- Hi, I'm Marc Rotterman.

Coming up on Front Row, the midterm elections kicking the high gear, the latest on Medicaid expansion and parents of fentanyl victims rally in DC.

Next.

- [Announcer] Major funding for Front Row with Marc Rotterman is provided by Robert L. Luddy.

Additional funding provided by Patricia and Koo Yuen through the Yuen Foundation.

Committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

And by, [upbeat music] funding for the lightning round provided by Nicholas B. and Lucy Mayo Boddie Foundation, A.E.

Finley Foundation, NC Realtors, Rifenburg Construction, Stephen Gleason.

A complete list of funders can be found at pbsnc.org/frontrow.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome back, joining the conversation Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation, Morgan Jackson chief political strategist for governor Roy Cooper, Democratic state Senator Jay Chaudhuri, and Donna King with Carolina Journal.

Mitch, why don't we begin with your take on the midterms?

- Well, of course from a national perspective the big decision is going to be who to vote for for Senate and US House.

And the ultimate decision will be who will decide or who will control those chambers in 2023 after the election.

Right now Democrats control both the Senate and the house, and the historical trend has been that the first midterm election for a new presidential administration tends to be bad for the president's party which would mean bad for the Democrats in this case.

And earlier this year, there was a lot of talk about a big red wave and perhaps that Republicans would get huge margins in the house and take over the Senate again, that has changed in recent weeks and months, not only because of the Dobbs decision, but that's been one factor that has helped sway things a little bit more in the Democrats direction.

I think at this point, a lot of the political observers still think Republicans will probably take over the US House and have probably not a huge majority, but at least some sort of working margin.

And then there will be a lot of eyes on what happens with the Senate.

- There's a lot of tossups in the house [indistinct].

- A lot of tossups and it could go either way, it's not guaranteed that Republicans will win there is a path for the Democrats to maintain a small margin on the Senate side that's where the real action is at this point, right now of course, it's 50, 50 with Democrats controlling it because they have the tie raking vote from Vice President Harris.

And at this point, there are some true tossup races.

If the Republicans can swing enough seats to get a majority, they will but we certainly are seeing sub tossup races in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania.

There are also some races that you would think Republicans should win but they have open seats like right here in North Carolina and in Ohio, we've also seen that the Wisconsin race has been very close.

So it's going to be very interesting to see what will happen on this.

I don't think anyone has a great prediction one way or the other, some people are saying slight Republican advantage, some are saying slight democratic advantage.

Anyone who tells you that they know exactly what's happening is lying.

- What are the top tier issues in your view, in the midterms?

- Well first of all, let's set the stage, midterms are about motivation.

- [Marc] Right.

- The party that wins the midterms is the party that's most motivated.

And what we've seen in traditionally years is that... - [Marc] Intensity.

- Intensity but anger drives that motivation.

It's not hope, it's not joy, it's anger.

And as Mitch said for much of the year Republicans have had that advantage and I think a lot of that had changed after the Dobbs decision that was very transformative on this election cycle.

I think the number 50, 50 as he talks about being the Senate, that's also the chances 50, 50 of who wins the US Senate.

- [Marc] It's a jump ball.

- It is a jump ball.

You've got very tight races for Republican incumbents in places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, for democratic incumbents in... - Well it's an open seat in Pennsylvania.

- Well it's open.

- Yeah.

- But it is a Republican held seat.

- Right, you're right about it.

- So I'm sorry, what I meant.

But you also have tight races in Arizona, Nevada.

You've got a real jump ball here in North Carolina, and then we go to Georgia and listen guys, we could be in a place, you have to remember Georgia has that interesting rule that unless the candidate gets 50% it goes to a runoff and there's a real chance we could be at a place like we were in 2020 where the US Senate is decided by Georgia runoff in December.

And so it'll be fascinating the way that plays out, but in North Carolina, this race is basically dead even and as we head into the home stretch.

All these races are gonna be really close.

Again.

- [Marc] Okay.

- Who has most motivated we'll win.

- Donna you're covering the Budd, Beasley race, how do you see it?

- Well, I think that the biggest thing is when we're talking about the issues that are core to voters and they are 60% in an NBC poll this week said that the cost of living, inflation, that those are the number one issues as voters head to the polls and Budd and Beasley that's no exception.

