2018 ELECTIONS: Key races and issues across the South

November 2, 2018 - Echoing Trump, Republicans across the South and country are stepping up anti-immigrant rhetoric in the final stretch of the 2018 elections. The goal is to boost turnout of GOP base voters this year, but evidence is growing that hardline immigration politics will weaken the party in the long run.

November 1, 2018 - Spending in this year's elections — including key races across the South — has smashed records. If it results in Democrats winning control of the U.S. House, they say their first task will be campaign finance reform legislation.

October 11, 2018 - The same secret-money group that pushed the U.S Senate to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh is dominating spending in judicial elections in Arkansas and elsewhere in the South. In some states, justices are looking to be re-elected with the help of campaign cash from corporations and law firms that have business before the courts.

October 26, 2018 - Voters in Southern states are weighing in on ballot measures to expand voting rights, raise the minimum wage, and protect the environment.

October 12, 2018 - A look at the South's major state and federal elections this year, and how a Democratic surge could shift regional politics for years to come.

June 18, 2018 - Once deemed among the most restrictive states for ballot access, North Carolina changed its law recently and will have two new parties on this year's ballot. But other Southern states are less welcoming to political newcomers.

April 9, 2018 - While gerrymandered maps have given Republicans a dramatic advantage in recent elections, court rulings have led to fairer maps in Virginia and other battleground states. Will they even the playing field?

August 29, 2018 - This week's federal ruling that North Carolina's congressional maps are unconstitutionally designed for GOP advantage adds to the uncertainty over the looming election. But it also offers a chance for the state's voters to cast their ballots in a fair contest for the first time in years — as long as Trump's Supreme Court nominee doesn't get in the way.

November 2, 2018 - GOP state Sen. Dan Bishop is facing criticism for supporting Gab, the alt-right social media platform used by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. Bishop's 2017 investment was a response to social media platforms banning the organizers of the violent "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville — a group Bishop compared to the Black Lives Matter movement.

October 22, 2018 - While its customers suffered this year in hurricanes whose unusual intensity scientists have attributed to climate change, Duke Energy was contributing overwhelmingly to Republican politicians, whose party platform denies that climate change is a pressing concern.

July 30, 2018 - North Carolina lawmakers recently called a special session to make major changes to election ballots. The changes aim to influence the outcome of the state Supreme Court election and referenda on constitutional amendments that would give the legislature more power. 

April 25, 2018 - The first peer-reviewed study of ads bought on Facebook to influence the 2016 election is renewing calls for Congress to pass the Honest Ads Act, which would close disclosure loopholes for political ads on social media. The stalled bill is opposed by groups including Americans for Prosperity and an anti-regulatory think tank with a connection to Senate leader Mitch McConnell.

March 27, 2018 - President Trump is under fire for his campaign's dealings with the controversial data mining and psy ops firm, but he's not the only politician who worked with the company. Other leading beneficiaries have included U.S. senators and representatives from several Southern states.

May 18, 2018 - An Arkansas judge blocked an election ad by the conservative Judicial Crisis Network attacking a state Supreme Court judge, citing libel concerns. If the group, which spends millions to influence state and federal courts, appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, its spending would present an ethical dilemma for Justice Neil Gorsuch.

February 27, 2018 - While the NRA's contributions to Congress members have been in the spotlight since the Florida school massacre, the group also spends big at the state level — and it's not the only pro-gun group doing so. But the gun lobby doesn't always get what it wants, and pro-gun control interests have dramatically stepped up spending in recent years.

June 15, 2018 - A North Carolina voter charged with violating the state's ban on voting while on probation for a felony is arguing that the policy violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause. 

July 19, 2018 - A campaign to encourage politicians to reject contributions from electric utility monopolies aims to recast Virginia politics-as-usual as unethical. Though the pledge effort is meeting opposition from those who benefit under the current conflict-ridden system, it's still going strong — and has spread beyond the state.

September 12, 2018 - Corporate-backed supporters of the tort reform amendment, as well as its opponents, are gearing up to spend millions to influence voters' decision in November. But a state court recently struck down the amendment and ordered officials not to count the votes.

February 22, 2018 - As civil rights groups challenge racially discriminatory judicial elections under the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina legislators are moving forward with a judicial gerrymandering plan that could lead to less racial diversity on the bench.

October 4, 2018 - Florida, Georgia and North Carolina are among the states where voting rights advocates have documented a high rate of voter names being purged from the rolls, with people of color disproportionately affected. Time is running out to check registrations and fix problems before the November election.

February 14, 2018 - The news that North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest solicited millions of dollars from a Durham businessman for supposedly "independent" political groups highlights loopholes in state campaign finance law that need to be closed.

