RALEIGH — Both Rep. Harry Warren and Sen. Carl Ford have received A+ scores from the North Carolina Values Coalition for support of pro-life, pro-family and pro-religious liberty policies.

Rep. Wayne Sasser, a Republican who will represent Rowan, Cabarrus and Stanly counties until the 2022 general election, received an “A” score. Rep. Julia Howard, longtime Republican representing Rowan and Davie counties, received an “A-.”

Bills the coalition supported that were signed into law included House Bill 769, creating a Bill of Rights for foster parents; Senate Bill 693, speeding up permanency for children in foster care and increasing mental health services; and H.B. 608, limiting the use of restraints on pregnant incarcerated women and providing them with prenatal care.

State Board of Elections determines name order on 2022 ballots with randomized drawing

RALEIGH — The North Carolina Board of Elections met at its downtown Raleigh office after the close of candidate filing Friday to randomly determine the order of candidate names on 2022 ballots.

Patrick Gannon of the state board was joined by elementary school students. Using Bingo balls labeled with each letter of the alphabet, Stephanie pulled the letter “C.” Then, McKenzie flipped a coin that landed on heads. That means candidates who have a last name starting with “C” will appear first, with the names of other candidates following in alphabetical order.

If the coin had landed on tails, the last names would be ordered in reverse alphabetical order starting with “C.”

North Carolina Statute 163-165.6 (c) calls for the board to randomly select the order of candidates names as shown on the ballot.

High Point University poll looks at presidential, gubernatorial approval among North Carolinians

HIGH POINT — As North Carolina remains divided about votes for congressional races, polling shows less than 40% approval of President Joe Biden and almost 50% for Gov. Roy Cooper.

In a High Point University poll conducted throughout February, 39% of North Carolina adults gave a favorable approval of Biden, with 61% indicating the nation is on the wrong track. Those same adults gave Cooper, a Democrat, an approval rating of 48%. The total number of respondents in the poll was 848.

The poll also asked adults about their choice for Congress in the 2022 election, with 40% leaning toward Republican candidates and 38% choosing Democratic candidates.

“Not much has changed in our latest HPU Poll regarding the approval of President Biden and Governor Cooper,” said Brian McDonald, associate director of the HPU Poll. “These ratings give us insight into how North Carolina residents feel about the performance of their elected leaders.”

FiveThirtyEight, which focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging, currently shows a 42.6% disapproval rating for Biden. FiveThirtyEight tracks the approval rating daily by compiling national polls, with the latest conducted between mid-February to early March. Those polls include YouGov, Morning Consult, Pulse Opinion Research and Marist College, which all have a rating of B or better.

Former interior secretary, former Speaker Gingrich endorse Budd for U.S. Senate

ADVANCE — The former U.S. interior secretary during the Trump administration as well as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have endorsed Rep. Ted Budd in his bid for the U.S. Senate.

Gingrich said Budd has the best chance of winning the seat in November and helping the GOP take back the Senate majority that’s narrowly held by Democrats.

“Ted will work to reverse President Biden’s inflationary policies that are hurting working families at the grocery store and at the gas pump,” Gingrich said. “He will defend the Second Amendment. And Ted will work to stop Biden’s open borders agenda, which is only helping dangerous people line their pockets from the drug trade and human trafficking.”

Ryan Zinke, who previously served in Congress, as the interior secretary and is a former U.S. Navy Seal, credited Budd with his “fighting spirit.”

“I’ve worked with a few fighters in my time, and I know that Ted Budd is a fighter who will never back away from the fight to protect personal liberty and advocating for less government and more and better opportunities for North Carolina’s working families,” said Zinke. “During my tenure with President Trump, we always knew that Ted Budd had our back and would always support an America First Agenda that protected and promoted American jobs.”

Budd has closely aligned himself with the former president, with Trump granting an early endorsement last summer immediately after daughter-in-law Lara Trump announced she wouldn’t enter the race.