I think one of the interesting things about this is that Budd has leaned in heavily to his Trump endorsement and he's, you know, found a base there that Trump won North Carolina twice, and he is trying to really capitalize on that Friday being a big save America rally out in Wilmington, but Beasley of course, following a national Democrats and focusing on the Dobbs decision, but will inflation drive it and Ted Budd?

If so then Ted Budd might have the edge.

- Jay wrap this up in about 40 seconds my friend.

- Well, look, I think typically the party that holds the White House is the one that's penalized.

I think this is a choice election outta referendum that we're seeing and that's because the Republicans are running towards Donald Trump and MAGA as Donna talked about.

And the, you know, the voters have rejected the MAGA type politics twice in a row.

I mean I think... - What are the top tier issues in your view?

- Well, I... - Is inflation the top tier issue.

- I think inflation is a top tier issue.

- [Marc] Immigration, crime.

- But I think abortion is a real important issue and I think it's rising up and competing with inflation.

I mean, I think Morgan talked about motivating the base and we're seeing that.

I mean, Democrats have gained four to five points, Biden's approval ratings have increased and I think the Republican coalition has frankly fallen apart.

- Okay, we gotta move.

I'm coming right back to you, Medicaid expansion got a lot of ink this week.

- It did this past Tuesday Republican Senate leader Phil Berger reiterated his opposition to actually the North Carolina hospital proposal on certificate of need regulations in under the so-called CON laws if hospitals want to add such services such as an operating room or more beds, they have to ask the state permission.

The CON law supporters argue that such regulations prevent outside hospitals from setting up in the state and saturating the markets.

They also believe that it keeps costs lower because you have duplicative services.

Those that oppose the CON laws like our friends from the John Locke Foundation, believe that CON prevents competition and competition is good they argue that it can bring the cost down.

But regardless Senator Burger outright rejected the hospital compromise that would have removed the state from approving new psychiatric beds and some outpatient surgery, operating rooms.

He said they weren't even close.

But to your point, Marc, putting this in the broader perspective, because we don't have CON reform, this has been tied to Medicaid expansion.

And as long as CON remains unresolved we're likely not to have an expansion Medicaid either.

- This is gonna happen in December though, after the election, you think?

- I think that's the best shot is in December.

Listen, this is about economics at this point.

Every month that North Carolina doesn't expand Medicaid, it costs the state $500 million.

That's what it costs us every single month.

These are tax dollars by the way, that we've sent to the federal government that are going to other states.

Expanding Medicaid, not only will it help ensure over a half a million people who are in the coverage gap right now, but it'll bring $8 billion a year to North Carolina.

Roy Cooper, the Governor, wants Medicaid expansion.

We've heard Republicans in the general assembly are in agreement now to expand Medicaid.

If you look at polls, voters of both parties overwhelmingly support- - When they're actually talking, are they negotiating in the press at this point?

- You know, I think that's been the challenge with the Hospital Association offer is, it was a negotiation through the press.

That's not the way to get something done.

I think as Jay mentioned, where Berger and the Senate is on CON reform on what I think is much needed a competition where we need.

And especially in urban areas when, try to have surgery and figure out how long it takes these days if you live in at Raleigh or Charlotte.

But you've gotta find a deal.

And they're too far apart right now - Donna, weight in here.

- Sure.

So, you know, the deal that they offered that the proposal that the Hospital's Healthcare Association, the hospitals, offered to leadership in the general assembly was, you know, they, it was presented like an olive branch but I think Berger said it was more of a twig.

Didn't quite meet what the requirements that they want- - Basically called it a PR stunt, right?

- He did.

He did.

And I think a lot of that is because it came through the media.

One of the things that I think were, really the reason that CON laws need to be revamped is because when you add almost a million people, 600, 700,000 people to Medicaid, and they can't get an appointment because there are so few resources available.

So few appointments available, that card is only as good as paper it's on.

Insurance means nothing if you can't get treatment.

And that's what they're saying, and hospitals say we're gonna lose too much money if there's competition in the marketplace.

But you know, that's the way we operate.

