Welcome. This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue. The platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we take back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please stop by each week. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads. If you are interested in starting your own state blog, weekly to occasionally, I will list your work below.
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This week features stories and opinion from around the state. They include Debby’s impact and storms on the way, a Trump visit to Asheville, Hispanic voting trends, North Carolina hospitals, and the Lincoln Project’s NC focus.
Thanks for reading and sharing the following stories and links.
The National Weather Service confirmed six tornadoes spun up as Tropical Storm Debby crossed North Carolina on Aug. 8, 2024.
- In Rocky Mount, an EF-0 with wind speeds of 85 mph was on the ground for .16 miles with a max width of 50 yards.
- In Franklin County, three tornadoes touched down.
- In Rocky Ford, an EF-0 with wind speeds of 85 mph was on the ground for 1 mile with a max width of 75 yards;
- in Epsom, and EF-1 with wind speeds of 100 mph was on the ground for 2 miles with a max width of 100 yards;
- and in Louisburg, an EF-1 with wind speeds of 100 mph was on the ground for 2.9 miles. It's maximum width was 125 yards.
- In Lucama, the strongest of the storms claimed a life and damaged homes and a middle school. That Wilson County tornado was an EF-3 with winds of 140 mph. It was on the ground for 6 miles with a max width of 200 yards.
- In Harrells, and EF-2 with wind speeds of 115 mph was on the ground for 4.6 miles with a max width of 40 yards.
Throughout the course of the day, there were dozens of tornado warnings.
Several tropical waves are moving across the Atlantic, with the National Hurricane Center predicting one could develop into another tropical system as early as Monday.
In a typical August, Wilmington receives just over 8 inches of rain.
In the past week, thanks to Tropical Storm Debby, Wilmington International Airport -- where the National Weather Service Wilmington office's officials rain gauge is located - has seen nearly 11 inches. Other parts of the Cape Fear region have received upward of 15 inches of rain thanks to Debby's daily deluges.
And we're not even halfway through the month.
With all of Southeastern North Carolina water logged, waterways full, some streets still flooded and closed, and rivers continuing to rise as the heavy precipitation from inland areas makes its way to the coast, flooding and standing water are likely to remain a concern across the region for days.
And there's the potential for more rain in the next week.
Former United States President Donald Trump announced Aug. 10 that he will be making a campaign stop on Wednesday, Aug. 14.
According to a news release, Trump will be at Harrah's Cherokee Center at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Doors will open at 1 p.m.
Registration for general admission tickets is available at this link.
Most of North Carolina’s hospitals have agreed to sign on to Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan to ease patient medical debt, a development that will likely bring financial help to hundreds of thousands of people. More than 65 of the state’s 99 hospitals — including those owned by Atrium, Novant, UNC Health, Duke Health, WakeMed, Cone Health, ECU Health and Mission Health — have agreed to participate in the plan so far. Hospitals had until 5 pm Friday to join the program.
Cooper’s plan, which was approved by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in late July, has the potential to relieve $4 billion in existing hospital medical debt for people in the state, his office has said.
It’s a potentially pivotal question in this year’s elections: Whether Latinos will move rightward toward the Republican Party and its presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Predictions of such a shift have been made for years with mixed results: In 2022, in Florida, while Republicans made inroads with Latinos, they were not as large as expected. Still, Democrats lost races in blue strongholds such as Miami-Dade County, which has a large Latino population.
And in North Carolina, the Latino community — making up 11% of the state’s population and 4% of registered voters, and with its voting-eligible population exploding in recent years — could play a significant role in the presidential election, which often comes down to the wire in the battleground state.
Latino voters’ significance centers on whether and which of the major political parties will be able to turn them out to vote.
With Kamala Harris now running in place of Joe Biden, Democrats' chances against Donald Trump have improved in North Carolina and other battleground states, polls show. National groups such as the Lincoln Project are taking note.
North Carolina has tens of thousands of moderate Republicans — and some solidly conservative voters — who have the potential to help Democrats flip the state blue in November.
Swaying those voters isn’t a guarantee. But they’re gettable, said Rick Wilson, the former Florida GOP operative who’s now a leading national voice of the “Never Trump” movement. He hopes he can convince enough of them to prevent Republican former President Donald Trump from getting the state’s 16 electoral votes — part of the group’s broader effort to block Trump’s return to the White House.
In an exclusive interview with WRAL, Wilson confirmed that his group, The Lincoln Project, is readying to reach out to conservative voters across North Carolina in the coming days using highly targeted ads to convince them that Trump is still unfit for the presidency.
Thanks for stopping by, wishing all a fine week.
