For WIDER GRAPHICS: https://theweathercontinues.blogspot.com/2026/11/my-huge-apologies-to-lauren-collins-who.html
I MISSED the first time Lauren Collins spoke in Wilmington -- because I didn't know about it until AFTERWARD, but several weeks ago, I secured a ticket to see Lauren in Kenan Auditorium at UNCW LAST NIGHT -- only having to call them at the last minute to give back my free ticket -- because my DIABETIC ULCER (after several healed, I have only one left -- but it has GROWN in size and discharge lately), would be HUGELY IRRITATED if I walked as much as necessary attending the performance.
And that is not ALL I missed because of that ulcer!!! Also the Fall Spofford Neighborhood Picnic, and I'm PROBABLY going to have to miss the 2026 Wilmington Library Cape Fear Book Festival WRITE ON!!! -- free lectures on Saturday, November 27, 2026:
>>> OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE TO ME IS CATCHING BACK UP WITH MICHAEL FAUSS, whom I'd been out of touch with for YEARS!!!
I will try to call him as soon as I complete getting this Blog Posting out.
I had gotten so exhausted exposing corruption and battling TRAITOROUS CHRISTIANS and non-Christians inside and out of the US GOVERNMENT, that ONLY the energy of being back in touch with someone with Michael's LOVE, INTEGRITY, GOOD HUMOR, and CREATIVITY allowed me to carry on -- and SO MUCH still got neglected -- because I PUNISHED MYSELF continuing to overload -- and then I loaded on TONS OF GUILT ABOUT IT, TOO!!!
I had OVERLOADED MYSELF with projects that I thought ONLY I could handle, but the recent Election PROVED that many others were as effective as I, and I could relax now -- I had done my part in priming the pump -- and GOD'S LOVE was gushing forth, warming and changing the hearts of the living -- as Trump and MAGA shrank like the Wicked Witch of the West from water!!!
ADDITIONALLY, although I've always believed that SELF-CONTROL is the only way a person should lose weight, I continue to be unable to lose weight, so it appears I can now get Wegovy for $50.00/month -- which I could handle (surely, I'd spend $25.00 less per month on food, so at a cost to me of $25.00/month).
I discussed this with my sister Jane and my brother Mike last night, and they BOTH said I should do it. They know people who have lost between 25 and 80 pounds from using it -- and no one has had side effects.
Losing 20 pounds would guarantee my Diabetic Ulcer would HEAL AND STAY HEALED!!!
TOMORROW, I see my foot doctor, and I am eager to see what he thinks about this. I've already gotten a "HANDICAPPED" hanger for parking my car, and a Rollator to get around on -- as long as MY FEET HOLD UP!!!
>>> FINALLY, LET ME ALSO SAY:
1. I discovered that the Mayor of Cape May, New Jersey -- where I was in business 1974 - 1978 -- in https://whalestale.com/
Above is Sen. Cory Booker (campaigning); and this is Mayor Zachary Mullock:
Zack Mullock with his wife Justine Mullock and their three children: Bobby, Tallulah, and James
Anyway, Zack had never joined a Political Party until he decided to run for US Congress, and he chose to be a Democrat!!! Now, THAT is MY TYPE OF A MAN!!!
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/mullock-flipped-21-towns-van-drew-won-in-2024-to-capture-nj-2/
2. Randy Jones, of the Village People (whom I've known since they ate all the time in TUX: DELI * BAKERY * BAR that I managed in Key West in 1981), today posted a "LOVE" when I posted this dancing HIM on my Facebook Feed -- important because he is from Raleigh, and had been good friends with MY FRIEND Ryan Lee Burris, 3rd Vice Chair of New Hanover County Democrats -- but died of a Drug Overdose on November 17, 2018.
Randy got PISSED that I blogged the TRUTH -- but it looks like he's OK with that now!!!
Ryan Lee Burris and his fiancé, Wes Taylor
3.
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I doubted Jill Hopman when we first met, years ago, and LOVED ROB ZAPPLE , the first local Politician I met when I moved to Wilmington in 2015 -- at a Julia Olson-Boseman fundraiser!!!
What the F happened to THAT crazy nut???
But Jill Hopman has been proven CORRECT, and I know where ALL THE SKELETONS are in now-Repub Ed McMahon's closet . We could get him ARRESTED, if a Prosecutor could be found with the balls to take him on!!! (I also know all the skeletons in former D.A. Benjamin R. David's and his twin D.A. Jon David's closets).
I promised Jackie Kennedy Onassis at a party in 1982 when I first met her, that I would eventually get her and JFK's REVENGE -- so I remain at your TOTAL SERVICE!!!
Dear Voters of New Hanover County,
In August, I ended my Unity Banquet speech with a promise: the NHCDP’s last trick of 2026 would be to “finally, magically turn New Hanover County from purple to blue.” On Tuesday night, we put on the show of a lifetime—and we could not have done it without all of you.
