Many people believe buying a home requires a large down payment and years of saving, but that's not always the case. Across the country, there are programs designed to help first-time homebuyers take the next step toward homeownership.
Some of these programs offer down payment assistance or grant funding that may help cover part of the upfront cost of purchasing a home. Grants are especially helpful because they generally do not have to be repaid. There are also organizations that provide homebuyer education. Financial counseling and guidance to help individuals understand the home buying process before they begin. The goal is simple: to help more families become informed and prepared for homeownership.
If owning a home is something you've been thinking about, start by visiting toolsforhomeownership dot com. This message is brought to you by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling's Paving the Way Forward Initiative. It's five oh five, and welcome into a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk one oh seven point nine FM WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Outgoing North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis was on with CNN's Jake Tapper over the week. On his Sunday edition of State of the Union, and discuss the potential of Republicans losing their U.S. Senate majority. Tillis says that National Republicans need to take a hard look at where they spend their money in the November general election if they want to keep their Senate majority. Tapper pressed Tillis more than once on whether that included continuing to invest in Republican Michael Wattley's bid to replace him.
Tillis responded. By saying to me, it's a data-driven decision. If we have a path to victory, then we double down on it. If we don't, then we move on to where we have an opportunity. It is important to note that, at least publicly, to this point, we have not seen U.S.
Senator Tom Tillis get involved in this Senate race here in North Carolina. Of course, the very high-stakes race that we've been discussing in great detail, which includes the former eight-year governor here in North. Carolina, the Democrat candidate in Roy Cooper, on the GOP side, looking to replace Tillis, former head of the North Carolina Republican Party and head of the Republican National Committee, Michael Watley. Tillis reflected on his reflected on 2014 when the National Republican Senatorial Committee questioned whether he had what it took to win a general election against Democrat incumbent Kay Hagan. Tillis told the Tapper and CNN, "I said, look, guys, if you don't think I have a path, go spend the money elsewhere.
I'll do my part to try and win. They ended up investing, and we won. But this has to be about the purpose of keeping a majority in the Senate, not any one candidate." Tillis told Tapper that if there is an aggregate of polls that has a candidate in a high single digit or double digit, it's approaching a point where it's going to be difficult to make up ground. But stressed that it was still early on, and that a mistake by Cooper could give him some steam in the final days of the election. The CNN host said that Republicans would not have had to spend tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in North Carolina and Texas if President Donald Trump had not agonized Tillis and outgoing U.S.
Senator John Cornyn from Texas over what Trump viewed as disloyalty. Cornyn not only got into it with Trump, but lost a Republican primary runoff to Paxton earlier this year. Tapper said that both incumbents probably would have cruised to reelect. We'll we'll wait and see whether that plays out. Tillis partially agreed by saying, in part, "Well, to be fair to the president, he didn't force me out.
I was already moving in that direction. He just gave me a good opportunity to announce my retirement." Tillis said that the president did make a colossal mistake, however, with the John Cornyn, including endorsing Paxton, who's facing a Democrat state representative James Talarico in the state of Texas. In November, with Tillis saying now was not the time for Republicans to demand what he called loyalty oaths. He continued by telling Tapper that to me is an unforced error created by this president. Tillis told Tapper on the close Texas race.
Now the president needs to invest there to make sure that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wins. We just have to have a good, honest discussion with our colleagues with our. RSC and with the voters about what good Republicans are doing and why we deserve to keep a majority in Congress. Tillis said that Republicans should come together if they want to hold on to the Senate. Not enforce a purity test, saying in part, "Now is not the time, or excuse me, now is the time for Republicans to get elected and prevent this country from experiencing the endgame that the Democrats, Socialists of America, want." He continued by saying, "That's what we have to focus on." And so, Republicans that go after other Republicans for only being in the ninety-fifth percentile, I'd like for them to go find another party because that's unsustainable for me as a lifelong member of the Republican Party.
