Our Ground Game newsletter editors asked AP’s political reporters across the country who have been covering the midterm elections to pick the top story they’ve worked on this year and take stock of what made it memorable.
Here’s what Atlanta-based national politics reporter Bill Barrow had to say about covering the North Carolina Senate race:
“In the spring, I spent several days in North Carolina. The initial goal was to assess the crucial Senate contest between Republican Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked candidate, and Democrat Roy Cooper, the former governor who’s never lost an election.
Although I saw both candidates in action, I found my conversations with voters even more illuminating. Most notable was Evan Duke, a bartender in Raleigh who said he was glad to have his tips exempted from federal income taxes and knew that was part of Republicans’ 2025 tax law. But he also noted inflation’s rippling effects, like higher prices for gas and other goods because of the Iran war and tariffs. Health care and housing costs also continued to outpace wage increases.
In short, he wasn’t buying Trump’s rhetoric about his tax legislation or the booming economy, yet he wasn’t quite ready to say he’d vote for Cooper.
Evan and others helped me document the national fault lines, and they foreshadowed how hard it has been for Republicans – with control of the White House, House and Senate – to convince voters that tax cuts define their overall economic circumstances.”
