You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need.
Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. It's 505 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. A good Friday morning to you.
We've got some positive news to kick off this Friday morning edition of the program as homicide rates in multiple North Carolina cities showed improvements throughout the year 2025, with those rates in North Carolina's five largest cities either holding steady or declining last calendar year, which is a major improvement over the negative trends in violent crime that had been seen across the state and really across the nation in many large cities following the COVID-19 pandemic. We'll start with the state's largest city, Charlotte. The Queen's City saw a 21% decrease in violent crimes for 2025 compared to 2020. According to recent statistics released by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. This included a 13% reduction in homicides, which dropped from 11, from 110 to 96 in the year 24 compared to 25.
In late November, following the high-profile murder of Irina Zarutska and pressure from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police Union, President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Charlotte Webb. We talked about that extensively here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Those efforts from DHS effectively flooded the zone with agents from U.S. Border Patrol and immigration and customs enforcement. The Zarutska case also spurred the state legislature to pass a tough-on-crime bill known as Arena's Law, which officially went into effect in December, just back a couple of months ago, that sought to close some loopholes allowing violent repeat offenders to continually walk free.
With these efforts coming at the end of the year, however, CMPD officials said. That the crime reductions were due to the internal efforts of the department. Estella Patterson, who is the CMPD police chief, who is a new on-the-job, said, Day in and day out, our officers diffuse conflicts, address crimes as they unfold, prevent escalations of violence, and provide our investigators with criminal information needed to identify and charge offenders. She continued by saying, Our officers do more than respond to crimes. They take proactive steps every day to prevent it and keep our neighborhoods safe.
The department accredited some of the increased engagement for the tangible results of that decrease, with the chief once again highlighting this, saying, these improvements reflect persistence, often unseen work that is driving real change. These results are not just numbers. They are the outcome of targeted strategies.
So as it relates specifically to violent crime and homicides in the Queen City, the city of Charlotte, those are down 21% in calendar year 25 compared to 24. In addition to Charlotte's a noticeable decrease, cities like Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and even Winston-Salem either saw a steady or heavy decrease in some of their homicide statistics as well. Moving on now to the state capital, second only to Charlotte in population, violent crime, so an overall reduction of just 1%. This is while the city had a 4% increase in homicides from 27 to 28. The overall number was still less than 30% of what Charlotte experienced in that same time span.
And obviously, you can roll that back to population. Per capita, Raleigh's roughly 1 in 18,000 homicides were safer than Charlotte's approximately 1 in 10,000. Nationwide, the 2025 per capita homicide rate is expected to land around 1 in 25,000, according to internal estimates, as federal crime stats compiled by the FBI do not arrive until later this year. Lieutenant David Davis, who is the Raleigh Police Department's chief public information officer, told the Carolina Journal in a statement that RPD took personally any incident of violent crime. Davis telling Carolina Journal, as the chief often says, Raleigh.
Raleigh Police is a community, and the community is the Raleigh Police Department. That belief underscores how vital our community members are to everything we do and reinforces the shared responsibility we have in keeping our city safe. Davis and the chief who assumed his post as the Raleigh Police Chief back in March when Estella Patterson, who's now the CMPD chief, went to Charlotte to take over that position, has made innovation a priority in his crime fighting efforts, saying, Technology plays a critical role in modern policing. And through our real-time crime center, we're able to identify crime trends more quickly and deploy those resources where they are needed the most. The city also has continued to expand its community engagement through a program they have called Connect Raleigh, which is a voluntary public video sharing platform that currently integrates more than 1,500 Cameras from across the city in an effort to quote make Raleigh the safest city in the country.
So that's what's going on in our state capital. Turning our attention to Greensboro, the state's third largest city, it did not have its year-end crime statistics as readily available as some of our other cities, but it did share some of its data via a nationwide community crime map, which is supported by AlexisNexis. Based on the reported incidents, the Carolina Journal determined that the region saw a drop from 40 homicides in 2024 to 30 in 2025. That is a full 25% reduction, at least according to the data that we have available right now. Both years reflect a five-year downward trend with an average of about 53 homicides per year in the span between 2020 and 2025.
