It's five oh five, and welcome into a Tuesday 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. Eleven days into North Carolina's motor fuel tax holiday, the state now has the lowest average for gasoline and diesel prices in the country, according to data from AAA.
The average price of a regular gallon of gasoline in North Carolina has fallen on average forty-nine cents per gallon since the state suspended its forty-one cent per gallon motor fuel tax back on October the tenth. While diesel prices have fallen thirty-eight cents, according to AAA data collected and analyzed by Carolina Journal. As of Monday, regular gasoline averaged at three dollars and sixty-one cents per gallon. Wide down from 410 before the suspension. Diesel's average was 561, down from 599 back just 11 days ago.
North Carolina's temporary motor fuel tax suspension passed the North Carolina General Assembly back just a couple of weeks ago on October the 7th. It was signed by Governor Josh Stein October the 9th and runs all the way through the month of November, ending on the 30th. The law requires fuel prices to reflect the tax savings, but exempts retailers from lowering prices on fuel purchased before the suspension took effect. That is why, for many stations across North Carolina, it took a couple of days, two to four days, to begin to see those price savings and that rollback in the cost due to many of the stations having full fuel tanks with the gas that included that forty-one cent per gallon tax. To estimate how much of the tax savings are being passed along to drivers, Carolina Journal compared average daily fuel prices in North Carolina with the average of South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, which have not suspended their motor fuel taxes.
We know that our neighbors to the south in Georgia have already done that.
So, as I mentioned, North Carolina, as of yesterday, at three sixty-one per gallon; South Carolina, three eighty-two a gallon; Tennessee. Three eighty-four a gallon, and Virginia four oh six. That is the cost for regular unleaded gasoline. We look at diesel. North Carolina sits at five dollars and sixty-one cents per gallon on average.
South Carolina five eighty-one. Tennessee five ninety-eight, and a whopping six dollars and twenty-nine cents in the state of Virginia right now. A much higher fee than is being charged in North Carolina during the eleven days before the suspension. Regular gasoline in North Carolina averaged three cents. Higher than the three-state average.
However, by Monday, North Carolina's average was 30 cents lower, a relative decrease of 33 cents per gallon compared to our neighboring states. Diesel prices followed a similar pattern before the suspension. Diesel in North Carolina averaged three cents lower than the three-state average.
However, by Monday, that was a 42 cents lower, a relative decrease of 39 cents per. Gallon when compared to neighboring states, based on those changes, Carolina Journal estimates that eighty percent of the gasoline tax reduction and ninety-six percent of the diesel tax reduction are being reflected in lower prices for customers, according to Devin Hawkins, an associate teaching professor of economics at Elon University. He told Carolina Journal the legal ease of this situation basically dictates. That the savings have to go to the consumer. The reason you're not seeing a 100% drop of 41 cents has more to do with all of the other external factors affecting the overall price of gasoline, including logistics and transportation.
Hawkins added that the lower fuel prices could increase fuel demand, putting upward pressure on prices as the suspension continues through the month of November. A 2022 Penn Wharton budget model analysis of similar gasoline tax suspensions in three states found that drivers received most, but not all, of the tax savings through lower prices. Researchers estimated that Maryland drivers. Received seventy-two percent of the savings. Connecticut drivers received seventy-one to eighty-seven percent, and Georgia drivers received fifty-eight to sixty-five.
In a separate analysis published in March, it projected that a two-month North Carolina gas tax holiday would reduce gasoline prices by about thirty cents per gallon and diesel by twenty-four cents. The model assumed seventy-two percent of the gasoline. Tax reduction and sixty percent of the diesel tax reduction as well. Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced an initiative on October the 13th called NC Fuel Check, encouraging drivers to report gas stations that they believe are not passing those savings along. The General Assembly's nonpartisan fiscal research division estimates that estimates that the temporary suspension will reduce motor fuel tax revenue by 362.3 million dollars under the law.
The state will replace that revenue with money from the stabilization and inflation reserve, leaving an estimated one hundred and fifty-six point one million dollars in unpaid, in unappropriated funds. We are going to be keeping an eye on this over the next couple of weeks as we get into the month of November. You can check out a really cool visual chart we've got on our website, carolinajournal.com, showing the average fuel prices in North Carolina.
