Before calling someone a “dirtbag,” the Senator should have had his facts straight. An apology is in order.
Glad one of us knew the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes!
NCDOT is activating a temporary emergency ferry service between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe, reconnecting Hatteras Island to the mainland while Hwy 12 remains closed.
Schedule and service details will be provided by NCDOT and local agencies today.
Two years after the devastation of
Hurricane Helene, NC remains unbroken. Despite Donald Trump’s threats to withhold FEMA funds if Whatley loses, we will show Trump and Virginia Foxx that North Carolina always rebuilds stronger than ever.
#ncpol#hurricanehelene#wnc#fema
In 2024, over 180,000 voters cast ballots but did NOT vote in the state supreme court race. I won by 734 out of over 5.5M votes cast. On Sunday, I was in Harnett Co. at the Mt. Pisgah Free Will Baptist Church and in Durham County at the Oval Park Neighbors for Democracy meeting talking about our downballot judicial races. Part of being a good public servant is educating voters about your branch of government!
How close is too close? For too many families across Virginia, massive data center campuses are right across the street from their homes.
Their concerns about noise, health, and their communities deserve to be heard.
That’s why we’re listening. Join us tomorrow in Emporia for our next Data Center Listening Tour stop.
https://t.co/Bc8mYoSryf
XMAS JAM IS COMING HOME! For the 34th year, Warren Haynes is bringing @xmasjam back to his hometown of Asheville, NC on December 12, 2026.
One night. A whole lot of music. And a hometown tradition that continues to give back, with proceeds benefiting @AVLHabitat and @Belovedashevil1.
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more updates at https://t.co/zxb7RPUSW6.
Early voting starts TODAY in Virginia, and you know I was #1 in line. 🗳️
Vote like your life depends on it, because this is the most critical election of our time.
Make your voice heard. VOTE.
A data center right next to a children’s playground? Unconscionable.
Virginians deserve better.
Democrats and Republicans are working together to rein in this industry, protect our communities, and make sure data centers pay their fair share.
@GovernorVA , I’m still waiting on that call.
This is Warren Wilson Road in Swannanoa NC, a short distance from my house. It runs from Highway 70, through Warren Wilson College (which is at the top of the hill in the photo), along the north side of the Swannanoa River through the town of Swannanoa, and on to Black Mountain.
The bridge spans Bee Tree Creek. On the left just across the bridge is Owen’s Park, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene and is still closed, and a manufacturing facility that you can see has a “for sale” sign in front of it.
Hurricane Helene caused Bee Tree Creek to flood and that took out the bridge. We’re less than 2 weeks away from the 2 year anniversary of that natural disaster. A temporary bridge was put in place. It’s only one lane, so traffic has to take turns crossing the creek. There’s been no activity to rebuild a permanent two-lane bridge.
In January 2025, less than a mile from the Bee Tree Creek bridge, Trump stood in Swannanoa and announced that Michael Whatley was the Hurricane Helene Recovery Czar and we’d build back bigger, better, and more beautiful.
Under Whatley’s “leadership,” Western North Carolina received a tiny fraction of the federal assistance areas normally receive after a major natural disaster. As a result, there are scores of other hurricane damage sites like the Bee Tree Creek bridge that remain unfixed due to a lack of funding.
The Tar Heel Taliban . . . sorry, I mean the North Carolina Republican Party . . . knows that Michael Whatley can’t run on the merits of what he did as the Hurricane Helene Recovery Czar because he was an abysmal failure and Western North Carolinians are still suffering as a result of his incompetence. So, they have to try and smear Roy Cooper to prop up their pathetic candidate.
North Carolina deserves better than Michael Whatley and the NCGOP.
Here’s Michael Whatley’s biography from his campaign website.
Note two things he chose to omit from his bio:
First, he says he was “raised in Blowing Rock,” but he fails to mention that he was born in Michigan and lived there until he was 16 and a sophomore in high school. Roy Cooper was born AND raised in North Carolina and all of his education was at North Carolina schools (Whatley has two degrees from Notre Dame in Indiana).
Second, Whatley fails to mention that President Trump appointed him as the Hurricane Helene Recovery Czar. As Trump said at the time, “I’d like to put Michael in charge of making sure everything goes well.”