Per capita, however, Greensboro's homicide rate was equivalent to that of Charlotte. Roughly 1 in 10,000. In Durham, the next most populous city across the Tar Hills state, after having reduced its homicide rate from 18 in 2023 to 6 in 2024, the Bull City did stay below average with 11 reported homicides in 2025. That gave it a per capita of around 1 in 28,000. That is the first city that we've talked about that it would now be better than the national average, which I mentioned is about 1 in 25,000.
Winston-Salem, our state's fifth-largest city, saw it held steady. From its 2024 crime rates, going from 25 to 26 reported homicides in 2025, after having seen a surge of 44 homicides in 2023. But while its actual numbers were roughly equivalent to those in Raleigh, the per capita rate paints a very different picture, putting it on par with Charlotte and nearby Greensboro at under 1 in 10,000 residents. Although it doesn't crack the top 10 city list in terms of population, Asheville's crime rates have made headlines in recent years, especially regarding homelessness and public drug use. But data from the community crime map indicated that the western North Carolina city reported just four homicides in 2025.
That is a significantly lower, 60% lower, in fact, compared to where it was in 2024 when 10 were reported. That puts its per capita rate around 1 in 25,000, which Is around that national average.
However, regardless of what some of these statistics look like, there are still concerns of crime in major cities across the state of North Carolina, whether we're talking about Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, or even some of our smaller municipalities. You look at Greenville, Wilmington, Asheville, some of those other towns as well. Fortunately, we are seeing the violent crime rate trending downwards.
However, other data that we are expecting to see coming up here in the coming months will show, in fact, that other amounts of crime do remain up and the public still with some of these major high-profile stories. Of course, the murder of Irina Zarutska back in late September of 2025 does have individuals kind of on their heels and the perception that many cities are unsafe, even when data is improving and showing that local law enforcement, whether we're talking about the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, the Sheriff's Department, or other Other agencies in our major cities, they are continuing to deal with relatively high amounts of crime in many cities across the state of North Carolina. A lot of numbers and data in this story. We've got all those per capita percentages and everything else that is available this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Take a look for the story with the headlines: homicides in NC Cities Show Improvement in 2025.
Let's go! You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaxassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. Early birds always rise to the occasion for summer vacation planning because early gets you closer to the action.
So don't be late. Book your next vacation early on Verbo and save over $120. Rise and shine! Average savings $141 select homes only. It's 21 minutes past the hour.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good Friday morning to you. Coming up this summer, the city of Asheville and Buncombe County will be hosting some pretty high profile and high stakes meetings to walk us through those details this morning. Teresa Opaca, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour.
Teresa, am I reading your headline correctly? The G20, the major economic group, is set to have some meetings here in Western North Carolina over the summer. You are reading that correctly, Nick. Thanks so much for having me this morning. Yeah, that announcement was made yesterday by U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besant. He announced that the 2026 G twenty Finance Track will host meetings of the G twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Asheville this summer. That's a pretty big deal for not only Asheville, but the state of North Carolina. Yes, not only is it a big deal, but Teresa, there's only a couple of meetings that are taking place outside of the main G twenty summit. There's only a couple of meetings taking place across the globe, and two of the four are actually here in Asheville, which is honestly amazing.
Yeah, yeah, you're right. And the first one kicks off in April in Washington, D.C. And we've got two in Nashville beginning on August 29th. That's the finance and central bank deputies meeting. And then August 31st through September 1st, we've got finance ministers and central bank governors meeting.
There's another one in Thailand in October. And of course, we've got the actual summit being hosted in December at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida.
So, yeah, I mean, just a few handful of meetings, and two of them are right here in the Tar Hill State. You mentioned this announcement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant yesterday. Did he have any comments? Did he have anything to say about part of why these reasons are taking place in Asheville? Yeah, so he did gave a quote in a press release that he issued that he was proud to spotlight the U.S.
is going to host. These meetings and also in Asheville. And he said the selection of historic Asheville reflects the Trump administration's commitment to the revitalization and resilience of Western North Carolina, which continues to rebuild after the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene.