South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Click onto that story of the headline: "NC Gas Diesel Prices Lowest in the Nation Amid Fuel Tax Holiday." In some other statewide news that we are tracking this morning, the United States Department of Justice and Education have announced a voluntary settlement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, targeting anti-Semitism and race discrimination. This agreement, which was announced just yesterday, goes through some details as we understand it. As we have been following some investigations by those federal agencies within the University of Chapel Hill, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. According to Assistant Attorney General Harmie Dillon of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, she said in a news release that the Civil Rights Act requires that all students, regardless of their ancestry or race, receive equal treatment under the law at federally funded colleges and universities.
She went on to say, "Higher ed policies and practices that tolerate antisemitism or favor certain racial groups over others." Frustrate our color-blind judicial system. The Civil Rights Division commends U.N.C. for its cooperation in meeting its obligations under federal law without the need for litigation. We hope other institutions will take note and not do the same. We also heard from the Assistant Secretary Kimberly Ritchie of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, saying in part, "Today's agreement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an important step in upholding civil rights laws and restoring the American people's confidence in higher education." She continued, the Trump administration is holding schools accountable for anti-Semitism at American universities and ensuring that institutions which have no problem accessing generous taxpayer support follow all federal laws, ensuring safe learning environments.
Because of today's agreement with UNC, aspiring students will be assessed based solely on their merit, not race, and Jewish students can thrive. Without the threat of anti-Semitic discrimination on their college campus, we also heard from the chancellor of Chapel Hill, in Lee Roberts, who said in part, "This announcement reinforces our commitment to the fair and equal treatment of everyone at Carolina for at least a decade." Through different presidential administrations, U.S. universities have faced heightened public scrutiny across a range of issues. We're proud to.
Solve those issues at Carolina in a way that protects our mission and affirms the civil rights of everyone in our community. The agreement recognizes steps that UNC Chapel Hill has already taken to comply with federal civil rights laws, according to the university's news release, which includes protections for academic freedom and civil rights. To make sure that those are expressly affirmed in the agreement, and it makes clear that the federal government will not dictate. Dictate the content of academic speech or curriculum on the campus of Chapel Hill. The ten-page agreement applies to all undergraduate, graduate, professional, and other schools, components, and programs within the UNC Chapel Hill system, and the university shall maintain policies aimed at prohibiting, preventing, and disciplining unlawful anti-Semitism.
According to the agreement. This was a major news story when we covered it months ago. When with the announcement from both the the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education that they were engaging with UNC Chapel Hill over some of these concerns regarding race-based discrimination and anti-Semitism on the UNC Chapel Hill campus, we will keep an eye on this. We've got a full link to the agreement between the Justice Department department. Of education and Chapel Hill, that's linked over on our website this morning, carolinajournal dot com.
Look for the story with the headlines: Feds announce anti semitism, comma race discrimination settlement with UNC. Hey guys, this is Joe. It's Nick and Kevin Jonas from Hey Jonas. Sponsored by Edible Arrangements. They are also bringing us our first bowl question.
Oh, we're doing the bowl. We're doing the bowl. All right, let's get into it.
Okay, the question is, what's your chocolate dipped move to show up for someone's birthday? That's weirdly specific. Feels like there's only really one right answer for this one. Edible. Edible.
I mean, Nick did famously send an arrangement to Bob Iger. Yeah, sure.
So you know it's good. And they've got a lot more than fresh fruit. Birthday arrangements, baked goods, flowers, chocolate dip treats. A lot of options. And if somebody's birthday sneaks up on you, uh oh, they've got delivery today, tomorrow, or even in an hour.
Which is great because Kevin's birthday's coming up real soon, very soon. I'm getting an arrangement, aren't I? Yep, we kind of have to. You know, I'm okay with that. All right, we just answered our first ever edible.
Question: We don't typically like puns, Joe, but we'll allow it for Edible.
So, if you want to show up with something thoughtful this birthday, Edible's the move. Order yours today at edible. dot com. It's 5:23. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
The Trump administration has obligated some 550 million dollars in previously awarded federal funds to advance North Carolina's long-planned S Line passenger rail project, which aims to connect Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia, with faster, more More frequent service. The United States Department of Transportation announced last week that the Federal Railroad Administration, known as the FRA, had obligated the funding to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Once complete, the project is expected to reduce travel times between the two cities by up to ninety minutes. The announcement marks a significant step forward in the project, which previously received one point oh. Nine billion dollars worth of federal grants under the Biden administration that was back in December of 2023.