WE MADE REPUBLICANS VANISH
Democrats won every contested race on our ballot except HD19, which we lost by 41 votes. Dr. Le Shonda Wallace became the first Black woman ever elected to the County Commission. After the School Board eliminated DEI policies, Jerry Jones and Brittnei LaRue ran for office and took their jobs, becoming the first two Black candidates ever elected to the same office at the same time in New Hanover County history. (May we please never hear about one-shot voting again).
The margins were stunning. Governor Roy Cooper carried the county by over 23,000 votes, when every top-of-the-ticket race for the past decade was decided by under 5,000. In 2024, we lost CD7 by ~5,900 votes, but Dr. Kimberly Hardy just won here by more than 12,000, a blue shift of nearly 18,000 votes in one cycle. We elected our first Democratic Clerk of Court, Jennie Thomason, in 36 years (it horrifies me that 1990 is also when Beverly Hills 90210 premiered, and yes, my closet was plastered with Luke Perry posters). And Senator-Elect Jessica Bichler finally made Michael Lee disappear!
We flipped the NC House, where Deb Butler - NC House District 18, with over 70% of the vote, is now levitating into leadership. We flipped School Board, with Jerry, Brittnei, and Margie for NHC all winning by ~10K vote margins. We flipped Commission, which would have been impossible without (soon-to-be!) Chair Rob Zapple and Vice Chair Steph Walker, who helped recruit LeShonda and worked tirelessly to prepare candidates across the ballot. (Our three Commissioners have already drafted a strategic plan together, and it made me cry happy tears). We even flipped non-partisan Soil & Water behind Dr. Kelly McConnell and Cate Calson, the first Democratic slate we’ve ever run.
We swept the judicial ballot, with Faison For Judge, Judge Melinda Crouch, and Judge-Elect Katie Corpening proving that we can hold District Court even against Pender’s red abyss, and with Kelly Hanley for Judge delivering the biggest upset of the night. We pulled so many rabbits out of our hats that Tim Merrick, who is likely going to win HD20 by fewer than 100 votes, had to lend us a few of his.
EARLY VOTE HOCUS POCUS
Heading into Election Day, I estimated that our county candidates held a lead of ~6,800 to 9,800 votes, a deficit Republicans would not erase. I triple-checked that math, fingertips hovering over the keyboard, refusing to type “9,800.” It just felt…wildly too high, like I was daring the electoral gods to prove me wrong. But math is math, and it turns out I wasn’t optimistic enough.
My brain melted when the early vote totals came in, with our candidates ahead by 10,000 to 20,000 votes. In all, 103,266 people voted, a 54.1% turnout that beat both 2018 and 2022, and about two-thirds of them voted early or by mail. I hoped Election Day would stay under 35,000 votes, and it did; many registered Republicans simply stayed home.
Reality outdazzled every prediction. Black voter turnout rose by more than 9 points over 2022. Youth turnout surged by 50%. UNA early voters broke our way on a dreamy two-to-one basis. When I first became chair, I was asked, “why are we inviting UNAs into our party if they don’t have a ‘D’ next to their name?” My answer was: because they fucking vote. In 2026, we owe every single win to them. In the last midterm, we lost 14 of 18 contested races. This year, we won 23 of 24. In fact, since 2023, the NHCDP has won a staggering 78% of all contested elections.
No race fascinated me more than HD20, where a blue wave crashed into a red gerrymander and washed it away. In mid-2025, when I learned Commissioner Scalise was moving into the district, I called the two people who I knew would outwork him: Tim and Rachel Hatfield. For the first time in over a decade, HD20 voters had an open seat and a real choice, and we needed a candidate who would have tough conversations with all of them. This was a true coin flip, decided by who showed up on Election Day and the exact UNA split. Could an elite ground game outrun a mountain of cash and commercials? Would an early vote lead of ~2,900, roughly 1,000 more than expected, be enough to win a seat we lost by ~6,600 only two years ago? Tim knocked on more doors than any House candidate in the state, and in the end, every single one of them mattered.
ELECTORAL HALL OF MIRRORS
Three races remain within 1% and are likely headed for recounts: Tim Merrick in HD20, Kim Hardy in CD7, and Kelly Hanley in Superior Court 6B. Nothing is final until Friday’s canvass, when the Board of Elections adds the remaining provisional, military, overseas, and cured ballots. Provisionals rarely break hard for either side, and many will be rejected for lack of registration. The numbers will shift, but I believe Tim and Kelly will still be ahead when the results are certified.