After Hurricane Sandy, the federal government covered 78 percent of the 88 billion dollars in damage. After Hurricane Katrina, the federal government covered 73 percent of the 125 billion dollars in damage. With Michael Whatley taking on the duty of “making sure everything goes well,” Western North Carolina has received less than 20 percent of the 60 billion dollars in damage from Hurricane Helene.
A Michigan native who failed miserably to stand up for Hurricane Helene victims in Western North Carolina (and who tells blatant lies about NC native son Roy Cooper) is unfit to represent North Carolina in the Senate.
@WhatleyNC is a definite “hell no!”
Every September we mark Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. This year it’s more personal for me.
More than 330,000 American men this year will hear the words we did last spring when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. By the time we found it, it had already spread to my bones.
When prostate cancer is caught early, the five-year survival is close to 100%.
So have the conversation with your doctor. Don’t put it off.
If you're at average risk, that conversation should start around 50, and the guidelines now say screening every 2 to 4 years. If you're a Black man, start it at 45 or earlier. You are nearly 70% more likely to get this disease and 2 to 4 times more likely to die from it. Which is an outrage in the richest country in the world.
If your father or your brother had prostate cancer, start the conversation at 45, and even earlier if more than one of them did.
I am deeply grateful to the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who helped to control my cancer and who continue to take such good care of me. Their skill, dedication, and compassion mean so much. The radiation treatment from last fall worked as intended, and I continue to do the things I care about, like finishing my memoir.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out and continues to keep me and my family in your prayers. We appreciate every single one of you.
It’s my hope and prayer that by sharing our experience and being part of this important conversation, we can help save lives. Talk to your doctors. Ask the hard questions. Do it for yourself, and do it for the people who love you.
And no matter what, keep the faith. God bless you.
You shouldn’t have to guess where your beef comes from.
As a cattle farmer, I’m calling for mandatory country-of-origin labeling and strong USDA inspections. Families deserve to know where their beef was raised and slaughtered.
And Snowflake? Still keeping us waiting!
Today is premiere day for Pati’s Mexican Table Season 15 - Coahuila! Our quinceañera season! The first episode has a rancho feast fit for a celebration with a Coahuila carne asada classic, cabrito. Watch on your @PBS station or stream it: https://t.co/9q7oQiqbkK
@ampublictv
I’m honored to be part of Season 15 of @CavernsSessions on PBS. My episode, filmed live underground at @thecaverns in Grundy County, TN, premieres November 4 on PBS (check local listings) and begins streaming the same day on the PBS app and https://t.co/954bTg4oYb. Set a reminder!
This morning, I visited Williamson Farms in Botetourt County.
The family has been farming in this region for over 100 years — producing grass-fed beef, pasture-raised eggs, honey, and more.
Last week, I urged the Trump Administration to reconsider their plans to flood our market with subsidized foreign-produced beef at the detriment of family-run Virginia farms, like the Williamsons. Today, I heard from Virginia cattlemen with real concerns.
I was fortunate to work with an incredible group of people on "Dreams & Songs". Every person involved brought something unique to the project, and it simply wouldn't have been the same without their contributions.
"Dreams & Songs" comes out September 18. Pre-save here: https://t.co/xeVYbVmXJx
HAPPENING NOW: MarineLand’s last 6 beluga whales are currently being removed from their tanks to be relocated. This marks the end of MarineLand’s 65 year history of animal abuses. No more whales, dolphins, sealions, seals or walruses will ever suffer there again. As promised.
To be clear, at 7.5 billion dollars in funding, the federal government has covered 12.5 percent of the 60 billion dollars in damage inflicted on Western North Carolina by Hurricane Helene. The federal government has covered at least 75 percent of the damage costs after natural disasters in other places.
In 27 days, it will be 2 years since Hurricane Helene struck. When we drive from Asheville to Beech Mountain, we drive over 2 temporary metal grate bridges where the permanent concrete bridges washed out. The Blue Ridge Parkway — America’s most visited National Park — is closed from Mt. Mitchell to Linville due to Helene damage. Every week a couple of more businesses go under. Families whose homes were left uninhabitable are still waiting for help.
To pitch the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene as some success story is typical Republican nugae merae (Latin for bullshit).
And let’s not forget who was appointed as the Hurricane Helene Recovery Czar and totally failed all of the people of Western North Carolina . . . Republican senate candidate Michael Whatley.