Politics & Government

Next Tuesday, voters will go to the polls in Raleigh to choose a new mayor. For the first time in a decade, they will pick someone who is not Charles Meeker. Billie Redmond, Nancy McFarlane, and Randall Williams are all running to replace him. And if history is any guide, it will be the last elected position any of them will ever run for. Becoming mayor in the state’s capitol city is hardly a stepping stone to a long political career.

North Carolinians are split over President Obama's jobs bill. A new Elon University poll finds 36 percent opposed, 35 percent in support, and more than a quarter of those surveyed are unsure about it. Other numbers from the poll indicate the president's popularity is waning in the state. 42 percent approve of the job he's doing. 51 percent disapprove. Assistant poll director Mileah Kromer says those are bad numbers for a president trying to win North Carolina again in 2012.

Outgoing Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker has made an endorsement for his successor.
 

Meeker has thrown his support behind Nancy McFarlane, who served on the City Council for four of Meeker’s ten years in office. Meeker made the announcement this afternoon.

McFarlane is running as an unaffiliated candidate. Meeker is a democrat.

A new poll shows a majority of North Carolinians are opposed to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The data out of Elon University shows 56 percent of state residents opposed to an amendment to ban gay marriage and civil unions. Assistant poll director Mileah Kromer says support for same-sex couples in North Carolina is now widespread.