So it seems like the focus, you know, you were talking before, you know, before we got on the air about which cities in North Carolina maybe possibly could be chosen. I think they're selecting Asheville too, because maybe they are rebuilding and it is a natural great area to be in. You've got so many different shops, you've got the mountains, you've got everything there, but I think it's showing the power of rebuilding and resilience after that devastating storm that happened about a year and a half ago. Yeah, I mean, Teresa, you would assume if you're talking about hosting a major finance meeting, the first city that would come to mind would, of course, be Charlotte with all of the banking community that is there as one of the financial capitals of not only North Carolina, but the entire United States. You could make similar arguments about Raleigh with the large city, of course, our state's capital.
But no, they're going out to Bunkham County and Asheville. Correct, correct. Yeah, number one, you hit it on the nail on the head. You think Charlotte, because of Bank of America, all the different Wells Fargo, there's so many different banking institutions that are there that would be a natural fit, or like Raleigh, you know, state capital. There's also some financial Dealings that go on in the state capitol, right?
And other cities as well. Greensboro maybe is a good fit too with their convention center. But yeah, they wanted to highlight Asheville and Western North Carolina, which which put Western North Carolina on the national stage.
Well, Teresa, our audience might remember going back a little over a year, the first domestic trip that President Donald Trump made after taking swearing in as the 47th President of the United States was western North Carolina immediately visiting the folks out in the western half of the state on a little bit of a pass-through trip. That still, to me, is a major significant accomplishment here in North Carolina in the pretty quick immediate aftermath of that storm. Right, right. And it speaks to the importance of the state for President Trump, his reelection, you know, and how, you know, how truly important it was for him to get back here. It's one of his first stops when he was inaugurated a little over a year ago.
You know, so yeah, I mean, quite an honor for the state and quite an honor again when we have these meetings coming up. I mean, world leaders. Financial leaders of all different countries. You know, you've got the European Union, African Union. There's so many different things here that is involved.
It really is a really great honor. I probably should have mentioned this closer to the beginning, Teresa. What exactly is maybe the G20 for folks that maybe aren't super tied in with financial news and maybe don't keep an eye on some of these major national conferences that happen across the globe every year? What is this entity? What is this organization?
Sure.
So the G twenty of nineteen countries, the European Union and the African Union. And what the finance track specifically, there's a different track, but they involve meetings of the G twenty finance ministers and central bank governors during which they They talk with representatives of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, IMF. Financial Stability Board, also World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. and they discuss how the countries can all work together. By focusing on making changes that support growth and improve the international financial system, also discussing the global economic outlook, see how things are, how things are going, monitoring those global economic risks in order to get ahead, so preventing major problems from cropping up, and also just making global financial and monetary systems more stable overall.
So that's basically, in a nutshell, what the G20 does. Yeah, and those events and that schedule we'll have listed over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Teresa, before we run on this topic, just opine a little bit. I mean, as you mentioned earlier, the president visited North Carolina here very early on in his second term. He's campaigned a lot in this state throughout 2024.
We have a major U.S. Senate race coming up later on this year in North Carolina. His daughter-in-law is from the Wilmington area, more particularly Wrightsville Beach. He is continually focused on the state of North Carolina, and that doesn't appear to be changing, at least from my vantage point, anytime soon. No, you're right.
You're right. It looks like he's full steam ahead when it comes to North Carolina having that focus. Of course, you mentioned the U.S. Senate primary coming up. The top contenders are Michael Watley on the Republican ticket and former Governor Roy Cooper.
We've got other candidates as well. See who's going to be duking that outcome the general election in November. But yeah, President Trump has not lost his focus on North Carolina and all the different regions, and specifically Western North Carolina again. You know, it's gone through a lot of hardships. It continues to go through a lot of hardships as they get their footing back.
And rebuilding after such a devastating storm with Hurricane Helene.
So, yeah, I mean, he has not forgotten North Carolina, which is something to be said for. For the President of the United States. Yeah, no question about that. And speaking of those that have not forgotten about Western North Carolina, we're also starting to see some congressional reaction coming in. Many of these congressional leaders, Teresa, have been actually in some cases pretty critical of the administration, pretty critical of the federal government, FEMA, and some of these other entities on what is perceived to be relatively slow and laxadaisical response efforts in Western North Carolina.
