State oil regulator requests $100 million to tackle West Texas well blowouts
Abandoned wells in the Permian Basin are increasingly erupting with briney, polluted water. The Texas Railroad Commission says it needs emergency money to respond.
Ted Cruz knocks McConnell-aligned super PAC for ‘zero support’ in competitive race
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reiterated his criticism of a group linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at a recent rally, saying it has not assisted him in his competitive Senate race this cycle. “We are getting absolutely zero support from the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF),” the Republican said. Cruz is taking on Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, in the tight race for Senate. Despite the legitimate challenge posed by Allred, Cruz is favored to win the contest. REPUBLICANS CALL ON MAYORKAS TO REINSTATE COVID-ERA BORDER POLICY AMID TUBERCULOSIS ‘SURGE’ SLF has notably spent most of its resources in states with key Republican Senate pick-up opportunities, such as Pennsylvania, Montana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. But Cruz pointed out, “In Texas, we have the most expensive Senate race in the entire country.” As the senator noted, the Cruz and Allred campaigns have raised more money than the candidates in any other Senate race, with the two of them raking in a combined $165 million, according to the Houston Chronicle. HARRIS SLAMS ‘OFFENSIVE’ TRUMP REMARK ON PROTECTING WOMEN FROM MIGRANT CRIME While the race has attracted more campaign cash than others, including Cruz’s last re-election bid against Beto O’Rourke, it hasn’t seen quite as much outside involvement as certain other races this cycle. In fact, Ohio has reportedly seen the most spending in its Senate race, topping $400 million, according to USA Today. After Ohio, more than $200 million has been spent in both Pennsylvania and Montana. “Chuck Schumer is spending over $100 million with George Soros trying to beat me. And McConnell in the Senate Leadership Fund is spending zero,” Cruz said, referring to expenditures from the Schumer-tied Senate Majority PAC and other outside dark money groups with connections to Soros. HOW GOP, DEM SENATORS ARE USING 2024 CAMPAIGN TRAIL TO LOBBY FOR CONFERENCE INFLUENCE Allred’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. “Ted Cruz is one of the best fundraisers in the Republican Party, he ran a great campaign, and he will be reelected handily on Tuesday,” SLF spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair told Fox News Digital in a statement. Less attention has been paid to the Texas Republican’s race — or those of Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., who are in similarly competitive battles — because most conservative efforts have been focused on knocking off vulnerable Democrats in several more competitive battleground states. TOP REPUBLICANS PROBE BIDEN ADMIN ON AFGHAN NATIONALS’ ALLEGED ELECTION DAY TERRORIST PLOT “The way Washington operates, the swamp doesn’t like people that stand up and fight them,” Cruz told reporters. “And unfortunately, McConnell uses that super PAC to reward senators who obey him and to punish those who stand up to him.” In a recent book on McConnell, titled “The Price of Power,” Michael Tackett, the deputy Washington bureau chief of the Associated Press, detailed how the leader allowed conference members to publicly go against him, to an extent, if it was helpful to them electorally. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
McConnell issues smackdown of Kentucky Dem governor’s call to abolish the Electoral College
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Friday blasted his home state’s Democratic governor, who recently called for the Electoral College to be abolished. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday the country needs to “move to a place where seven states don’t decide the presidency.” “We’ll have better government. We’ll have better politics. We’ll have better elections when we get to that point,” the governor said at a gathering of Democrats in Lexington, according to the Kentucky Lantern. At a Thursday press conference, the governor clarified that he was calling for a national popular vote system, which would require changing the Constitution to eliminate the Electoral College. “I think to do that, we would ultimately have to abolish the Electoral College,” Beshear said, per the Lantern. “I know that’s been with us a long time, but we see where things currently stand.” HOW HARRIS, TRUMP WIN THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE In a response released Friday, McConnell said Beshear showed “disregard” and even “borderline disdain” for the Constitution with his remarks. “I wish I could say I’m surprised by the latest calls to abolish the Electoral College – but I’m not. Democrats’ disregard – and borderline disdain – for the constitutional guardrails that safeguard our political system has lurked below the surface of their rhetoric for a long, long time,” said McConnell. WALZ SILENT ON SUPPORT FOR ELIMINATING THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AFTER HARRIS CAMP SAYS IT DOESN’T BACK BAN Beshear joins a growing number of Democrats who are in favor of the national popular vote determining the outcome of presidential elections, as opposed to the Electoral College system, which grants each state a number of electors who cast ballots for the president. There are 538 electors in total, which matches the number of federal representatives from each state. A candidate needs a majority of 270 electoral votes to win the White House. In 48 states, those electors are awarded to the winner of the state’s popular vote. But in Maine and Nebraska, electoral votes are awarded by congressional district. CNN DATA GURU SAYS THERE IS A 60% CHANCE THE ELECTION ENDS WITH AN ‘ELECTORAL COLLEGE BLOWOUT’ Opposition to the Electoral College has dramatically increased since Republican George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 but lost the popular vote to Democratic nominee Al Gore. Former President Trump likewise lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, even