To live up to those expectations, they're unrealistic. They're unsustainable, and they also cause us to lose elections. In June of twenty twenty-five, Tillis came under. Fire from President Donald Trump, who announced on social media that he might support a primary challenger to Tillis in the 2026 Senate race. This move came after Tillis opposed advancing Trump's one big, beautiful bill in a narrowly divided U.S.
Senate vote.
However, regardless of Tillis's issues, the bill did become law on July the fourth. Actually, is when it was signed into law, 2025. In posts on Truth Social, Trump blasted Tillis for what he called a big mistake, saying that "quote numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the primary against Senator Tom Tillis. I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks and looking for someone to properly represent the great people of North Carolina." And in several posts, Trumps accused Tillis of grandstanding and being missing in action. The next day, Tillis released a statement saying that he would not run for re-election in 2026.
Noting in the statement, "It has been a blessing to go on a journey from living in a trailer park and making minimum wage as a young man to having the honor of serving the United serving as a U.S. senator for North Carolina. I am proud of my career in public service, including hard-fought victories like passing historic tax reforms as North Carolina's speaker and working in." The Senate to help pass the tax cuts and job acts, and confirm three conservative Supreme Court justices, and counting. This interview did receive and has received a lot of discussion on social media over the last couple of days since it aired on a Sunday morning edition of the State of the Union on CNN with host Jake Tapper. As I noted just a couple of minutes ago, to this point, we have not seen Tillis involved at all in.
These discussions or in this race taking place in North Carolina, he makes the comments to CNN that unforced errors by the president talking about Republicans getting together and trying to make sure they can win as many elections as possible. Yet we have not directly seen that from Tillis. There is still now 34 days until election day, so I guess there is the possibility that that kicks up at this point, but to Up until right now, we have not seen any major discussion or anything publicly between U.S. Senator Tom Tillis and Republican candidate Michael Wattley. This is one of the many United States Senate races that we are keeping a close eye on.
Here, obviously, it is the main one for us here in North Carolina. As polling will continue to follow that, some new political polling out in recent days continue to give Cooper a pretty significant. Significant advantage, according to the Real Clear Politics average as of this morning. Cooper's lead is eight point six percentage points. With some new polls in the last couple of days, having Cooper over five percentage points of an advantage, upwards of eleven.
We talked about our Carolina Journal poll in the last couple of weeks as well, giving Cooper a whopping fifteen point advantage. We'll continue to follow this on the home stretch. As we approach election day, you can read more on this story and listen directly to the interview with Senator Tillis and CNN's host Jake Tapper. Those details over on our website this morning, carolinajournal dot com. Look for the story with the headline: Tillis says GOP purity tests put Senate majority in jeopardy.
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now/membership to join. It's five nineteen. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT. As we get ready to round out the month of September, absentee by mail voting began earlier this month. We will see early voting heading your way to North Carolina on October the fifteenth to chat about our weekly update and where things stand right now for absentee by mail.
It's my pleasure to welcome Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation to our airwaves this morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Andy, we've chatted over the last couple of weeks. We've continually seen ballots. Coming in, albeit, but not as quickly in some past midterm elections.
Any changes since we've chatted last week? No, the trend is continuing about the same. Yesterday, we had a total of eleven thousand six hundred thirty-two. That's a little bit off the pace from the same point four years ago at the last midterm election. As I noted before, this is probably just people returning to older habits of voting in person after the kind of lingering aftereffects of the twenty twenty COVID influenced election.
So. We have fewer male votes. Probably doesn't mean fewer votes altogether, but we won't know until we get into other forms of voting and the. Partisan breakdown is about what you would expect. Republicans and Democrats are both down a little bit.