How are they reacting to this G20 announcement? Yeah, so we've got a few reactions from Congressman Chuck Edwards. You know, he says Western North Carolina is on the world stage talking about the G20 finance track meetings and basically how they're going to showcase the strength, beauty, and economic momentum of his district. And he looks forward to welcoming them to the district. And also, Congressman Tim Moore says, huge news for Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
This shows Western North Carolina is rebuilding strong and ready for the world stage.
So, and also to Watley, candidate Watley is also commenting on X as well.
So, yeah, you've got a lot of people taking notice of this, and rightly so. It is a great honor for the state and for Asheville and Western North Carolina. Teresa, you've got the full announcement from the Treasury Secretary, some of the comments that you just relayed from members of North Carolina's congressional delegation. Where can folks go get those details this morning? Sure, they can head on over to CarolinaJournal.com.
We appreciate the information this morning. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Uh oh. You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age.
That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaccassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer.
Where it's now 5:30 on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. We will head on over to the traffic center, get another look at the roadways this morning with Boomer von Cannon. Thank you, Nick. Friday morning is here, and we're in great shape on the interstate with no problems. 77, 85, 45, moving well at posted speed and a light volume of traffic at this point.
You're looking really good on the major thoroughfares. Have an incident to the east on Rocky River Church Road at Camp Stewart Road. Watch for police on the scene with this, and also near the airport, have reports of road blockage. Billy Graham Parkway at Morrisfield Drive. Boomer von Tennen, WBT Traffic.
Now with the Ladies and Sports, the First Lady of Charlotte Sports, Sharon Thorsland. In their first game back from the All-Star break, the Hornets looked a little rusty on offense in a 105-101 loss to the Rockets. They started out sharp and led by 11 early in the second quarter, but they had some dry spells where the shots just wouldn't fall. Grent Williams led the Hornets with 20 points. Brandon Miller had 17, but was just one of 12 from three-point range.
Kevin Durant had 35 points to lead the Rockets. The Hornets have a quick turnaround with another game tonight against the Cavaliers. Last night, the Cavs beat the Nets 112-84 with the Spurs over the Suns 121-94 for their seventh straight win. Cade Cunningham scored 42 points to go with eight rebounds and 13 assists to lead the Pistons past the Knicks 126 to 111. On the college front, Winthrop has won 12 straight games now after holding off South Canada upstate 68 to 64.
App State, though, lost to Marshall 94 to 93. Jalen Todd missed what would have been the game time. Free throw with three seconds to play. Longtime Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is returning for a 14th season. The Chicago Bears, a step closer to leaving Illinois.
Indiana lawmakers have approved an amendment that would clear a path for the Bears to build a stadium in Hammond, Indiana, which is about 25 minutes south of Soldier Field. At the Olympics, the U.S. women's hockey team won gold on Thursday, beating Canada 2-1 in overtime. Annalisa Leo won gold in the women's figure skating, the first Olympic gold medal for the women in 24 years. I'm Sharon Thorsland, WBC Sports.
Hey, it's TJ Ritchie, and I've been telling you about these hydration tablets I've been using called Hyonic. I know there are a lot of these types of products out there, but Hyonic is the best. First of all, the company is right here in Charlotte, and they've created a formula with a potent blend of electrolytes and minerals designed to rehydrate you quicker. And it has a little bit of a caffeine boost, but without the crash, just dissolve the delicious tablets in water, drink it, and you're good to go. Hyonic won't make you feel bloated either.
The liposomal technology causes 98% absorption, while their competitors are generally as low as 8%. You need to order Hyonic ASAP. Seriously, don't fool around with it. Do it expeditiously. Go to drinkhyonic.com.
That's drinkh-y-o-n-i-c.com. And listen to this, use the code TJ20 and you'll get 20% off your entire order. You can also order it from Amazon.
So get you some Hyonic. Let them know you're a friend of mine by using the code TJ20 to get your 20% discount. And stay hydrated, my friend. Your WBT forecast today, Friday, February 20th, a couple of showers around this morning, then gradual clearing by midday. Today's high, 78.
Tonight, some overnight showers, 52. Rain tomorrow, a wet day with a high 64. Sunday, a couple of morning showers, then sunshine, 54. Castonia, 64, Concord 64. And the Queen City, 66 at WBT.