though he snagged the White House with an Electoral College win. Democrats argue these outcomes were unfair and did not reflect the will of the majority. Republicans argue that the Electoral College is a necessary restraint on majority rule that protects minority interests, particularly those of Americans who live in rural parts of the country. “No institution is too dear if it stands between a Democrat and their progressive ‘reforms’ to ‘preserve democracy’ – the standard euphemism for partisan power grabs on the Left. Those genuinely concerned about the future of our country should call for strengthening our constitutional guardrails, not obliterating them,” McConnell said Friday. “At its core, the Electoral College protects Americans from the whims of the majority, something I’m familiar with in the Senate. It’s what makes our democracy, and our sprawling nationwide elections, feasible. And it’s what compels presidents to govern nationally rather than pandering to the interests of New York and California. Without it, no presidential candidate would ever travel to a small state in Middle America, like Kentucky.” Representatives for Beshear did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Harvard, Northwestern failed Jewish students during college campus protests: House report
A new GOP-led antisemitism report revealed Harvard University refused to call Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel “violent,” and Northwestern University considered taking Sabra hummus off campus. The 365-page report summarized a yearlong investigation by the House Education and Workforce Committee, collected from more than 400,000 documents from 11 schools across the country into how they responded to a wave of pro-Palestinian protests in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. HARVARD FINISHES LAST IN NONPROFIT’S ‘FREE SPEECH’ RANKINGS OF 254 COLLEGES: ABYSMAL According to the report, while drafting a public statement to make after Oct. 7, Harvard University senior administrators edited out the word “violent” to describe the attack after a dean complained it “sounded like assigning blame.” They mulled whether to disavow a declaration put out by some student groups that Israel was responsible for the violence, but ultimately decided not to. Northwestern University President Michael Schill, who testified before the committee last spring, expressed an openness to removing Sabra hummus from campus to appease protesters. The report said Schill appointed anti-Israel faculty to negotiate with the students who camped outside in protest of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. One suggested removing the popular hummus brand. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FACES HATE CRIME, TERRORISM CHARGES IN SHOOTING OF JEWISH MAN IN CHICAGO “It’s a very sore spot for Palestinians because it’s an Israeli hummus brand that’s penetrated most college campuses,” he said in a text message. The provost responded, “I’m all for making a deal. Bargaining in action!” Another suggestion taken under consideration, according to the report, was hiring an anti-Zionist rabbi. However, Northwestern denied ever “seriously” considering boycotting any Israeli company. Schill also excluded Jewish members of his President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate, according to the report. The report also accused multiple schools of withholding support from Jewish students and found it to be intentional rather than negligent. “The Committee’s investigation found that in multiple cases, these failures came not from mere ignorance or lack of forethought, but rather from intentional decisions by university leaders not to provide their campuses’ Jewish communities the necessary support needed to ensure they felt safe to live on campus or attend classes,” the report read. ISRAEL’S STRIKE ON IRAN TOOK OUT MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC ‘IS ESSENTIALLY NAKED’ The report also discovered Harvard President Claudine Gay, who resigned after testifying on antisemitism before the committee and accusations of plagiarism, asked the university not to label the phrase “from the river to the sea” antisemitic, worried they would then have to discipline students who used it. At Columbia, the report revealed how administrators trying to bring an end to the pro-Gaza encampment considered making bigger concessions than they had previously let on, including proposals to divest from companies “complicit in violating international law” or that “manufacture certain categories of weapons” and partnering with a Palestinian university “where Hamas is active on campus.” The report also highlighted incidents when universities refused to punish students, including Columbia, which allowed some students to go without punishment after they took over Hamilton Hall. In a Dec. 10 board meeting, five days after Gay took the hot seat before the committee, she sharply criticized Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the House Republican conference chair whose sharp line of questioning led in part to Gay’s resignation. Gay told the board it was hard to have the university’s “moral core” called into question, “esp[ecially] by someone who is a purveyor of hate” and “supporter of Proudboys.” The GOP-led report concluded the universities likely violated Title VI and demanded universities enforce more accountability. “Our investigation has shown that these ‘leaders’ bear the responsibility for the chaos likely violating Title VI and threatening public safety. It is time for the executive branch to enforce the laws and ensure colleges and universities restore order and guarantee that all students have a safe learning environment,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. Northwestern, in a statement, objected to “unfair characterizations of our Provost and valued members of our faculty based on isolated and out-of-context communications” in the report. “The Republican Staff Report remains focused on events that were fully debated in the committee hearing last spring, and it ignores the hard work our community has put in since then to improve our policies and procedures.”
