The N.C. Republican Party applauds the Superior Court for upholding the legislature's constitutional role in redistricting and rejecting the attempts of Democrat activists to leverage the judiciary for political purposes. We’re happy this court affirmed the maps in question were drawn legally by the legislature as according to the Constitution.

This lawsuit was never anything more than a 'Sue til Blue' attempt by activists on the Left to gain through the courts what they cannot win at the ballot box. The plaintiffs in this case, who are all partisan Democrat activists, proved this when they asked the court to throw out the legislature's enacted maps as 'partisan gerrymanders' only to suggest replacing them with maps drawn in secret by their own lawyers which were incredibly gerrymandered in favor of Democrats.

While the NCGOP fully expects the activists to appeal this decision to the N.C. Supreme Court, we call on those justices to uphold the lower court's ruling which reinforces the constitutionally appropriate and authoritative role of the state legislature in redistricting matters. The NCGOP also calls on those justices with clear conflicts of interest to recuse themselves from this case.

Congressman Dan Bishop, who sued the N.C. Supreme Court for transparency following their secret decision to delay primary elections and candidate filing, reiterated the importance of a non-political judiciary in upholding the separation of powers as well as the necessity of clear and stable electoral schedules for North Carolina voters.

"The people of North Carolina deserve stability and predictability in their elections and a redistricting process conducted by the branch of government to which the Constitution delegates the power and responsibility — the legislative branch," said Congressman Bishop. "I call on the N.C. Supreme Court to reject this activist ploy to abuse the judiciary for narrow partisan advantage and to issue an order upholding the trial court’s decision. And this time, I hope they’ll sign their names."

Durham City-County Planning Department is in the process of revising the Comprehensive Plan and would like to “Engage Durham!”

They are inviting everyone to be a part of determining the types of places we want to see in Durham County.

If you would like to be a part of this process and learn more, please join a Community Zoom meeting. “Basic information will be shared at all meetings, with a portion of the meeting broadly focused on a general area of Durham.”

Upcoming Meeting Dates:

• November 30, 6:30 pm – East Durham
• December 6, 6:30 pm – North Durham
• December 16, 6:30 pm – South Durham
• January 12, 6:30 pm – West Durham

Learn more about the Comprehensive Plan here: Comprehensive Plan – EngageDurham

Sign up for the public meetings here: Social Pinpoint | Comprehensive Plan (mysocialpinpoint.com)

Email  [email protected]  with questions

Have you considered running as a Republican for an open position? Republican Candidate Recruitment is ongoing.

The Durham County Republican Party is actively recruiting candidates for: 

• US Senator (1)
• US Congress (Currently 1)
• NC House (Currently 4)
• NC Senate (2)
• Durham School Board (5 seats)
• Durham Soil & Water (1)
• District Attorney (1)
• Durham Clerk of Court (1)
• Durham Sheriff (1)

If you are a registered Republican and are interested in running for public office in Durham County, or for additional information, please contact the Durham GOP Candidate Recruitment and Development Committee Natalie Beauchaine at [email protected].

Filing starts in December for most offices.

Highlights from the 2021 Durham election.

https://indyweek.com/elections-2021/durham-county/durham-municipal-election-coverage-election-results/

If you call 911 how fast do you expect your call to be answered? The standard for North Carolina is for your call to be answered in 10 seconds or less. Durham 911 is only meeting that standard 82% of the time. Some residents calling 911 are reporting that they are waiting for minutes to have their call answered. 

Read more about Durham's 911 situation here: Emergency Response Times are not meeting state standards

The Durham City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to raise the pay for mayor and council members starting next year.

The mayor’s salary will rise from $29,875 to $41,536, and the salary for council members will rise from $25,378 to $35,200 beginning Jan. 1, 2022.

Councilmember Pierce Freelon, who is not seeking re-election, proposed the raises, saying bigger stipends would enable more people to run for public office.

Read more at City Council votes for pay raises.

Governor Cooper vetoed anti-critical race theory House Bill 324 on September 10th. House Bill 324, "Ensuring Dignity and Nondiscrimination/Schools", would have specified what views schools can promote and also required that schools list curriculum and guest speakers discussing gender or race.

Why Governor Cooper would think preventing school units from promoting ideas like:

With the veto, schools would continue to be allowed to teach items such as Critical Race Theory. 

Right to Work States, of which North Carolina is one, have had better job growth over the last decade. In fact, quadruple the job growth of Forced Unionism States. 