Last weekend's 550 million dollar obligation represents about half of that previously awarded funding, rather than an entirely new grant. Governor Josh Stein and the North Carolina Transportation Secretary in Daniel Johnson joined the Federal Rail Administration administrator in David. As well as other state and federal officials at a construction site in Raleigh to announce the funding and review progress on the rail corridor, the governor said, in part, "Living in the number one state that people from other states are moving to, North Carolinians need good transportation options options to get them where they need to be when they need to get there." The S line will connect North Carolina residents to more transportation options within the state and beyond, so they can get to school, work, or anywhere else they need to go. I am grateful to our federal partners and congressional delegation. The funding is part of a 5.3 billion dollar nationwide rail investment package announced.
By the United States Transportation Secretary and Sean Duffy, which the administration described as part of the Golden Age of Rail agenda. Duffy said in a press release alongside the announcement, the Trump administration is committed to investing in Amtrak to make passenger rail in America great again. Our additional rail safety investments are also an important reminder of the tangible difference we can make when we defund boomdoggles like California's train to nowhere and instead direct the funds to protect pedestrians, drivers, and riders in the. Tar Heel State. The investment comes as North Carolina's passenger rail network continues to experience ridership growth across the state, according to DOT.
NC by Train served nearly 740,000 passengers in 2025, which represents a staggering 59 percent increase from 2019 and the highest annual ridership in the service's history. Going to the S Line project. Project that involves restoring and upgrading approximately 162 miles of railroad corridor between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, creating a more direct passenger rail connection between North Carolina, Virginia, and the Northeast. The corridor was historically part of the Seaboard Airline Railroad and is currently associated with freight operations owned by CSX, North Carolina. And Virginia have been working to acquire portions of the route and restore traditional passenger services, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
The project is designed to support passenger trains traveling at speeds of up to 110 miles an hour between Raleigh and Virginia. The improvements are also expected to allow more frequent passenger and freight services while reducing congestion on existing rail corridors throughout the network. Construction is already underway on the project's first phase between Raleigh and Wake Forest, including several grade separation projects designed. To eliminate at-grade crossings where roads and regular motor vehicle roads and railroad tracks intersect, the Department of Transportation has not established a firm completion date for the full Raleigh to Richmond route. With the project's overall schedule dependent on additional funding and construction progress, last week's announcement follows another major federal rail investment in North Carolina earlier.
This year, we go back to when the Trump administration announced nearly three hundred million dollars in federal funding. That was in August to improve railroad crossings, expand track capacity, and enhance safety along existing passenger rail corridors between Raleigh and Charlotte. The Piedmont Corridor Safety Program includes the closure of nine at-grade railroad crossings, construction of five grade separations. And additional measures to prevent unauthorized access to railroad tracks. Going back to the FRA administrator in Fink, he credited cooperation among federal and state officials for advancing the two investments, saying in part, "This milestone is a testament to the strong partnerships between the FRA, Amtrak, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation in advancing the S Line and the earlier announced Piedmont Line corridors.
Through close collaboration, we are delivering." Delivering vital investments that will modernize passenger rail and create a new golden age of rail for the people of North Carolina. The announcement follows uncertainty over the project's federal funding last year. After President Donald Trump took office in January of 2025, his administration paused several federal infrastructure grants under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law in February of. Last year, a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Governor Stein warned that the S Line project was among several North Carolina transportation investments affected by the funding freeze and urged the secretary to restore federal funding to the project.
And we've now got this new five hundred and fifty million dollar announcement from the Federal Rail Administration. You can read more. We've got quotes from all of. The parties involved; those details over on our website this morning, carolinajournal dot com. Look for the headline: "The Trump Administration Releases Five Hundred and Fifty Million for North Carolina Passenger Rail Project." Hey guys, this is Joe.
It's Nick and Kevin Jonas from Hey Jonas. Sponsored by Edible Arrangements. They are also bringing us our first bowl question. Oh, we're doing the bowl. We're doing the bowl.
All right, let's get into it.