Key House projection spells trouble for two Republican lawmakers
Two House Republican lawmakers are in political trouble with Election Day just four days away, according to a new analysis. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report issued a ratings update late Friday morning projecting races for Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., to “lean Democrat.” They were both previously classified as “toss-up” races, meaning it was anyone’s game ahead of Nov. 5. Democrats and Republicans are battling for control of the House of Representatives, which is currently held by the GOP with a slim four-vote margin. MIKE JOHNSON KICKS OFF SWING-STATE TOUR AS GOP CLINGS TO HOUSE CONTROL Bacon and D’Esposito were widely considered two of the most vulnerable Republicans on the congressional map. They’re two of 16 House GOP lawmakers in seats that President Biden won in the 2020 race. Both also won their seats by defeating Democrats – Bacon winning against a Democratic incumbent in 2016 and D’Esposito scoring an open seat previously held by a liberal in 2022. D’Esposito’s district sits on the New York City suburb of Long Island. His victory was part of a wider backlash against the city’s progressive crime policies that was credited with delivering Republicans the House majority that year. JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’ But with the presidential race at stake this time, Democrats have worked to tie D’Esposito to former President Donald Trump, who D’Esposito endorsed for re-election but is still a divisive figure among suburban swing voters. House Democrats and aligned groups have also poured significant resources into Laura Gillen, who D’Esposito defeated in 2022. Democrats also see opportunity in Bacon’s Omaha-anchored district, considered by Cook to be the least Republican of ruby-red Nebraska’s congressional seats. HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, has won every re-election battle since his 2016 race by less than 3%. But he’s facing what could be his toughest race yet in Nebraska state legislator Tony Vargas – to whom House Democrats have also given enormous time, money and resources. Fox News Digital reached out to both GOP campaigns for comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Michigan Dem Slotkin leads as GOP aims to win 1st US Senate race in state since 1994: poll
Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin holds a 5% edge over former Rep. Mike Rogers in Michigan’s 2024 U.S. Senate contest, a poll indicates, according to the Detroit Free Press. The outlet, which reported that Slotkin leads Rogers 47%-42%, noted that the poll performed by EPIC-MRA has a plus or minus four percentage point margin of error, and that EPIC-MRA had contacted “600 randomly selected voters from” around Michigan for the survey. While 6% leaned in the direction of backing a third-party candidate, 4% remained undecided, declined to answer, or indicated they would not vote in the contest, according to the Free Press. HARRIS HOLDS NARROW LEAD OVER TRUMP IN ‘BLUE WALL’ STATES MICHIGAN, PENNSYLVANIA, WISCONSIN: POLL When former President Donald Trump endorsed Rogers in March prior to the August GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., fired off scathing criticism of Rogers. “Donald Trump just endorsed the worst Deep State candidate this cycle. @MikeRogersForMI is a never Trumper, and a card carrying member of the spy state that seeks to destroy Trump. You have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice? Who’s next, John Bolton?” Paul posted. “If he’s good with Mike Rogers (R-Deep State), maybe he should pick Liz Cheney for VP?” Paul added in another post. SLOTKIN SLAMS FELLOW DEM BIDEN FOR ‘GARBAGE’ GAFFE AMID HEATED SENATE BATTLE Paul backed former Rep. Justin Amash prior to the primary contest, but Rogers ultimately scored a decisive victory. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who has served in the Senate since 2001, announced last year that she would not seek another term. Michigan’s other senator, Gary Peters, is also a Democrat. I’M MIKE ROGERS: THIS IS WHY I WANT MICHIGAN’S VOTE FOR SENATE There has not been a Republican U.S. senator from the Wolverine State since Spencer Abraham, whose term ended in early 2001 after he lost to Stabenow in 2000.