Dr. Hardy ran a phenomenal race across eight counties, but she has a steeper climb in CD7. She is down by an exasperating ~2,400 votes district-wide, or about 13 votes/precinct. If the DCCC had invested anything at all (one mailer, one week of TV, one paid organizer, one major surrogate), she would have won. If our NCDP Regional Organizing Director had spent the last two years rebuilding the weaker county parties, she would have won. If the Coordinated Campaign had elevated her race like it did for others, she would have won. I am heartbroken (and rooting) for her. But she has promised me, as she told Port City Daily, that if she cannot rescue enough ballots now, then we will spend the next two years earning those 2,400 votes and beat No-Show Rouzer in 2028.
My biggest regret is that we did not field candidates for Sheriff or District Attorney, and I am already working to build a law-enforcement bench for the future. We had a fantastic potential sheriff who would have won in a landslide, but he backed out days before the filing deadline. No qualified attorney was willing to risk their career by challenging the DA. But hell, with our turnout margins, we could have had Sheriff Elli Klein and District Attorney EJ Hanley (since we know she loves asking tough questions) right now—basically the greatest season of Law & Order ever.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
People keep asking me how the NHCDP pulled this off. A magician never reveals her secrets, but I will share this one: strong candidates and all of you. I cannot thank you enough for showing up to vote and demanding a better, brighter, bluer direction for our community.
Thank you to every UNA voter who took a chance on us and to every community partner who persuaded them to do it. Carolina Federation, Indivisible Wilmington NC, Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic, Cape Fear Sierra Club, SE NORTH CAROLINA WOMEN FORWARD, NHC Educational Justice, Carolina Forward, the North Carolina Democratic Party, and so many other groups helped us reach over 100,000 left-leaning voters. And Black voter turnout increased because leaders like LeRon Montgomery, Spero Pekatos, and Lisa Espy focused on it all year.
Thank you to our extraordinary candidates, who worked so hard: in the rain, all over the county, at multiple events per day, on the phone, and at individual doors. I spent all of 2025 searching for quality people to fill our ballot, and this was a truly special group. (Stay tuned, because I already recruited our Commission ticket for 2028, and it may be even stronger than this one).
Thank you to our precinct officers, volunteers, office staff, canvassers, phone bankers, postcard writers, poll greeters, affiliated organization leaders, and donors. There are too many incredible people to name, but a huge hug to: Sally Meserole and Rosemary Schmitt for overseeing our critical Early Vote operation; Wendy Hunt and her voter-protection team of inside and at-large observers for ensuring that every eligible vote counts; Robert Zaytoun, Mayor Bill Saffo, Louise and Steve Coggins, and every donor who invested in the NHCDP like never before and gave us the financial freedom to swing for the fences; and our election workers and BOE staff for keeping democracy afloat under pressure the public will never see.
Thank you to our NHCDP officers, including financial wizard Misty Tullar, who navigated record donations and paid staff; Secretary and UNCW College Democrats President Simeon Cole, who helped turn out so many new young voters; Third Vice Chair Beth Hanff, who co-chaired the most-successful event in NHCDP history; Second Vice Chair Matt Alfonso, who organized all our precincts, led our phone banks, and oversaw yard-sign removal; and of course, Rachel, our irreplaceable First Vice Chair, who designed another field and comms plan that blew local Republicans out of the water, while pulling off a meticulous Hail Mary in HD20.
And finally, thank you to the New Hanover County GOP. Republicans could have approached the midterms with a simple, if misleading, message: we lowered your taxes (to an irresponsible and unsustainable degree), we modestly improved public schools (while banning your books), and we protected green space (despite selling the county to developers)—you’re welcome, everyone! But somewhere along the way, the party lost the plot. They ignored the affordability crisis to fight culture wars, fearmonger over socialism, and promote sure-loser Whatley at the expense of strong local candidates like LeAnn Pierce. They spent millions on boring TV ads and scare-tactic mailers instead of directly engaging voters. They embraced the extremist Bradfords and shunned the purple Suttons. Elections are a math problem. The point is to make the tent bigger. Not to turn up the volume in a self-righteous echo chamber for only a fraction of the public (who already vote Republican). The only thing more incompetent than their 2026 campaign would be to blame the losses on a wave.
In the end, a wave helped Democrats break the gerrymander and pull off some upsets, but it did not turn New Hanover County blue. You did. You built the stage on which the whole show was performed. You turned fellow voters into believers. You didn’t just make Republicans disappear; you made history. So please take a well-deserved bow; you have earned every second of the applause. And then let’s get back to work—because Tuesday was only the opening act. The real magic is in keeping the promises that got us here.
With endless gratitude, pride, and awe,
Jill Hopman
Chair
4.
Mark Robinson, former Lt. Gov. of North Carolina and 2024 losing Republican candidate for Governor, just this week, filed for BANKRUPTCY!!!
It's now too late for me to call Michael Fauss tonight . . .
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