Okay, the question is: What's your chocolate dipped move to show up for someone's birthday? That's weirdly specific. Feels like there's only really one right answer for this one. Edible, edible. I mean, Nick did famously send an arrangement to Bob Iger.
Yeah, sure.
So you know it's good. And they've got a lot more than fresh fruit. Birthday arrangements, baked goods, flowers, chocolate dip treats. A lot of options. And if somebody's birthday sneaks up on you, they've got delivery today, tomorrow, or even in an hour, which is great because Kevin's birthday's coming up real soon, very soon.
I'm getting an arrangement, aren't I? Yep, we kind of have to. You know, I'm okay with that. All right, we just answered our first ever edible. Question: We don't typically like puns, Joe, but we'll allow it for edible.
So, if you want to show up with something thoughtful this birthday, Edible's the move. Order yours today at edible. com. It's five thirty seven. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT.
I'm Nick Craig. Good Tuesday morning to you. Early voting started last Thursday throughout the state of North Carolina.
Now that we're more than a couple of days into that early voting period, probably now a good time to take a look at what things are looking like as that early voting will continue through the remainder of this month. Then a couple of days break before Election Day coming up on Tuesday, November the third. To walk through the latest this morning, it's my pleasure as always to welcome Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation to our airwaves here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Andy, as Over this morning, we've got more than half a million people.
That is including early voting that we've seen, absentee by mail, a couple thousand of the military and overseas ballots that have decided to take part in these midterm elections. Break down some of the numbers, if you would, for us. Yeah, so turnout's been pretty vigorous by midterm standards, but it's disproportionately Democratic and unaffiliated. Democrats are up, unaffiliated is up. Republicans are way down, around nineteen and a half percent.
Usually they're around thirty percent at this time. Democrats usually are ahead, especially in the early days of early voting, and Republicans kind of come back and then have a A big jump on election day, but this—I've checked back. This variance that we're looking at is unprecedented. Republicans are way down compared to what they normally are at this point in early voting. Yeah, and obviously we've seen a lot of.
Well, we talked a lot about this leading into the start of early voting as to what this turnout was going to look like. It should be no surprise, at least, that Democrats have a strong advantage due to the fact that this is a midterm with a Republican in the Oval Office, Republicans controlling the United States House and the United States Senate. But Andy, you were just talking about these numbers are historically bad for Republicans. Democrats are really strong, and then of course the unaffiliated voter at about thirty four. Four and a half percent.
I guess the million-dollar question: Where are those people breaking in terms of who they're voting for? Right, and of course you can only venture a guess. But one of the kind of rules of thumb that you have for people that study these things is that unaffiliated voters tend to behave as weak partisans.
So it's probably an educated guess that the unaffiliateds right now are kind of acting as a force multiplier for Democrats, since it's Democrats that are disproportionately turning out right now. The unaffiliated voters who are voting are probably also.
So mostly Democratic, and in a similar vein, you can kind of expect the unaffiliated voters that come out on election day are probably going to be more Republican leaning, and the folks that come out later on in the early voting process are probably going to be kind of a split, a balance between Republicans and Democrats.
So, I mean, if we if we just stopped voting today and said this is all the votes we're going to do, we're going to count them today, you'd probably be looking at Democrats winning races across. The state, you know, sixty forty, it's going to almost certainly close some. But the question is, is it going to be enough for Republicans to make up this huge hole that they found themselves in? Let me ask you this, Andy. We go back to the 2024 presidential election.
One of the things, and he is not on the ballot, obviously this go around. President Donald Trump pushed Republicans very hard to vote early. There was a huge effort, not only by the then candidate in President Donald Trump, but the GOP, the Republican National Committee, and many of these other affiliated groups, to really just hammer this message in on Republicans: you have to vote early, you have to vote early. Without that. Message being laid out at the national level, obviously, there is no presidential race going on.
Is it is it accurate or maybe fair to say that some of these Republican voters may go back to their usual voting habit, which has been traditionally voting on Election Day? Yeah, that's an open question, and so it's probably safe to assume that at least some of them are going to do that. I think we're, by the way, seeing a similar thing with Democrats who really went heavily into mail ballots in 2020, a little less so in 2022, and this year even less so than that.