Hey, it's Bo Thompson back here. Are you thinking about selling your home? Then call the only team I would trust to sell my home. That's Kristen Bernard and Empower Home Team with Keller Williams. You will absolutely love working with Empower Home Team.
Their results are incredible, and they've helped hundreds of families right here in our local market and are recognized as one of the top real estate teams in the area. Call Empower Home Team now and they will sit down and show you exactly how they get homes sold for top dollar using their exclusive database of over 16,300 buyers who are ready to buy right now. They'll walk you through the process step by step from start to sold. And get this: if your home doesn't sell, Kristen Bernard will buy it at a price agreeable to you, guaranteed in writing. That's how confident Kristen Bernard is in getting her clients top dollar and faster sale.
Call now at 844-860 SOLD. That's 844-860-SOLD or visit empowerhasthebuyers.com. That's EmpowerHasTheBuyers. You've tried keto, paleo, weight watchers, intermittent fasting. You lose the weight, then it all comes right back, right?
Then you blame yourself, your willpower, your discipline. But here's the truth. It was never about willpower. There's one thing that determines whether your body burns fat or stores it. And if you don't fix that first, every diet will fail.
At PhD Weight Loss, they've identified that one thing and they've built a plan that works with your body, not against it. And if you call right now, they'll give you two free weeks in the program and they'll even pay for your food so you can finally see real answers without more trial and error. And if you're done with yo-yo dieting and want clarity, call PhD Weight Loss Now and mention my name, Beth Troutman. No more guessing, just answers. Call 980-237-9090 and say Beth Troutman.
That's 980-237-9090. Or you can check them out online at myphdweightloss.com. Yeah. It's 5:36 on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT, and it's time for David Chadwick's moment of hope. Don't you want to advance in life?
Well, I do, and I don't like getting stuck. But here's something I've learned in my years of faith development and walking with God: the best way to advance is Your knees seems ironic, doesn't it? But it's true. The best way to advance in life is on your knees. Make sure you spend time in prayer today.
Give up all of your stuff that you're clinging to, all of those things that don't give you hope. And when you do so, you will find that God is not only present, but He is available to provide for you everything that you ever need.
So, today, remember, if you feel stuck and the way to advance is before you, know the best way is on your knees. And on your knees, you will find that security, hope, strength, and power to keep on keeping on. I'm David Chadwick with This Moment of Hope. Moments of hope are brought to you by Perry's Diamonds and Estate Jewelry, the Southeast Premier Diamond and Estate Jewelry since 1978. When you're driving, usually the last thing you want to hear is boom.
But when you're listening to WBET on your drive, you can look forward to it. Oh, everything's looking really good for your morning commute on the highways and thoroughfares. Traffic moving along very nicely this morning. That's because Boomer Von Cannon is all about making your morning drive the best it can be. WBT Traffic, bringing the boom to your mornings.
Boom! Here comes the boom! Ready and not behind. Are you like me now? It's 5:37.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good Friday morning to you. As we roll into another weekend here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, of course, we are keeping very close tabs on the early voting period that continues across the state. Early voting will end coming up next Saturday ahead of primary day, Tuesday, March the 3rd.
It walks through the latest that we are seeing across the state. It's my pleasure to welcome Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Andy, we chatted a couple of days ago. You brought us up to date with where voting stands as of right now.
As we look at it this Friday morning, how are numbers looking statewide?
Well, you're looking at roughly 220,000 votes as of yesterday. Those numbers are going to go up when we have another round of data later today. And that's interesting because that's about 50,000 more than we had at the similar point in time compared to the 2022 midterm primary, which is the most recent similarly situated primary.
So turnout is up. And it's almost all on the Democratic side. Republicans, there are about 7,000 more. But among Democrats, you're looking at over 40,000 more people voting in the Democratic primary.
So far, compared to a similar point in 2022. Andy, 40,000 is a pretty significant jump in numbers. What do you attribute that to?
Well, the first note of caution that you always have to say is we don't know yet if this is more voting or just earlier voting, if there's some reason. Because sometimes people get interested and then they go vote. But they would have voted anyhow at some point.
So we're going to have to find this out. But this is a sign that maybe turnout is going to be a little higher. There are several interesting races out there. The Senate race on the Democratic side is probably not one of them. Roy Cooper is going to go win that one easily.