Right to Work laws prevent workers from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment. A worker can join a union if they desire, but they can’t be fired for non payment of dues to a union they don’t want to join.

Interestingly, public pensions in Right to Work States are better funded than other states. That means lower tax liability on residents.

View a compilation of the Right to Work statistics here: https://nilrr.org/spring-2021-right-to-work-benefits/

Mr. Torres of New York introduced HR Bill 4980 to do the following:

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that any individual traveling on a flight that departs from or arrives to an airport inside the United States or a territory of the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID–19, and for other purposes. 

Should the bill be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, the following would apply

House Bill 805 has cleared the Senate committee. House Bill 805 sets increased penalties on parties involved in rioting or inciting a riot.

Summary:

More information:

nsjonline.com

Because of the rising rates of Covid infection, Durham has re-instituted the mask mandate beginning Monday, August 9th at 5 PM.

Further details can be found here: Mask mandate story

Checking the news today, we find that the City Council ignores what the Planning Commission and Durham residents want in regards to Parcel K. Parcel K is a proposed 800 unit development in southeast Durham. 

Some facts:

• The Planning Commission, with an 11-1 vote to not approve the proposed development, ignored.
• The Durham residents who attended the meetings and overwhelmingly expressed disapproval for the development, ignored.
• Plans to update roads to support the development, non-existent.
• The developer attended the meetings at which they provided previously unannounced verbal changes to the proposal, inconsiderate if not a shady practice. These last-minute additions did not give the commission time to review and comment on the developer's, obviously intended, changes. 

While Durham has a housing shortage and the developer did propose including 22 affordable units, there is no excuse for the City Council to rush through an overwhelming opposed proposal.

Beginning at 7:00 PM, on July 30, 2021, the N.C. 4th Congressional District will host a U.S. Senatorial Town Hall at which the following seven (7) candidates will have an opportunity to discuss their campaign platform, answer questions, and give closing remarks: 

• Jen Banwart (former Dept. of Defense official)
• Ted Budd (U.S. Member of Congress)
• Kenneth Harper (business owner)
• Zach Potter (business owner)
• John Martin (Marty) Cooke (Brunswick Co. Commissioner)
• Pat McCrory (former N.C. governor)
• Mark Walker (former Member of Congress)

All are Republicans running for the U.S. Senate in 2022.

The Town Hall will take place at Mt. Zion Christian Church, 3519 Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC 27707.

The event is open to everyone.  However, pre-registration is encouraged online at:  https://district4.nc.gop/us_senatorial_gop_town_hall.

On July 14, the North Carolina Senate Education Committee began considering a proposed substitute for House Bill (HB) 324, a bill that passed the House on May 12, 2021, in a 66-48 party-line vote. HB 324 is a bill:

“…[that] demonstrate[s] the General Assembly’s intent that students, teachers, administrators, and other school employees recognize the equality and rights of all persons and to prohibit public school units from promoting certain concepts that are contrary to that intent.”

Such as critical race theory!

HB 324 prohibits explicitly public and charter school units from promoting the following concepts:

1. One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.
2. An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
3. An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex.
4. An individual's moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex.
5. An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.
6. Any individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.
7. That the belief that the United States is a meritocracy is an inherently racist or sexist belief, or that the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex.
   
   

According to the Carolina Journal, the new version of HB 324 mirrors the wording and intent of the original House version. However, the new version also creates new accountability mechanisms that require public school districts to notify the Department of Public Instruction and make public any plans to teach CRT or hiring speakers who actively promote the theory or have done so in the past.

Teaching CRT in schools is all over the board within the State.  The Cabarrus County School Board passed a non-discrimination resolution that mirrors the language of HB 324, while the Durham City Council unanimously voted to support its teaching.  Moreover, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson sees CRT as the pernicious fraud it is.  “Students should be taught how to think, not what to think.”

Consider writing to your State Senator in support of the passage of this bill.

Voters, if you are concerned that there were issues with the NC vote tabulation in 2020, you can join a petition to audit the 2020 election in NC. 

To read and sign the petition, visit  https://nc-election.com/.  If the petition gets results, Durham would be in the first group audited.

Included below are two videos that present the case that there was fraud in NC 2020 Election and that there should be an investigation.

NC General Election Wrap up by Major Dave : https://youtu.be/DTBirZj9SV

NC Voter Registration Analysis by Seth Keshel : https://dougbillings.us/video/seth-keshel-election-fraud-by-the-numbers/