Democrats a little bit more, but once again, that's probably just the effect of those Democrats who disproportionately moved over to mail voting in 2020 and 2022 moving back. Once again, we're going to have a lot better handle on that once early voting starts up in a couple of weeks. Yeah, as it stands right now, Democrats at a forty-six point four percent, unaffiliated at thirty-seven point eight two, Republicans at down at fifteen percent in comparison. Andy, it's interesting as we watch that process continue to unfold. As many Republicans, contrary to maybe some of the pushes at the national level during presidential years, really have not adopted absentee by mail or mail-in voting.
Really, in most states across the Country, right, and and you know there was there's definitely a strong partisan breakdown on this one. Republicans. Who, by the way, two years ago, really made a jump to early voting. It used to be, you know, every election in North Carolina, you wouldn't really know what was happening with Republicans relative to Democrats until election day, and so it would be like Democrats are up big, Democrats are up big, and then election day, boom, Republicans. But last time around, Republicans were matching, you know, pretty much vote for vote the effort of Democrats for early voting, and.
And the question is again: Are these new habits that are going to stick, or if we don't have this kind of constant, there was this really strong "bank your vote" campaign from Republicans and conservative groups. You know, without that kind of campaign, which I haven't seen, are those Republican voters going to go back to election day voting? That's going to be an interesting thing to kind of suppose as we get into early voting. Yeah, and you mentioned in in years past that always makes election night very interesting as well because the first data drops, the first results that come in are absentee by mail and early voting.
So those results start coming in around about eight thirty, nine o'clock, Andy, and it's predominantly Democrats and left leaning unaffiliated voters. And so those first election results, you think, wow, Democrats are just completely going to wipe the floor with everybody until some of those election day totals begin the process of. Coming in. Yeah, that's true. North Carolina is what we call a red shift state.
It kind of broke down a little bit in 2024 for a couple reasons. One, because more Republicans were voting early, but also the way that the votes were being counted was changed a little bit by election law, and so some of these early votes and mail votes weren't coming in as quickly as they had before, and so it made it a little confused and a little less shifty than we had, but. Either way it goes this time around, we're probably going to know the winner of most races by eleven o'clock.
So you know you don't have to stay up until three a.m. for any but the most, you know, any but the closest elections to see who's going to win these things. That's a that's a blessing about being in North Carolina. We're not one of those states where there's still like a third of the ballots to be counted a week later.
Well, Andy, I'll be holding your feet to the fire on that, and if we don't have a full election results by eleven o'clock for our next morning edition on the Carolina Journal News, I'll make sure to be giving you a call late into the late into the evening hours. When you joined us last week, you talked about something that was a pretty big deal here in North Carolina: the fact that Republicans had overtaken Democrats in terms of party registration. The asterisk on that, of course, that unaffiliateds do remain the largest. Voting block that seems to have progressed over the last couple of weeks as well. And from your analysis, it looks like maybe Democrats could jump back to that second spot even sooner.
Yeah, I earlier projections based on the data coming in showed that Democrats were probably going to retake that top spot among party registrations. You know, just before election day, maybe the last week of October. But now they're looking like perhaps as early as two weeks from this week, in the middle of October, we could see Democrats retaking that spot from Republicans. And this is something Republicans have been chipping away at that Democratic voter registration advantage for decades.
Now, I will add a couple of caveats to that. First of all, it has been unsteady. It wasn't like Republicans have consistently gained and Democrats have consistent loss. There have been times when Democrats have had these gains, especially around election time when Democrats kind of get you know ginned up for the process. Republicans tend to do better on the kind of day to day grind, every day, weekend, week out, and especially during the Obama election, there was a net gain of about.
Three hundred thousand Democrats compared to Republicans in two thousand eight. I don't think we're going to see that. The other caveat I'll say is that we have this thing called biennial list maintenance, when they kind of get rid of some of these older inactive voter registrations in January.
So even if Democrats come out ahead, Republicans will probably be back ahead by January because that tends to affect Democrats more than Republicans. Yeah, absolutely, and so that's going to be a big story to watch as well. And and for just more, I guess maybe PR purposes more than anything else. Andy, Republicans have made a big deal about that throughout the throughout almost the entirety of this year that they have taken that over. What do you think is equating to some of the the again the changes that we're seeing now as it relates to voter registration?