- Mitch, 40 seconds left, put this in context.

- Well, I say once again, that the thing that amuses me as someone who works with an organization that has opposed Medicaid expansion, is that it seems that the main item that's holding up Medicaid expansion is reform of Certificate of Need, which is something we've been pushing for since long before anyone even knew what a Certificate of Need was.

I think Morgan is right.

That if something's gonna happen this year, it's gonna happen in December if it happens at all.

It seems as if house speaker Tim Moore thinks that there's a likelihood of something happening.

Senator Phil Berger has signaled that perhaps, perhaps something could happen, but it might hold over to 2025.

- Okay.

I wanna talk about the fentanyl crisis Donna, and some people are calling this America's second pandemic.

- Absolutely.

Well, right now, fentanyl poisoning is the leading cause of death among young people.

That happened recently.

Past car accidents, past, you know, a lot of what we think of.

And parents, a big group from North Carolina, and parents from all over the country rallied in Washington, DC this week.

Went door to door in lawmaker's offices in Capitol Hill and tried to make their point known.

They carried obituaries with them.

They talked about what fentanyl poisoning is doing to this country.

We've had a hundred thousand deaths.

It's you know, doubling each year over the last several years.

And it's creating a crisis, an epidemic crisis that's killing America's young people.

And in many cases, it's folks who don't even realize what they're taking.

And it's because it's come, it's manufactured in China.

The raw ingredients are manufactured in China and it is being brought through the Southern border.

And it's ending up on our streets and it's killing our kids.

And there's a new one coming out too.

And it's called nitrazine.

That's a new one that's supposed to be four times stronger than fentanyl.

So this is really just beginning and it is becoming, somehow it's becoming politicized and it's killing America's teenagers and America's kids.

- That's a really good point because I don't see any bipartisanship.

And I think Mitch, that cartels really do have control over the border at this point.

- You could certainly make that argument.

And one of the points of the people who are trying to raise the awareness of fentanyl is perhaps making sure that these drug cartels are treated as terrorist organizations.

That's an item that's on the table.

- The families want that.

And so do the border governors.

- The families have called for that.

We know that there has been an executive order in Texas from governor Greg Abbott there, treating the drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

Also, there's a push to declare this drug fentanyl to be a weapon of mass destruction which I think would strike a lot of people as an odd idea.

But if you look at just how many people it's killing, it becomes less odd of a concept.

- Morgan, only 34% of Americans think that Biden's doing a good job on the border.

Is that a liability coming up in the midterms?

- Listen, I think the border's - there's no question the border's a challenge.

The border's been a challenge for 20 years and - Yeah, but, but there's only 480,000 folks crossing in 2020.

There's 2 million now.

And they're estimated that there's gonna be 5 million people by the end of his term.

That's the size of Los Angeles.

- Well, let's look at it back on the drug overdose please.

- Okay.

- And what I'll say is the Biden- - Good pivot.

- Well, it is, we gotta talk about the topic here.

So it's, [laughter] So the Biden administration has asked Congress for 42.5 billion for drug enforcement efforts.

That's about a 10% increase of last year.

Congress needs to act in a bipartisan way to do this.

One thing we've seen the Biden administration do is make this a priority.

They are seizing over 800 pounds of fentanyl a day at the border, which is the most we've seen.

Some of that is because increased traffic but some of that's because of increased enforcement.

They've also made a huge push on remedies.

Whether it is to invest in reversal, overdose reversals, as well as fentanyl testing strips for folks.

I mean, absolutely right.

The danger of fentanyl- - But you have to secure the border don't you Jay?

Is the border secure?

Harris says, VP Harris says the border's secure.

- Well, look, I mean, let - - Is it secure?

- Let's be clear.

The Biden administration has set out a series of proposals in trying to secure the border.

One was the bipartisan infrastructure bill that frankly, that included billions of dollars in border security that every Republican voted against.

Secondly, the Biden administration has expelled over a million immigrants, undocumented immigrants from the border in the first fiscal, in this past fiscal year, a million plus the year before.

So there are efforts to try to secure the border.

But you know, returning back to the topic, you know, there's this - But that has a lot to do- - It does, - With people carrying this stuff across the border because they're strapped to their legs and their bodies.