So I think you're starting to see Democrats start to go into their old habits, which would mean a little more early voting for them, relatively speaking. And so with the Republicans, it. Could be that we're seeing a shift back, but even then, this doesn't explain all of this dipole you've had. And Republicans are actually voting at a similar level to previous midterm elections. It's just you've had this huge influx of Democrats and a comparative rise of unaffiliated.
The question again is: Can they keep that up? Is this going to be a day-in, day-out thing where they're going to keep maintaining that advantage, or are Republicans going to be able to claw some of that back? We saw a little bit of that on the last week's Friday returns, where Republicans gained a percentage point. But they lost all that on the weekend because Democrats generally dominate weekend voting because early voting on the weekends is generally done in urban counties, which are disproportionately Democratic.
So it's going to be a real interesting question when the the next upload of data comes up early today or later today, I should say, and for the rest of this week, will Republicans be able to claw some of that disadvantage back on? The remaining weekdays between now and Election Day. You know, Andy, that's a really good point. I'm I'm glad you brought that point up. We obviously saw Thursday and Friday, where all 100 counties opened.
I think it was 370 early voting locations across the state. We saw that Thursday and Friday, Saturday. Many counties, even some more populous counties, did not have early voting on the weekends. Most do this coming weekend as we kind of turn the corner towards the end of early voting.
So I think a lot of folks have been kind of feeling that same way and and wondering what Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and maybe even Thursday, the vote tallies are going to look like in terms of who is actually showing up in voting. To get an idea, does this major Democrat advantage remain, or do Republicans over the next week and a half or so begin this process of slowly chipping away at the major hole that you've already noted they're in right now? Yeah, it's it.
So it's always that same question: Is it more voting or just earlier voting? Sure. You know, you could do the Forrest Gump answer. Maybe it's a little of both. But this, you know, all the numbers indicate so far that this is looking to be a very good year for Democrats, potentially even better than 2018 when they won all four of the statewide judicial races.
So we. Could have them, you know, carrying a few seats in the general assembly that they might not have otherwise carried, unless Republicans make a bigger comeback than we've ever seen any party do in early voting over the course of the early voting period.
So, can Republicans come back? Certainly. Is it probable? Probably not.
Well, we'll obviously keep a close eye on that. Let me ask you about the analogs here, and because this is one of the things that's always interesting, you obviously can go back and look at the 2022 elections. That's the most recent midterm, but that was still relatively close to COVID nineteen, as we've talked about over the past few weeks. You had a lot of Democrat voting via mail, and we didn't see that this election cycle.
So that makes things a little bit complicated. You go back to 2018; it was a really long time ago in the grand scheme. Of elections, North Carolina's population has changed pretty dramatically since then. It's kind of hard to find a more a recent example of an election like the one we're seeing right now. As you're going through and diving into this data and making comparisons, is that something that's on your mind?
Yeah, I mean that's that's a consideration. I mean, every election is a unique event, but you know you can use these past sources to kind of guide you about what to expect, and that's the reason we know this is highly unusual because we've never seen this kind of a gap before. As a matter of fact, I'm the turnout model that I'm looking at for a basis of comparison is actually a combination of eighteen and twenty-two, the last two midterm elections.
Now that's going to You know, overstate Republican turnout a little bit because you know that was a a Democratic midterm election, and the 2018 portion really understates the unaffiliated turnout.
So there's not really a perfect model. I guess if you spent a lot of time constructing a model based on umpteen dozen factors, you could come out with something better. But probably the closest analog you have really is looking at 18 and 22. It's really the Only real analog we have, because those are the other two most similar, most recent elections. Andy, we're going to be chatting a lot over the next couple of days as this early voting period continues through the remainder of the month.
We'll be chatting about what things are looking like as you're diving into this data day in and day out. Is there anything in particular that you're looking for, just kind of keeping an eye on some of these broader trends to begin to put this puzzle together as to how things will look like as we approach the end of the month?
Well, really, the the bottom line is what's going to happen on those Republican numbers. Is that Republican proportion of the vote going to slowly rise? Maybe get into the the low to mid twenties by the end of the week. If that happens, then we might be looking at kind of a more normal midterm election, which is still probably going to be generally good for Democrats. If if it stays low around twenty percent or.