Well, part of it is is that you're getting what you get with these like election time voter registrations. I mean, obviously, if you have older people that are inclined to voting, they're already registered. Sure. And these younger voters tend to be slightly more democratic. I mean, that hasn't changed.
That's always been the case. And so they're more likely to kind of be drawn into this process during the election season.
So that's part of it. And by the way, that's one of the reasons that Democrats. Tend to suffer more on biennial list maintenance because a lot of those younger voters they move out of the state once they get a job once they finish college or or for whatever reason and so they tend to get taken out more often than Republicans. Another thing, frankly, this is a midterm election with a Republican in the White House. President Trump's approval numbers are low, so that affects the Republican brand altogether.
And so there may be people. Who are who might have registered Republican before, but now they're going to register Independent or unaffiliated in North Carolina, or maybe they just decided the Republican Party is not for me. That might change in a future election, but for this year, right now, there are relatively few voters that want to have that R by their name on the voter registration sheets. Andy, the lack of materialization of this United States Senate race.
Now, that's not to say that the race is not still ongoing. It absolutely is. We are going to likely see a lot between now and Election Day. But if we went back to earlier this year, you and I talked, and we talked to many of our other guests over at Carolina Journal, the John Locke Foundation. This was going to be this David versus Goliath battle.
We'd have hundreds of millions of dollars being spent here. The most expensive United States Senate Race in American history in North Carolina, in large part, that has not materialized. Do you think that also adds maybe to some of the lack of enthusiasm for Republican voter registrations? It could be because, I mean, frankly, Michael Wattley has not lit a fire in Republican base voters. There are a lot of base voters who, you know.
Wish they had other choices in the primary. This was kind of decided by President Trump that Michael Wattley is going to be North Carolina's guy. He hasn't really had an opportunity to kind of flex the muscles that you need by running a hard campaign in the primary, and I think we're seeing kind of the lingering after effects of that. Yeah. No question about that.
We will, of course, be keeping an eye on these absentee by mail totals over the next couple of weeks. We'll keep an eye on those through Election Day, but then transition to looking at some of those early voting totals again coming up on October the fifteenth. We'll preview that coming up here in a couple of weeks as well. As always, we appreciate the update this morning. Doctor Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Many people believe buying a home requires a large down payment and years of saving, but that's not always the case. Across the country, there are programs designed to help first-time homebuyers take the next step toward home ownership.
Some of these programs offer down payment assistance or grant funding that may help cover part of the upfront cost of purchasing a home. Grants are especially helpful because they generally do not have to be repaid. There are also organizations that provide homebuyer education. Financial counseling and guidance to help individuals understand the home buying process before they begin. The goal is simple: to help more families become informed and prepared for home ownership.
If owning a home is something you've been thinking about, start by visiting toolsforhomeownership.com. This message is brought to you by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling's Paving the Way Forward Initiative. It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig.
Good Wednesday morning to you. In early September, here in North Carolina, absentee ballots began the process of being sent out to voters across the state.
However, a new lawsuit looks to challenge some of the guidance that the North Carolina State Board of Elections provided to all 100 county boards—the ones that are actually responsible for handling absentee by mail ballots—and in large part conducting elections that we're going to watch take place over the next couple of weeks. To walk us through the latest details this morning, Mitch Kocai from the John Locke. Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour, which is a little bit of an odd situation. There's been more than 10,000 absentee by mail ballots returned. That process is well underway here in North Carolina.
If this lawsuit is challenging those rules, walks through the latest, if you would. Yeah, the latest is that the lawsuit was filed some days ago, but now the plaintiffs are trying to seek an injunction to block a couple of provisions in what you referred to as the guidance.
