• Candidate filing for the 2016 election cycle opened today at noon! Carolina Journal’s Dan Way has a preview here. The State Board of Elections will keep a running tally of who’s running (as information becomes official) here. In addition, the board has released a series of training videos for poll workers regarding the photo ID provisions that take effect with the March 15 primary (30-minute video is below).
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• As expected, former state Rep. Dale Folwell, a Forsyth County Republican who recently left the McCrory administration as the state’s head of employment security services, will run to succeed the retiring Janet Cowell as state treasurer. Democrat Ron Elmer of Wake County also has announced plans to run.
• Former state Rep. Deborah Ross of Wake County, who’s seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, spoke with Politico.com about her primary battle and the 2016 landscape.
• New Hanover County Commissioner Woody White, who ran and lost in the 2014 Republican primary in the 7th Congressional District against now-Rep. David Rouzer, announced he would not seek a rematch.
• Tentative dates for debates in the races for U.S. Senate and governor, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and to be aired on Time Warner Cable News, were announced Monday: Feb. 29 for the Democratic Senate candidates and March 1 for the Democratic gubernatorial candidates. General election dates also were announced, but were subsequently pulled back pending agreements from all the campaigns to participate.