But we have a couple of congressional races, especially the fourth and the 11th that are potentially interesting. There's a lot of local races in some of the metro areas in Wake County, Mecklenburg County, Buncombe County, and that's driving turnout as well, especially on the Democratic side, because those are Democratic-leaning areas. Yeah, no question about that as we continue to watch these tallies roll in.
So, Andy, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about is the weather doesn't look great across predominantly the middle and eastern half of the state this weekend. I would imagine rain, windshield wipers on, pouring rain outside. It's probably not the most friendly atmosphere for individuals to get out of their cars and run up to an early voting location. Do you have any data on does the rain affect voter turnout, especially during early voting?
Well, the rain does affect voter turnout. And we just happened to have a study that came out a couple of years ago in the journal Political Geography. And it said that, and they were just looking at Election Day. And based on the data they had, they looked at North Carolina.
So we're blessed. We're a state with a lot of good data.
So researchers can use us. They looked at elections from 2012 through 2020. And based on what they found, there was roughly a 1% decline in turnout if there is significant rain across the state on Election Day.
So they weren't looking at early voting. I suspect that on an individual day of early voting, the rain will have more of an impact because the whole point about early voting is there's any number of days you could vote.
So why get out of your car and get wet when you've got another chance to do it later? On a flip side of that, though, is there have been studies that showed that early voting is not really positively associated. with higher turnout. Other things are, such as same-day registration. And so the idea, and one of the theories behind that is that.
You know, it loses its significance. There's less of a we got to go, we got to go, it's election day, and people just kind of let it slip on by.
So it doesn't depress turnout. There have been some studies that said it, but in aggregate, most of these studies have said, well, there's really not much of a difference on turnout. you know, from having early voting. Yeah, and I guess as we look at this weekend, there is the entirety of next week for early voting, Monday through Friday, and then some altered hours on Saturday, Andy, which is the final day of early voting. Most polls across the state are open from 8 a.m.
to 3 p.m. No early voting next Sunday or Monday. And then, of course, Election Day rolling on Tuesday. Let's talk about this turnout question. As you kind of already mentioned, just because there's been, as you mentioned, about 40,000 more Democrat votes at this exact period of time compared to 2022, is it still too early to kind of predict what overall turnout might look like as we head towards the middle and latter parts of next week?
I think it is.
Now, I do believe this is an early sign that turnout is probably going to be higher, but we're probably going to have to wait. If we get to the point where, say, this time next week, you know, next Thursday, and numbers are still very much higher, then we can probably say, okay, this is a higher turnout election. It's just hard to determine based on what we see now whether this is higher or just moved. And these patterns change sometimes from period to period. And it could be that if we do have depressed early voting turnout over the course of this, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, there's limited voting on Sunday in just a handful of counties.
But that could actually cause there to be kind of a backlog and a subsequent increase in turnout later.
So we might end up with a situation where it gets kind of closer to normal, at least compared to 2022. And then. You know, it jerks right back up to higher turnout towards the end of the early voting period. Andy, we're talking about higher, lower turnout. The real thing in all of this is that in the grand scheme of voter turnout, these numbers and these totals, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, are incredibly low.
What typically is the average of percentage of individuals that do show up and vote during a primary election? A midterm primary, you're really looking at. Upper teens, in a good year, you might get into the 20 percentile. It's just that there's a lot of folks just don't. Seem to be interested in these kinds of inter-party contests.
This is a chance for people that are really active within both parties, especially kind of the activists on both sides, the more hardcore left in the Democratic Party, hardcore right in the Republican Party, to have their day to try to influence those numbers. And then you get a broader set of the electorate for the general election. And so this establishes a kind of normal pattern. In the primaries, candidates tend to run to their base. uh to prove how close they are aligned with the the more hardcore members of the party.
And then they both sides rush to the center politically for the general election.
So it's this kind of dance we see on both sides every election year. Yeah, no question about that. Let me let's end on this. You mentioned that the turnout numbers, at least to this point, are a little bit higher on the Democrat side. Are you surprised that the Republican Senate race has not turned out more Republicans to this point?