Some people might think of this as the mail-in ballot rules. We're not really using the word rules because that has a specific legal connotation that you have to go through a rulemaking process in North Carolina, and that has not been done yet to this point. Which is part of the reason for the suit. Mark Elias, Democratic operative, well known to people in political spheres, is always suing Republicans over one thing or another. It's his law firm that's working with some activist groups that are left of center, along with a couple of individual voters, and they are challenging two particular pieces of the latest guidance that was adopted on September fourth.
That same day that the ballots first started going out. One deals with the ballot envelopes. Anyone who's done a mail-in ballot before knows there is a process you have to follow. There is an outer envelope that you send in, and within that, there's an inner envelope, and the ballot is supposed to go in the inner envelope, be sealed, and then put in the outer envelope and sent in.
Well, the guidance basically says if the if the voter did not follow the process, you discard the ballot. There is a process that's spelled out. And the ballot has to be inside a sealed inner envelope, and then inside the outer envelope. the The other side is saying, "Well, you're going to discard votes from people who otherwise are are casting valid ballots, and it and it's only because of the little bureaucratic snafu that they aren't following the process." Of course, the the board of elections, the majority that that supported this was well, that's the rule. You're supposed to follow the rule.
If people don't follow the rules, you don't count the ballots. The other piece of the guidance that is being objected to is a signature verification requirement, basically that you're supposed to match up that the signature that's on file for the voter matches the signature that's on the ballot that's returned. And the critics are saying that that this is notoriously bad about not not not having good matches, and that there's a lot of Leeway that's that's added in here, and so there could be elections board, local elections boards that will be more stringent than others, and they might throw out some valid ballots just because they don't think one signature matches the other.
So it'll be very interesting to see. Ultimately, whether these ideas stand, but in the short term, whether there's going to be any sort of injunction blocking elections officials from putting these changes into place during this election season, which, as you mentioned, is already underway and ballots are already being returned.
Well, let me ask you about that, Mitch. And obviously, we don't have all the specific details yet as to whether there will or will not be an injunction issued. But is this even a situation where you can unring the bell? As I noted, there's already been more than eleven thousand ballots that have been returned and have gone through the process of people receiving them, filling them out, presumably following the rules that are included with that absentee by mail ballot, then either being mailed back or delivered back to their local county board of election, presumably the. These local county boards have been following the process that's now being challenged with more than eleven thousand votes here in North Carolina.
They have, I'm sure, been following the process. But one thing that is part of that process, I'm also sure, is that you still have the ballots.
So if you discounted a ballot because of either of the items that were mentioned here, because the envelope process wasn't followed, or you thought that the signature didn't match, the ballots are. Still there, presumably somewhere in a discard pile, and perhaps if if there were an injunction, you could go back then and take the ballots that had been thrown out for one of those two reasons and then count them.
So I think it could be done. The bigger question is: Would a federal court step in at this point? We've talked in the past about the federal court's reluctance to step in and block a state election process in the middle of an election, and we are in the middle of an. Right now, and so it would be it would be out of the ordinary for a federal court at this point to step in and say no, you can't follow this process.
Now, the one thing that's on the side of the plaintiffs, I think, in this case, is that the guidance that we are talking about was adopted on September fourth, the day that the absentee ballots were scheduled to go out, and so an argument. On that side would be wait a minute. The status quo is to follow the old rules. What the Board of Elections did was itself insert itself into this process to change the rules just as the election was started.
So the the the better course of action from the vantage point of Mark Elias and his clients would be to keep the status quo of how the rules were before these changes on September fourth. But on the other side, the the Board of Elections will argue. Look, the status quo is the rules, the rules or the guidance, the guidance that we put in place. We put the guidance in place on September fourth. That's the status quo, and the court should allow that to play out.
And if there's a problem with with these with the guidance about what to do with the signature verification and the ballot envelopes, that could be hashed out as this lawsuit plays out, presumably after the end of the election cycle. But for now. The status quo is what the state board of elections approved on September fourth, and that should remain in place throughout the course of the rest of the election season. You bring up a couple of interesting points there, and we've covered this from the other side for the last couple of months here. For those that did not follow the process very closely, the State Board of Elections did mention you made the distinction go through the process of guidance versus rulemaking.
