, adding he wants to see more focus on education, public safety and mental health. “There are many things that the state needs to invest in, and we will be scrutinizing it, just as everyone else is, to see if it meets that test.”
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RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina lawmakers are nearing agreement on a new state budget that Rep. Zack Hawkins says could bring long-awaited stability to agencies and employees who have been operating under 2023 spending levels.
Hawkins, a Democrat representing Durham, said Monday that legislators are close to finalizing the budget after waiting 1,000 days since the last budget passed
“We’re going to potentially meet the June 30, July 1 deadline, so that there’s stability for all the agencies and all the entities that depend on the state budget,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said the prospect of a finalized budget offers needed certainty.
“The opportunity for them to have a budget means stability,” he said.
The expected spending plan centers on pay increases for educators and state employees. State workers could receive an average 3% raise and a $1,700 bonus for those earning under $75,000. Hawkins said the goal is to ensure workers have a “strong and respectable pay scale.”
“State employees know that they’re not going to get rich, but we need to make sure that they have a strong and respectable pay scale, bonuses that keep up with inflation, and the benefits, of course, that the state of North Carolina brings, and so we’re hoping that we value them in this budget,” he said.
Teachers could see an average 8% raise. Hawkins, a former educator, said he hopes North Carolina can lead the South in teacher pay.
“And eventually beating the national average. But alongside that, we really want to make sure that there’s an opportunity to keep and retain teachers who’ve been teaching for 10, 15 and 25 years,” he said.
The budget is also expected to include a 13% pay raise for law enforcement, according to a post from Rep. Brenden Jones, who celebrated the finalization of the budget.
The budget could come with a plan to reduce the personal income tax rate and a higher tax rate for sports gambling operators. The rate would increase from 18% to as high as 23%, a change Hawkins supports.
“We can bring in even more revenue, because it’s going to some really good places, it’s going to universities, athletic departments, it’s going to support youth sports, it’s going to support outdoor opportunities and grants,” he said.
One proposal not included in the budget is funding for a Major League Baseball stadium in Raleigh. Hawkins said the Senate-led idea was not the right fit this year.
“Because we have to make sure that we’re taking care of our basic obligations, our people,” he said.
Hawkins said agencies have been operating under the 2023 budget, affecting hiring and pay raises. Many are waiting for Tuesday’s release of the new spending plan.
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