North Carolina
NC lawmakers consider constitutional amendments to boost turnout in midterms
Jamie Ager interview after Fairview campaign rally
Democratic congressional candidate Jamie Ager spoke with the Asheville Citizen Times following a campaign rally in Fairview on May 18, 2026, after former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed supporters ahead of the 2026 election.
How do you get Republican voters to the polls in a difficult political climate? Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are hoping a slate of up to seven constitutional amendments might do the trick.
Multiple polls nationally and in North Carolina show low enthusiasm among Republican voters, President Donald Trump’s approval rating sagging, and Democratic candidates up and down the ballot widening their leads over GOP rivals as the midterm election approaches.
“They’re probably seeing the winds of the political mood of the state against them,” said political scientist Michael Bitzer, director of the Center for Politics and Public Service at Catawba College. “The standard is that registered Republicans always overperform in terms of turnout, and they will need that historic turnout advantage to blunt what is obvious in the mood of the state and the country against the Republican party.”
In 2018, when a similar set of circumstances led Republicans to put six constitutional amendments on the ballot designed to appeal to conservatives, including a 7% income tax cap, photo voter ID, and a constitutional right to hunt. Four passed and two didn’t.
State House and Senate Republicans still lost their supermajorities, but the blue wave could have been worse than it was, said Bitzer. “Ours was fairly muted in comparison to what the national and other state dynamics were like.”
Eight years later, North Carolina Republicans are returning to the 2018 playbook, loading up the 2026 general election ballot with a raft of similar proposals aimed at boosting conservative turnout.
One constitutional amendment has already been approved for the November ballot — a provision that would require mail-in voters to include photo identification with their ballot. It’s already state law, but this would add it to the constitution. That was passed at the end of 2024.
As of May 19, 2026, there are six others under consideration. All six were heard in committees within a 24-hour span. And more could be filed at any time because constitutional amendments are exempt from rules that limit the bills legislators can consider during the short session.
Two proposals would limit taxes. Senate Bill 1080 would lower the state’s constitutional cap on the income tax rate from 7% to 3.5%. The state’s income tax rate is already slated to drop to 3.49% in 2027, so it wouldn’t actually lead to lower taxes, but it would keep state lawmakers in the future from raising it again without first getting voters to approve it.
The second, House Bill 1089, would require lawmakers to “enact a property tax levy limit” to rein in county governments’ ability to raise property tax rates. However, it lacks specifics about what the limit might be.
Two other proposals would put existing state laws in the state constitution. Senate Bill 1081 would create a constitutional right to “engage in farming and forestry.” The right to farm was written into state law in 1979. Senate Bill 1082 would enshrine the state’s 1947 right to work law. In committee hearings Monday, the sponsors of those bills were unable to come up with any actual threats to the existing laws.
The final two would further limit the governor’s appointment powers. House Bill 144 would allow voters, rather than the governor, to select the members of the State Board of Education. They would be elected from 14 districts, likely to be the same as the congressional districts, with the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction becoming the board chair.
House Bill 443 would spell out the process by which the governor can replace an elected member of the Council of State in case of a vacancy. The party of the departing official would nominate three potential replacements, and the governor would select one.
Bitzer told NC Newsline some of these are likely policy priorities that Republican leaders want to accomplish now in case they lose control of one or both legislative chambers in November. Constitutional amendments are not subject to the governor’s veto.
When it comes to enacting conservative policy objectives, “the most stable and hardest to change is a constitutional amendment,” he said.
Constitutional amendments require a vote of three-fifths in the House and Senate. Senate Republicans hold the 30 seats they will need to approve any amendment favored by the leadership, assuming they’re all present on the same day.
House Republicans are one vote shy of the 72 votes they need, but have proven themselves adept at finding votes across the aisle. Former Mecklenburg Democrats Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed have left their party and are now unaffiliated. And with the state budget still under negotiation, the $2 billion surplus this year could give Republican leaders more room to trade a project earmark for a Democratic vote.
Once they reach the ballot, amendments need only a simple majority to become law. The income tax cap amendment on the ballot in 2018 passed with 57% support, reflecting some crossover support among Democrats, Bitzer said. The same could be true in 2026.
“The tax issues — the property tax, the income tax — hearing those as limitations or caps, I think, will resonate with the public initially,” Bitzer said. “How the fight over that is framed will be, I think, a crucial voter education piece.”
While critics of the proposals have accused Republicans of turning the constitution into a “political tool” to boost their electoral prospects, Bitzer sees it as along the same lines as the extreme partisan gerrymandering — “gerrymaxxing,” he calls it — throughout the South.
“We’re taking politics and moving it to the extremes, so why not make constitutions into political tools in this hyper-polarized environment?” Bitzer said. “Welcome to North Carolina in 2026.”
Laura Leslie is an award-winning journalist and analyst who’s covered North Carolina state politics for 22 years. Before coming to NC Newsline, she served as capitol bureau chief for WRAL-TV in Raleigh and WUNC/NC Public Radio. She also wrote the award-winning political blog Isaac Hunter’s Tavern.
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Chaos and violence erupted when a party in Alamance County got out of control over the weekend. Now, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement says they’re investigating shots fired, a stabbing and numerous fights.
NC ALE and other agencies helped the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday night after receiving reports of a disturbance on Florence Road in Alamance County.
One neighbor tells FOX8 off-camera that people were parking in her yard and blocking her driveway. She said it got so bad that she felt like a prisoner in her home.
Court documents say a crowd of more than 1,000 people showed up for what was called “FreakNik 26.”
Dennis Bass, 43, is accused of organizing the party, according to court documents. He faces five total charges, including inciting a riot.
