• Happy Thanksgiving to all! Travel safely, and remember those less fortunate on this special holiday.
• As the State Board of Elections certifies election results, we learn (from Jonathan Kappler, former research director at the N.C. FreeEnterprise Foundation) that Republicans received 54.1 percent of the vote in state House races, Democrats got 45.4 percent, and the GOP won 74 of the 120 seats. In Senate contests, Republicans collected 53.8 percent of the Senate votes, Democrats 45.3 percent, and the GOP won 34 of 50 seats in that chamber.
• Liberal blogger and Democratic consultant Thomas Mills writes that Democrats made a mistake sticking to their talking points in campaign ads against U.S. Sen.-elect Thom Tillis. Republicans say they prevailed, in part, because Democrats ran ads that were contested on fact-checking websites and media outlets attacking the General Assembly’s spending record on education, response to coal ash spills, and tax cuts — and Democrats failed to modify their message when the ads were challenged.
• In a story published by the left-leaning campaign watchdog Center for Public Integrity, longtime conservative activist Dallas Woodhouse says the positive ads his group Carolina Rising purchased on behalf of the policies of the Republican-led General Assembly made a major impact on voter attitudes in the recent election.
