Andrew Dunn

2 weeks ago | longleafpol.com | Andrew Dunn

I spent way too much time this week thinking about our state’s governor. It was hard not to — the guy was all over the place giving interviews. Pretty much all of them touched on FEMA. I wrote a column for the N&O and Charlotte Observer about how Gov. Josh Stein has become a leading spokesman for the effort to forestall its demise. He’s essentially making a conservative case for keeping FEMA, arguing that it saves money and prevents administrative bloat. You can read the column here: Gov.

2 weeks ago | charlotteobserver.com | Andrew Dunn

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein was on the "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Monday talking about Western N.C.'s recovery from Helene. Colbert showed a photo of Stein's wife Anna canoeing on a river near Boone. CBS It's a classic Trump-era irony: The president's polarizing voice has triggered a burst of bipartisan agreement. When President Donald Trump floated the notion of scrapping FEMA entirely after Hurricane Helene, it sounded like the start of another bare-knuckle partisan fight.

3 weeks ago | longleafpol.com | Andrew Dunn

I’m still not quite sure what to make of Gov. Josh Stein. But after eight years of a scorched-earth governor — it’s kind of nice to see how the new guy is approaching things. Six months in to the job, Stein is taking a different approach to the state’s highest office. He hasn’t picked fights, publicly threatened opponents or wielded the veto pen like a cudgel. Heck, he even came out in support of the N.C. House budget.

3 weeks ago | longleafpol.com | Andrew Dunn

I'm already dreading next year's Supreme Court race. Not because it doesn’t matter — but because it will be unbearable to watch. Over the last few days, we’ve gotten a preview of what Justice Anita Earls’s 2026 re-election campaign will look like. “Our courts are the last hope as the guardians of our democracy, and that is no exaggeration,” she told supporters in Durham. If that makes you roll your eyes, you’re not alone.

3 weeks ago | charlotteobserver.com | Andrew Dunn

Ardrey Kell ranked No. 1 among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' 33 high schools on U.S. News & World Report's 2021 Best High Schools List released on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. The Charlotte Observer People will always try to downplay bad news. When something goes wrong, the instinct is to manage the fallout quietly and move on. That's exactly why public records laws exist for our government. Good ones make it harder for agencies to sweep problems under the rug.