Again, at this exact point in time, Michael Watley, obviously, the former head of the RNC, former head of the NCGOP, but the other major candidate in Don Brown, Andy, has been running a campaign for the better part of a year, is very active on social media, has a pretty strong base there. But as I've been out and about talking to people, they don't really seem to be in tune with that race at all. Yeah, it doesn't really seem like that has been driving a lot of conversation in Republican circles. That's probably a good sign for Watley. You know, he's the polls that I've seen have had him ahead.
He's got President Trump's endorsement. And so I think that might have knocked a lot of the wind out of the sails of the Brown and Michelle Morrow campaigns. Usually when a challenger, and really those other two candidates are in the position of being challengers to Watley, he's definitely, if not the incumbent, the establishment candidate from both major factions of the party. Usually a higher turnout is assigned, okay, maybe these challengers are onto something. But that doesn't seem to be happening, at least so far.
Absolutely. We will keep an eye on those numbers as we head into early parts of next week. Andy, before we get out of here, tell folks for that maybe that want to dig into what the earling voting numbers look like in their county. They can even dig down to some of the voting locations in their county. Where can they go and do that?
Well, the John Locke Foundation maintains a separate webpage. If you go to Carolina, sorry, Carolinaelections.com and then click on Vote Tracker, you can click on your county, you can click on your state Senate district, your state House district, your congressional district, and analyze who's voting so far anywhere in the state. Yes, a lot of great information there. We'll continue the conversation early next week. We appreciate the update this morning.
Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Uh oh. Let's go! You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving.
You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age. That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaxassist.com.
Sponsored by Pfizer. Mm. Good morning again. It's 553. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT.
Yesterday, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessett, announced that the 2026 G20 financial track will host meetings of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville. This is a major announcement and major story for not only Western North Carolina, but the state as a whole. The Treasury Secretary said in the press release, I am proud to spotlight that the United States will host the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Asheville, North Carolina. The selection of historic Asheville reflects the Trump administration's commitment to the revitalization and resilience of Western North Carolina, which continues to rebuild after the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene.
The G20 is comprised of 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union. The financial track involves meetings of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, during which representatives of the international financial institutions, such as the IMF, that's the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Stability Board, as well as the World Bank and others will participate and discuss how they can continue to work together. Its focus is on making changes that support growth and improve the international finance system by discussing the global economic outlook and monitoring global economic risks. The goal is to spot economic problems as early as possible and prevent major imbalances from building and making the global finance and monetary systems more stable. According to two officials who are providing this information, the Treasury Secretary said, thanks to President Trump's pro-growth economic Economic policies, the United States economy is reaching historic heights, and the G20 finance track lead will leverage America's demonstrable economic success and bring the G20 back to its core mission.
By undertaking a streamlined result-oriented approach for the group. In close coordination with the State Department, we will execute on President Trump's agenda for the G20 by prioritizing pro-growth economic policies through modernizing financial regulation, strengthening our understanding of excess global imbalances, enhancing debt transparency, and facilitating debt restructuring processes. All of this to endorse a vibrant digital asset ecosystem, improving cross-border payments and addressing payment frauds and scams, promoting financial literacy.
Well, as you can imagine, some reaction has come into this. A major story, I'll note there's only five events, including the major G20 summit that is taking place in Miami, Florida. Out of those five events, two of them are happening in Asheville, one in Washington, D.C., the other in Thailand.
So, to have these two events in Western North Carolina for the G20's financial track for their 2026 meeting is truly remarkable. Congressman Tim Moore saying, Huge win for Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. This shows that Western North Carolina is rebuilding strong and ready for the world stage.
Some other comments also from Congressman Chuck Edwards saying that Western North Carolina will be on the world stage. You can read some additional coverage of this. We will, of course, keep an eye on those meetings as they head to the State coming up in August and September. All those details over at CarolinaJournal.com.
Well, that's going to do it for a Friday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 WBT. You're still grooving, still connecting, still loving, still turning up, still thriving. You still got it, but your immune system, it weakens as you age.
That's where vaccines come in. They help train and strengthen your immune response to fight off respiratory illnesses like flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, RSV, or COVID-19. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which vaccines you need. Book in minutes at vaxassist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer.
Mm-hmm.