They have started that process due to objections, including an objection from Governor Josh Stein, who publicly stated that he objected one of the rules that triggered this process here in North Carolina, which requires these rules, which we're now seeing. In place, and bear with us as it's a little bit confusing. The rules are now in place as guidance, while they await to go forward to the rules review commission. And Mitch, at the last state board of elections meeting on September the fourth, we heard from many of the Republican board members that, regardless of whether what happens with these, with it, this guidance that has been provided, these rules are going to move forward as Republicans do have the majority on the state board of election, and there is even some of those changes. That are said to be enshrined in state law as we flip the calendar over to 2027.
Yeah, I think the argument from the Board of Elections is once the process is followed, that's spelled out because of the objections which delayed these these ideas from becoming rules earlier. That they'll eventually be rules, and the argument is you might as well go ahead and move forward with these changes. And remember, their their objective here is election integrity. the The critics are saying, "Oh, you're going to be throwing out votes from from people who." Didn't do anything wrong, but the idea around both of these is election integrity. The the reason to have a sealed inner envelope inside the outer envelope is to ensure that no one is messing around with the ballot.
After it's filed, you you fill it out, you stick it in the inner envelope, put it in the outer envelope, and then send it in, which gives an extra layer of protection to that ballot. And with the other requirement, you want to make sure that the people who are sending in these absentee ballots are the people who actually registered to vote. And and when they register to vote, they sign something, and you look at the the signature verification process.
Now, the idea is election integrity. The objection. Is that in this push for election integrity, you're going to be casting aside valid votes, and that's going to be something for the federal courts to weigh. Not only in this short term about whether there's going to be an injunction, but also in the long term, is this thing it's going to stand beyond this election cycle, or is it something that needs to get thrown out? We've seen mixed reactions from federal courts on things like this.
You'll remember in the last election cycle, there. Was a change in the law about the undeliverable mail when someone votes in person, absentee, early, and they and they say, you know, I am registered here. They tell you their address. You send them an address verification card. It doesn't.
It comes back as undeliverable, and so whether the ballot was going to count or not, a judge at the time. Blocked that rule from taking place in 2024 because of the the concern that you would be not giving people a chance to correct the problem, and so that might be something that would crop up again this time, but maybe not. Maybe the judge in this case says, "No, these are fine rules. We're going to allow them to stand, or at least this is not something that the court is going to step in and address at this point." The lawsuit can go forward, but. We're not going to have an injunction.
It remains to be seen. As we're speaking, the motion has been sent to the judge, but he's not yet said anything about an injunction. And we'll of course keep an eye on that. And one final point on this, Mitch. We've talked with a couple of different cases, most predominantly the ballot selfie case, which of course deals with in-person voting.
When you vote either during the early voting period, which kicks off here on October the fifteenth, or on Election Day, November the third, there are some very strict rules and regulations as it relates to showing up in person and voting. There are signs that you can't electioneer past a certain period. Or past a certain point, excuse me. Once you're inside of the building, there's a very clear process. You go to the check-in desk, you verify all your information.
They scan a barcode. There is a process that is in place. And the argument, again, as you kind of already mentioned from some of these Republican board members, is: Oh, we have a different process for those that want to vote by mail. If you choose not to follow the process, well, then your ballot's not going to count. Right, and that's part of the argument.
Is there are rules you follow the rules your ballot's going to count. You don't follow the rules, your ballot's not going to count. And basically, the argument from the the critics is that this is this is just a a. Bureaucratic step, but it's not something that actually it really deals with the the the character of the voter or their ability to vote. This is just something that's put in the way to throw out valid votes.