Oregon ballot measure would tax big corporations more, return revenue as rebate to residents
Oregon voters will have the opportunity on Tuesday to vote on a first-in-the-nation ballot measure that would levy an additional tax on large corporations to be returned to the people as a basic-income “rebate.” The measure would increase the corporate minimum or corporate income tax by 3% on sales above $25 million, which in turn would provide the Beaver State’s 4 million people with an estimated $750 each, according to its chief proponent. Antonio Gisbert, a former neuroscientist-turned-organizer and one-time representative for AFSCME, is the chief petitioner of the ballot measure. He told OpenDemocracy in a recent interview, “$750 annually can be negligible or transformative depending on your privilege, income, and socioeconomic status.” Gisbert added a second review by the Oregon government estimated the levy would collect $7 billion and raise the rebate to $1,600-per-Oregonian. In other comments, Gisbert said the new program would greatly reduce poverty in the state. INGRAHAM: PORTLAND, OREGON IS AN EXAMPLE OF DEMOCRATS’ ‘RULE AND RUIN’ Lower-income residents could opt for a direct cash payment, according to another analysis. Gisbert told States Newsroom that big corporations should “pay their fair share.” “And when they do that, could you use about 1,600 bucks for yourself and every member of your household? Yeah. Fantastic. Vote yes.” The measure is supported by several left-wing entities, including the Oregon Progressive Party and the Pacific Green Party, but notably has bipartisan opposition. Oregon Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican, and Val Hoyle, a Democrat, joined Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, and top Oregon corporation Nike in that regard, according to several reports. “It is a tax so bad that even prominent Democrats stand with Republicans in rejecting it,” state House Minority Leader Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, told Willamette Week. FORMER TRUMP AIDE MAKES CASE FOR RED COUNTIES SEEKING BLUE-STATE SECESSION TO DO SO Kotek told the outlet that the ballot measure “may look good on paper” but predicted it would “punch a huge hole in the state budget” and risk essential services for the working families it seeks to help. Chavez-DeRemer said in August the new tax-and-rebate would cause statewide inflation and would be “the last thing our state needs right now.” “Join me in Voting no on Measure 118,” she said. In its own analysis, the Tax Foundation railed against the proposal, calculating that with the minimum gross-receipts tax of 3%, a qualifying company with profits running at 7% would face an effective 42% corporate income tax. The only other state with anything remotely similar to the tax-to-rebate program is Alaska, which Gisbert cited in wanting to provide Oregonians a similar return. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP For more than 40 years, Juneau has paid Alaskans a dividend of the state’s revenue from oil and energy production. However, Alaska’s dividend is not an additional levy on the oil industry, but a slice of the state’s standardized revenue returned to the people. The lowest annual dividend was $386 in 1982 and the highest was $3,284 under Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2022. Dunleavy has pushed for higher dividends for Alaskans while lambasting the federal government for continuing to attack oil and gas exploration in the Last Frontier, and thereby risking the dividend. “President Biden is searching for oil anywhere on the planet except at home,” he told Fox News Digital in a prior interview.
Montana to probe nation’s leading pediatrics group for claim puberty blockers are ‘reversible’
FIRST ON FOX: Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is launching an investigation into a leading pediatrics organization over its “gender-affirming” care policy statement that claims treating children with puberty blockers is reversible. The civil investigative demand (CID) comes a little over a month since attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah sent a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), accusing the organization of abandoning “its commitment to sound medical judgment.” “Puberty blockers can have serious and irreversible consequences for children, but AAP appears to ignore those consequences and instead promotes them as ‘reversible’. That’s unacceptable and could be a violation of Montana law,” Knudsen told Fox News Digital in a statement. ADVOCATE FOR ‘GENDER AFFIRMING CARE’ FOR PRISONERS NAMED BY AG GARLAND TO CORRECTIONS ADVISORY BOARD “The information AAP provides must be accurate and based in scientific fact as parents and medical professionals rely on them for guidance in making healthcare decisions for children,” the AG added. The 2018 AAP policy states that “Gonadotrophin-releasing hormones have been used to delay puberty since the 1980s for central precocious puberty.” “These reversible treatments can also be used in adolescents who experience gender dysphoria to prevent development of secondary sex characteristics and provide time up until 16 years of age for the individual and the family to explore gender identity, access psychosocial supports, develop coping skills, and further define appropriate treatment goals,” the statement reads. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues are the most widely used class of drugs for puberty blocking. Regular use of these puberty blockers prevents the body from producing testosterone and estrogen. ‘ABUSIVE’: PEDIATRICIAN GROUP’S SUPPORT FOR TRANS THERAPIES REBUKED BY STATE AGS Among the demands in the CID, Knudsen seeks all documents related to the AAP’s 2018 Policy Statement on transgender medical care, including communications regarding its impact on AAP products. The office is also asking for records connected to the pause on the publication of “Pediatric Collections: Gender-Affirming Care,” pending a review of the 2018 policy. Additionally, Knudsen is seeking details about the review process for the 2018 policy, including the individuals involved. The investigation seeks to clarify the AAP’s decision-making processes and its interactions with stakeholders regarding input on policy reviews. The AAP will also be required to respond to a September letter from attorneys general across the country that called on the organization to rescind its support for transgender medical care – such as puberty blockers and surgeries – on children. Last year, the AAP recommitted its pledge to support so-called “gender-affirming care” and expanded its guidelines for pediatricians to “ensure young people get the reproductive and gender-affirming care they need and are seen, heard and valued as they are,” AAP CEO Mark Del Monte said at the time. “The AAP opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship,” the AAP wrote in a news release. ‘SCARED’ AND ‘TRAUMATIZED’: WALZ’S SUPPORT FOR TRANS WOMEN IN MINNESOTA WOMEN’S PRISON ‘ENDANGERING’ INMATES AAP has published several reports on reaffirming transgender youth in their preferred gender identities. In January, the AAP published a report titled, “Prohibition of Gender-Affirming Care as a Form of Child Maltreatment: Reframing the Discussion,” which claimed many bills aimed at restricting transgender treatments for children lead to poor mental health. The AAP, along with prominent medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the World Health Organization, advocates for providing transgender treatments to minors. Knudsen’s letter comes as transgender surgical procedures and hormone treatments for children has become a culture war issue in the 2024 election. According to unsealed documents published over the summer, health officials in the Biden administration successfully pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to omit the age limit in its guidelines for transgender surgical procedures for adolescents. Fox News Digital has reached out to the AAP for comment.