September 6, 2018 - Students across the South are working to more easily exercise their right to vote, starting with raising awareness about the inequity in voter ID laws across the region.

April 19, 2018 - A law targeting white-supremacist terrorism is being used to sue a conservative Virginia activist who falsely accused people of voting illegally — the latest example of how the Reconstruction-era statute remains relevant today.

March 15, 2018 - For centuries, Black women battled racism and misogyny as they fought for access to the ballot. Having made enormous political strides in recent decades, they are poised to smash through a key barrier this year — and to do so in a Southern state.

August 29, 2018 - This week's federal ruling that North Carolina's congressional maps are unconstitutionally designed for GOP advantage adds to the uncertainty over the looming election. But it also offers a chance for the state's voters to cast their ballots in a fair contest for the first time in years — as long as Trump's Supreme Court nominee doesn't get in the way.

January 26, 2018 - A proposed constitutional amendment would give the state legislature control over choosing judges — a power it has not had since the Civil War.

April 6, 2018 - Election watchdogs have accused the British political consulting firm of violating limits on foreign involvement in elections and of facilitating illegal coordination between super PACs and campaigns in its work to elect candidates including U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

October 24, 2018 - Still contending with barriers put in place before the last midterm and presidential elections, voters in some states in the South face new restrictions on the franchise as they head to the polls this year.   

October 26, 2018 - A new report highlights how Asian Americans, the fastest-growing racial demographic in North Carolina, are a growing political force in the state — and could swing key races in 2018.

October 9, 2018 - Voting rights advocates are mobilizing in the Carolinas to ensure people affected by the disaster are able to access the ballot in the upcoming election.

March 29, 2018 - For years, Southern state legislators have tried to defend racial gerrymandering by claiming that it's required by the Voting Rights Act. Now the Trump administration is pointing to the same law to justify a new census question about citizenship.

June 1, 2018 - This November, voters in Alabama and West Virginia will weigh in on ballot questions about adding anti-abortion provisions to state constitutions. The legislatively-placed measures are part of a broader effort to limit women's access to reproductive health care that's made dramatic headway in Southern states in recent years.

October 17, 2018 - Oil, gas and coal companies are bankrolling the Florida governor's campaign to join the U.S. Senate as increasingly intense storms batter his state.

August 2, 2018 - State supreme court seats across the South are up for grabs this year, and contributions are pouring into partisan races. What does the research tell us about the effects of big-money politics on the judiciary?

October 19, 2018 - A new ad from Republican Justice Barbara Jackson raises ethical questions due to its partisan tone and stoking of conservative voters' fears about immigrants. Jackson has also shared alt-right followers' tweets and raised First Amendment concerns by blocking a Twitter follower for pointing out that she was retweeting a racist account.

August 15, 2018 - This year's highest-profile race featuring white-power themes is the Senate contest in Virginia, where Republican and Confederate apologist Corey Stewart is challenging incumbent Democrat Tim Kaine. Though trailing in the polls and fundraising, Stewart's controversial campaign has still managed to rake in over $1 million. Where is it coming from?

June 29, 2018 - In the final days of its 2018 session, the General Assembly approved a series of constitutional amendments for the November ballot that if passed would restrict voting and expand the legislature's power over the courts and the executive branch.

September 13, 2018 - In 1868, Southern states held constitutional conventions in which recently freed black men helped eliminate vestiges of the Confederacy and draft progressive blueprints for state government. While some of the provisions survived Jim Crow, conservative politicians today are chipping away at Reconstruction's radical legacy.

April 27, 2018 - A federal appeals court recently ruled that Florida can keep its harsh re-enfranchisement system in place. But a November ballot referendum there could lead to reforms, which have also recently come to states including Alabama and Virginia.

February 12, 2018 - Eight years since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision lifting limits on political spending, wealthy interests have gained even more influence over elections while transparency has suffered. But grassroots efforts are underway to shift power back to ordinary citizens.

January 16, 2018 - Split precincts where some voters cast ballots in one race and some in another are to blame for the chaos in a critical Virginia House race that's still being contested in the courts — and the problem is even worse in some other heavily gerrymandered states like North Carolina.

November 2, 2018 - Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, has placed over 53,000 would-be voters on his controversial list of those with registration discrepancies — but that doesn't mean they can't vote.

October 18, 2018 - As Republicans in Florida and West Virginia were about to replace most of the members of their supreme courts, the courts asserted their independence and blocked the partisan moves. But North Carolina's high court still faces the threat of a GOP takeover plan.

October 9, 2018 - Tuesday, Oct. 9 is the voter registration deadline in more than half of the states in the South. The deadline looms as dozens of key races for Congress, governor and other contests are expected to be decided by razor-thin margins, and interest in the November mid-terms grows among Republicans.