Wow.

Nearly 4%, which was pretty high for a Libertarian candidate, I think because he had this quirky style that got him a lot of attention.

And because Libertarians, you know, the, the, uh, issue set that they have doesn't exclusively pull from Democrats or Republicans.

Uh, I think it, a, a lot of studies have shown they, they pull a little bit from both parties.

I don't think we'll ever know if Sean Haw had not been a candidate in 2014, would we have US Senator Thom Tillis representing North Carolina for the following 12 years? Um, or would Kay Hagan have eked out a narrow victory that year with- without Haw on the ballot? It's a, it's a fun debate.

People have opinions about it, and I don't think we'll ever know the real answer to that question.

So why do you think voices like Sean are important in the discourse? Or are they important?

Uh, I, I think they are, because when you see a state where more and more people are choosing to register unaffiliate, I think there's a certain level of discontent with the two major political parties in, in North Carolina and across the country, and it's hard for any of the, you know, third parties that come along to sort of break through and get to the point where people are seriously considering voting for a candidate who might not have a shot at winning under a two-party system.

Yeah, all the utilities, all electric, all septics, have all been compromised.

It's just mind boggling to see houses that are, are pretty much in the waves, not even at high tide, not even during a storm.

It looks almost post-apocalyptic, um, and certainly not a place that you'd necessarily wanna go on your family beach vacation because there's just not much beach to speak of.

These homes really, really looked precarious.

I think at that point everyone knew, including the homeowners, that these homes are still standing now, but they're not gonna last much longer.

They're so far in the waves, there's really nothing that can be done, you know, once they're more or less in the ocean, to stabilize them.

And some of these houses that I was taking pictures and videos of as I toured the, the oceanfront, I probably took the last photos of these houses standing.

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W- what happens after these are approved, if they're approved?

Yeah, so for the two that, um, are, are fairly straightforward where you, you have a implementing bill, but it's pretty straightforward with the tax cap on the income side.

You know what that number's gonna be.

A- as I mentioned earlier, the voter ID thing is already in state law, so this is just codifying it in the Constitution.

The property tax one is the tricky one because there's really no information that's been provided on exactly what these restrictions would look like, and that's gonna be up to the legislature.

Uh, they might do that after the election in November.

They might wait until next year to do that.

Yeah

Where does this race stand?

Yeah, so, uh, this is a race where we were expecting it to be a lot tighter than it has been, at least in the polls that we've seen.

Um, that lead that, uh, Governor Roy Cooper had hasn't really changed a whole lot over the last few months, and we sort of expected it to, to tighten up, but this is the first we're seeing of President Trump and really any of the high-ranking members of his administration actually coming to North Carolina, uh, to campaign with Whatley.

So we'll certainly see if, if that helps boost him among Republicans.

But the president's approval ratings in North Carolina are kind of the worst that they've been, and this is the case for, for many other states as well.

So, uh, whether this helps him with swing voters, uh, sort of remains to be seen, but certainly energizes the Republican base to have, uh, Trump here in North Carolina.

If you had to pick one or two key issues in this Senate race in North Carolina, what would they be?

I think affordability is probably the top one.

Where does this race stand?

Yeah, so this is a race where we were expecting it to be a lot tighter than it has been, at least in the polls that we've seen.

That lead that Governor Roy Cooper had hasn't really changed a whole lot over the last few months, and we sort of expected it to tighten up.

But this is the first we're seeing of President Trump and really any of the high-ranking members of his administration actually coming to North Carolina to campaign with Watley.

So we'll certainly see if that helps boost him among Republicans.

But the president's approval ratings in North Carolina are kind of the worst that they've been, and this is the case for many other states as well.

So whether this helps him with swing voters sort of remains to be seen, but certainly energizes the Republican base to have Trump here in North Carolina.

If you had to pick one or two key issues in this Senate race in North Carolina, what would they be?