Those documents say Bass allegedly planned the party to promote mass impairment, which resulted in numerous fights, shots fired, a law enforcement officer almost being run over and a stabbing. ALE says one person was airlifted to the hospital for stab wounds.
Investigators are also charging Bass for allegedly paying for unlicensed armed security guards.
A spokesperson with ALE says Dale Williams is facing two charges, including carrying a concealed weapon and acting as an unlicensed armed security guard.
Tirek McRae is also facing two counts of acting as an unlicensed armed security guard.
Nisuon Williams-Oliver is facing two charges, including carrying a concealed weapon and performing as an unlicensed armed security guard.
RALEIGH, N.C. — A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by 31 former N.C. State male athletes alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment and harassment by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine.
In orders filed Tuesday, Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed claims against Robert M. Murphy Jr., as well as multiple N.C. State athletics officials tied to their oversight rules, citing procedural reasons.
The lawsuit was filed in February in state court in a case that began with a federal lawsuit from a single athlete filed in 2022. That complaint alleged years of misconduct by Murphy, including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing.
Collins granted the motion seeking a dismissal from Murphy’s attorneys, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired in claims dating back as early as 2013.
Collins also dismissed claims against multiple athletics officials such as former athletic director Debbie Yow and current AD Boo Corrigan on jurisdictional grounds. His ruling stated any complaint should go through the North Carolina Industrial Commission – a state agency that deals with workplace matters with N.C. State as a public university – rather than civil court.
Jared Hammett, a Raleigh-based attorney representing Murphy, issued a statement to The Associated Press describing his client as “someone who dedicated his life to working with athletes” while referring to a “rush to judgment” that can impact “real people’s lives.”
“The truth is nothing happened but a man’s career being ruined for money,” Hammett said. “As a lawyer I am just glad that we have been able to help another person who needed support and found himself needing that defense.”
Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented players going back to the original case, said the athletes plan to appeal.
“This dismissal has nothing at all to do with Mr. Murphy’s sexual abuse of these 31 former student-athletes,” Sutton said in a statement to the AP. “It was decided based only on questions of legal procedure. We plan to appeal this outcome and in coming days will be adding new claims against NCSU for men who have recently come forward.”
All but two of the 31 athletes are “John Doe” plaintiffs to protect anonymity, while two former men’s soccer players are named.
One is Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022. The other is one of two athletes who filed their own federal lawsuits in February 2023 and April 2023. The AP typically doesn’t identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless the person has spoken publicly about it, which Locke has done.
Sutton, who has represented plaintiffs in each lawsuit, filed to dismiss those pending Title IX lawsuits before moving the case to state-level jurisdiction in September 2025.
Murphy, at N.C. State from 2012-22, was among nine defendants originally named individually. Others were school officials accused of negligence in oversight roles, saying concerns about Murphy’s conduct reached senior levels of the athletic department but the school’s response was insufficient.
Sutton and co-counsel Robert O. Jenkins filed in April to dismiss former N.C. State chancellor Randy Woodson as a defendant.
“N.C. State does not condone sexual misconduct of any kind,” the school said in a statement Tuesday evening. “The health and safety of our students and student-athletes is paramount to the university and our athletic programs.
“We agree with the court’s analysis and the decision that the law supports dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims in this case. We recognize the immense courage it takes for someone to come forward, and our hearts go out to any student or student-athlete who has been impacted by distressing experiences.”
See video of adorable bear cubs play-fight on a road
This traffic jam at Pisgah National Forest had a good reason. A family of bears wrestled around, halting the cars.
A new list from WorldAtlas named 13 North Carolina towns writers deemed the best places to live in the state in 2026 ― including two Western North Carolina locations.
Founded in 1994 by cartographer John Moen and his wife, Chris Woolwine-Moen, WorldAtlas publishes educational materials and articles on geography, sociology, demography, environment, economics, politics, and travel.
Previous Citizen Times articles have covered numerous mentions of Western N.C. from WorldAtlas, including the publication’s favorite North Carolina towns for 2026 visits, best day trips in the state, “idyllic” and “unpretentious” towns, scenic drives, towns that rival Europe’s finest and more.
From mountain landscapes to coastal access to quieter suburban neighborhoods, here’s where WorldAtlas writers chose.
Best places to live in North Carolina 2026
The full list of best places to live in North Carolina includes:
- Raleigh
- Charlotte
- Durham
- Apex
- Morrisville
- Asheville
- Winston-Salem
- Wilmington
- Boone
- Cary
- Greensboro
- Greenville
- Chapel Hill
Is Asheville, NC, a good place to live?
WorldAtlas called Asheville “an artsy mountain town that welcomes residents with a creative spirit and seemingly endless green spaces.” When it came to reasons why writers suggested it as one of the state’s best places to live, the following was cited:
- Outdoor recreation options that draw travelers from around the globe, from waterfalls to whitewater rapids.
- An escape from “the heat associated with much of the state” due to the area’s elevation.
- The River Arts District, including its art galleries and studios, breweries and historic buildings.
Is Boone, NC a good place to live?
WorldAtlas stated that making a home in the Appalachian Mountains means “waking up to the sight of rolling green hills out of your window.” Writers suggested Boone as one of the Tar Heel State’s best locations to live in 2026 because of the following:
- The town’s welcoming college culture, created by Appalachian State University at “the heart of this town.”
- Appalachian State University itself has eight research centers and over 150 community-focused groups that serve the local area.
- Restaurants and other “warm and welcoming third spaces” for residents and locals to “enjoy between work days and evening hikes through mountain trails.”
- Year-round options for activities, from the Yoga & Wellness Festival to the Boonerang Music & Arts Festival.
Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.
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