Another terrorist attack in J-K, militants shoot two non-locals in Budgam
According to official sources, both the injured were immediately taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Their condition was said to be stable.
Republicans are running a ‘successful’ early voting campaign in battleground North Carolina: NRCC chair
Republicans are running an intensive, “all-hands on deck” operation to get out the vote in North Carolina, targeting low-propensity voters in the battleground state recently impacted by a disastrous hurricane, says the chair of the Republican campaign arm. Rep. Richard Hudson chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and represents North Carolina’s 8th congressional district. He spoke with Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview on GOP efforts to ramp up early voting in the state this cycle. “As more of our traditional voters vote, then that lets us spend our resources focused on adding more voters to the rolls or to the tally sheet and then turning them out. So it’s all hands on deck. The party’s bought into it. All our candidates are pushing it. And so far it’s been very successful,” Hudson said. North Carolina saw record turnout on the first day of early voting in the state, Oct. 17, when 353,000 registered voters cast their ballots. DEMS NEED TO RAMP UP EARLY VOTING EFFORTS TO MATCH GOP MOMENTUM IN NORTH CAROLINA: ANALYST “Certainly here in North Carolina, we’re seeing record turnout for Republicans,” he added. “And that’s good. That allows us to target lower propensity voters with our turnout efforts as we get closer to Election Day and on Election Day. And so I think it’s going to be a difference maker.” Republicans have put an emphasis on encouraging voters to vote early this year after seeing lower early turnout for the party compared to Democrats last cycle. As of Friday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections reported that Republicans are leading Democrats in early voting, 55% to 51%. BATTLEGROUND STATE VOTING DATA REVEALS OVER 200K VOTES CAST IN RED COUNTIES IMPACTED BY HURRICANE “It’s a culture change. Republicans are now really focused on early voting. We’ve done voter contact by knocking on people’s doors, calling them on telephones. We’ve done it through the mail, through digital contact.” Hurricane Helene had a severe impact on the state, specifically across western red counties which historically vote Republican. Despite the storm, there have been successful efforts to ensure voting access for those in the impacted western counties across the state. “It’s been a real challenge, but our state legislature, I think, did the right thing and passed a law that said if you live in one of those 25 counties that were affected by the hurricane, you can vote in any of our counties,” Hudson said. The North Carolina Elections Board passed a bipartisan emergency resolution that reformed the state’s early voting process in 13 counties, including changing or adding voting sites and maintaining their availability, extending the hours and adding or reducing when any site is open within the early voting period, according to the election board. Despite roadblocks to early voting, the North Carolina Board of Elections reported that Tuesday’s voter turnout in the 25 western counties affected by recent events is surpassing the statewide average. “I know a lot of folks are staying with relatives in other parts of the state. This will allow them to cast their votes. There’s also been an effort to add voting locations in those areas and to try to help people access those. There also was concern about absentee ballots being lost. And so we’re trying to help get new ballots to folks that need them,” Hudson told Fox. “There’s an all-hands on deck effort. But it’s a challenge because there’s a lot of communities that are still cut off, a lot of people who are still missing. And it’s just a real tragedy that it really is a lot more important than some of the other things.” As of Friday, about 49.32% of ballots were already cast in North Carolina for the 2024 election. In-person early voting in North Carolina ends on Saturday, Nov. 2.