It remains to be seen whether that's something that will carry much weight with the judge. And especially important at this point is not just the merits of the arguments, but the timing. Is this something that a federal court is going to want to jump into now, right in the heart of an election, or is this something that can be argued after the election cycle plays out? That is the million-dollar question. We'll be keeping a close eye on this.
As soon as we get an update, we'll have that in breaking news over on our website carolinajournal.com, and then of course bring it to you here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. We appreciate the update this morning. Mitch Cokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Many people believe buying a home requires a large down payment and years of saving, but that's not always the case. Across the country, there are programs designed to help first-time homebuyers take the next step toward homeownership.
Some of these programs offer down payment assistance or grant funding that may help cover part of the upfront cost of purchasing a home. Grants are especially helpful because they generally do not have to be repaid. There are also organizations that provide homebuyer education. Financial counseling and guidance to help individuals understand the home buying process before they begin. The goal is simple: to help more families become informed and prepared for homeownership.
If owning a home is something you've been thinking about, start by visiting toolsforhomeownership.com. This message is brought to you by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling's Paving the Way Forward Initiative. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.
Okay, we've been talking about Cupid Mail for a minute now, Bo, and wow, the feedback we're getting—I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street, going, "I love Cupid," and if you're thinking, "Wait, what is Cupid?" Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese. Mayonnaise, the one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know it, you start seeing it everywhere.
People ask what makes it different from basic mayo.
Well, the answer: egg yolks. Cupy is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything: burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really love food and flavor use it.
Whatever you're eating, Cupy.
So if you haven't tried Cupy yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand Cupy, the original Japanese mayonnaise. Good morning again. It's five fifty-four. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT.
We are keeping a close eye on North Carolina's eleventh congressional district and have been following all of the controversy and drama out there over the last couple of months. And things are really beginning the process of heating up as both the Democrat and Republican candidates in NC. Eleven have both released new campaign ads, with one advocating for more barn dances in Washington D.C. and the other promising tough mountain leadership. Democrat Jamie Ager, in a lighthearted shot of people dancing in a barn, advocated for more barn dances in Washington D.C.
Talking about how politicians dance with lobbyists, however, saying that he will continue to fight against corporate greed and fight for additional recovery in. Western North Carolina, Agar is a fourth-generation farmer and the CEO and co-founder of. A group near a group in a Fairview that is near the Asheville area. On the flip side, in her latest campaign ad, State Representative Jennifer Balkum, the Republican from Henderson County, promises tough mountain leadership for western North Carolina. A part of that ad immediately gained attention, where Balkum discussed how her mother shot someone who broke into their house.
The direct quote from the ad. Mom raised us on her on her own. She taught us to be strong, and when someone broke into our house, she shot him. Chris Cooper, the professor of political science at Western Carolina University, told the Carolina Journal, "I'd be hard pressed to come up with two more Western North Carolina ads than these two." In a time of nationalized politics, both serve as a reminder that some things, including barn dances and shooting intruders, are still local. On August the tenth, the Republican Executive Committee for the district selected Bulcum as the Republican nominee to replace Representative Chuck Edwards in the November twenty twenty six general election.
That selection came five days after Edwards announced that he would. Not be seeking reelection. His announcement followed a House Ethics Committee report concluding that there was substantial reason to believe that he violated House rules related to sexual harassment and creating a hostile workplace. Bucum was endorsed by President Donald Trump shortly after that, and the race is ongoing right now. We are going to be keeping a very close eye on this race out in North Carolina's 11th congressional district, which could be a major pickup for.
Democrats as they look to gain not only control of the United States Senate but the United States House as well. Continuing coverage, you can check out both of these ads. They're worth a watch over on our website, carolinajournal dot com. That's going to do it for a Wednesday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, five to six, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT. This is Troy Millings from Earn Your Leisure. On Earn Your Leisure, we're all about smart money moves, and here's one most people skip: car insurance renews on autopilot. The rates creep up, and nobody tells you. That's what Insurify fixes in about two minutes, completely free.
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