NC'S CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE BIDEN WIN: WRAL News contacted all 10 Republican U.S. House members and U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr on Monday to ask whether they believe Biden has won and whether they will accept him as the legitimate president if he wins the majority of the electoral votes on Dec. 14. Spokespersons for 5th District Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, 7th District Congressman David Rouzer, 8th District Congressman Richard Hudson, 9th District Congressman Dan Bishop and 13th District Congressman Ted Budd responded without answering the questions. Most issued statements calling for election integrity and saying all claims of fraud need to be investigated. The other seven didn't even respond. "I think the silence speaks a lot about the state of the Republican Party and the fear in which they’re operating under," McLennan said.
https://www.wral.com/nc-republicans-in-congress-reluctant-to-acknowledge-biden-as-president/19418678/

VOTERS SHOULD PICK REPRESENTATIVES, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND: Thirty-one of the 50 winning candidates for the state Senate had victory margins that exceeded 20 percentage points – a landslide in any election. Just eight – 16% of the Senate, had victory margins at 10 percentage points or less. In the state House of Representatives, nearly 70% of the 120 members won with runaway victory margins that exceeded 20 percentage points. Just 19 races – barely 16% of the House (a familiar figure?) captured their seats with margins under 10 percentage points. The desires of a few outweighed the needs of the many. Gerrymandering protected nearly every legislator, regardless of their political affiliation, from any consequences at the ballot box. Our state cannot continue to have a legislature that is not accountable to the citizens.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-voters-should-pick-representatives-not-the-other-way-around/19409956/

NC HOUSE DEMS CHOOSE ROBERT REIVES AS MINORITY LEADER: With Reives’ election, Democrats in both chambers of the General Assembly will be led by Black men for at least the next two years. Sen. Dan Blue, a Democrat from Raleigh, was reelected in November to continue serving in his current position of Senate minority leader, which he has held since 2015. Blue served as the first Black House speaker from 1991 until 1994. Rep. Darren Jackson announced earlier in November he wouldn’t run for reelection after holding the position for four years. Following that announcement, Reives said he would run, WRAL reported last month. “If he hadn’t offered to run, he would’ve been recruited to run,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Democrat from Greensboro. “People respect him so much on both sides of the aisle.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article247578125.html

MARK WALKER TO RUN FOR BURR'S SENATE SEAT IN 2022: Walker, 51, released a video announcing his campaign for Senate and has created a website. “It’s a little uncomfortable to talk about why you’re the best candidate. Nobody in the House can match our record as a conservative warrior, but also somebody who builds bridges,” Walker said in a telephone interview Tuesday. He is expected to be joined by several other candidates. Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump, is considering a bid. Lara Trump grew up in Wilmington and attended N.C. State. Walker is finishing his third term in the U.S. House. Walker served as the chairman of the Republican Study Committee earlier in his tenure and was a member of Republican leadership in his final term. (Not mentioned in this article: Pat McCrory is also sniffing around this seat)
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article247525260.html

COVID 19 HOSPITALIZATIONS IN NC APPROACHING 2,000 MARK: At least 361,778 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 5,240 have died, according to state health officials. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported 3,820 new COVID-19 cases, up from 3,444 reported the day before and the seventh-highest daily total since the start of the pandemic. The numbers highlight a surge of new cases in November. The state averaged fewer than 2,000 new cases a day in October. Twenty-one additional deaths were also reported Sunday. At least 1,885 people in North Carolina were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday — surpassing the previous record of 1,840 reported the day before. About 8.6% of tests were reported positive as of Friday, the latest day for which data are available.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article247494750.html