Less by the end of the week, then you're potentially looking at kind of a blue tsunami election because that's going to be such a hole that even with the last week of early voting and election day, Republicans aren't going to be able to make up that kind of ground. For folks that maybe want to look at what's going on in their county, obviously we spent a lot of time talking about the couple of congressional races, NC 11, NC 1, the United States Senate race between Roy Cooper and Michael. But Andy, there's a lot that goes on in all of our 100 counties across North Carolina. Where can folks go to dive into some of the early voting data and numbers from their local area?
Well, we have Vote Tracker, which is over at CarolinaElections.com. It's got features where if you want to click on your state house district, your state senate district, you can do that. If you want to click on your county, we've got a pretty map there. Just hover hover over your county and click on that, and you can get all the turnout details in your county, and it breaks it down by sex, by age, by race, by party.
So you know, if you love election. Data, and you want to look at it for your community? Just go to carolinadillections. dot com, and we'll continue that conversation over the next couple of weeks. Here, as always, we appreciate the update.
Doctor Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Hey, guys, this is Joe. It's Nick and Kevin Jonas from Hey Jonas. Sponsored by Edible Arrangements, they are also bringing us our first bowl question. Oh, we're doing the bowl.
We're doing the bowl. All right, let's get into it.
Okay, the question is: What's your chocolate-dipped move to show up for someone's birthday? That's weirdly specific. Feels like there's only really one right answer for this one. Edible, edible. I mean, Nick did famously send an arrangement to Bob Iger.
Yeah, sure.
So you know it's good. And they've got a lot more than fresh fruit. Birthday arrangements, baked goods, flowers, chocolate-dipped treats. A lot of options. And if somebody's birthday sneaks up on you, they've got delivery today, tomorrow, or even in an hour.
Which is great because Kevin's birthday's coming up real soon, very soon. I'm getting an arrangement, aren't I? Yep, we kind of have to. You know, I'm okay with that. All right, we just answered our first ever edible.
Question: We don't typically like puns, Joe, but we'll allow it for edible.
So, if you want to show up with something thoughtful this birthday, edible's the move. Order yours today at edible dot com. Good morning again. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, one hundred seven point nine FM, WBT. We are getting us some late-breaking early voting totals in from Monday, just published moments ago by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
We now have more than six hundred and eighty-nine thousand early votes that have been cast over the last couple of days since early voting began on Thursday. Day of last week, two hundred one thousand plus voters casting early voting ballots across the state yesterday. Democrats still with a sizable advantage: three hundred eight thousand eight hundred fifty one Democrat ballots cast, followed by two hundred thirty four thousand five hundred ninety unaffiliateds, compared to one hundred forty four thousand two hundred fifty three Republicans. That brings the percentages to forty four point eight percent. For Democrats, thirty-four point zero percent for unaffiliateds and twenty point nine percent for Republicans.
Looking at the data from Monday, very quick analysis here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. The Republicans are the only ones gaining a small advantage in terms of a percentage during the Monday early voting period. As we were just chatting with Dr. Andy Jackson from the John Locke Foundation, will Republicans over the remainder of this week? Begin the process of chipping away at the major deficit that they got into during the first of four days of early voting remains unclear this morning, but we do have.
This a little bit of a pop for them as those early voting totals from Monday are rolling in. We'll keep an eye on that data throughout the day and bring you the latest coming up here tomorrow morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Well, it's set to be a busy day in Eastern North Carolina as President Donald Trump, who promised back on September the 16th at a rally in Gastonia, he promised to make his way back to the Tar Heel state to continue campaigning for. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Wattley and other statewide Republicans, and he is following through on that promise. He will be in Greenville, North Carolina today. Coming up later on this evening to support Wattley and other candidates.
The vice president in J.D. Vance was in Hendersonville on Monday, yesterday, stumping for Wattley. We also saw some commentary from a Lori Buckout as well as other candidate. In the western half of North Carolina, as the races for North Carolina's congressional districts—one, which is where Buckout is, and where the Greenville rally will be taking place today—and North Carolina's 11th congressional district will continue to play out. Obviously, a major United States Senate race between former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and the former head of the RNC and North Carolina Republican Party, Michael Watt.
As we are now very well in the thick of the early voting period across North Carolina, we will be tracking the president's comments in eastern North Carolina tonight. We will have them for you a first thing tomorrow morning, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. That's going to do it for a Tuesday 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.
W B.