- It, it does.

And on the supply side, the Biden administration has committed over about $300 million to try to disrupt the drug trafficking side.

But as Morgan talked about, there's a demand side too, to look at harm reduction and they've taken several steps to try to reduce the demand side as well.

- We'll continue to follow this.

I wanna talk to Morgan about it.

Some good news, potentially, for North Carolina, and that's our bid for the World University Games that the governor's involved in.

- Yeah, really cool thing this week is, the state has officially entered a bid for the World University Games.

And for folks who are not aware what this is, this is an international competition where you, that would bring over 7,000 student athletes from across the globe, like 150 countries, to North Carolina if we were to be successful in this.

Our competition is a city in South Korea, and it's really between North Carolina and South Korea.

We feel good about our competition, good about our bid, the governor Cooper presented, officially, the bid, this week to the national president.

- We'll know in November, correct?

- We'll know in November.

And so we'll know in a short order.

But it's a really cool thing because what it would do is highlight, internationally, all of our great sports venues and our incredible universities from-- - [Man] Here in the triangle.

- Not just from the triangle, but all the way to Greensboro.

- Right.

- So the triangle and the triad.

It's a great thing for North Carolina.

Exposure's an incredible thing.

It's gonna have an economic impact of up to $350 million which is, but again, I think it's really great for student athletes.

It's great for our universities and it's just great for North Carolina exposure to host an international event like this.

- Is North Carolina, Jay, becoming a destination for big time events?

- It is.

I mean, especially for sports.

I mean, I think this plays to governor Cooper's strength.

I mean, he's a sports fanatic.

He was a former high school athlete.

You know, I think recruiting sporting events comes as naturally as trying to recruit companies coming here to North Carolina.

I mean, he's built a real crack record in this area.

I mean, he's brought the World Golf Hall of Fame back to Pinehurst.

Just announced this month that the NASCAR All Star races coming to Wilkesboro.

I mean, I'm just waiting for ESPN to move here next.

[group chuckles] - Donna?

- I'd never even heard of it, actually, until I saw the press release.

So it is exciting.

Certainly North Carolina loves the college sports.

And 2027 is a ways off, got a lot of ground between now and then, but it does give us something to look forward to.

There's money, 25 million or so, in the state budget that was-- - Do we with facilities to do this?

- Oh, certainly.

I mean, I think we've made a big investment in our university system and certainly we love college sports and governor Cooper finally signed a budget this year and in it was the 25 million for this event.

- Okay, Mitch?

- Yeah.

I'm not going to sour the punch bowl, 'cause I do think it is a good thing, but-- - So you start out that way?

- Exactly.

[group laughing] - But?

- But the thing to keep in mind on things like this is be careful about the estimates of economic impact.

- Multiply effects?

- They're always overinflated to say, yes, we should do this.

Yes, we should make this investment.

Yes, we should bring this thing in.

The good news about this is that it's not like an Olympic games where a city will go out and spend way too much money to bring in the Olympics.

And it ends up being an economic loser.

I haven't heard that this is going to require a ton of investment.

It's basically using facilities we have.

So that's very good news.

- Do we have to put any money up front Morgan?

- No, we've put the money to upgrade facilities and things like that, but it's not just the university.

Like the Durham Bulls Athletic Park will be a destination for a lot of these things.

And so some of the professional, non university locales in Durham and Greensboro will be used.

So no, listen, this is gonna be, it's all positive for North Carolina.

- Any final thoughts?

- Yeah, I think it generally will be, this is not a case of saying let's spend a ton of money and then not get the returns we expect.

You're going to be upgrading things that are going to be up upgraded anyway.

So it's probably good news.

- Okay.

I'm coming right back to you.

Let's go to the most under-reported story of the week.

- We've already talked about the fact that the North Carolina State Supreme Court is going to be holding hearings on back to back days and early October on a couple of election related items, voter ID, and redistricting.

Now there is a plea to hold another hearing, either in October or November, on this issue of felon voting.

For folks who haven't been following it because of a court of appeals ruling, felons who are outside of prison, but are on probation, parole, or post-release supervision, they are eligible to vote in the general election.

That could be about 56,000 people.

But the folks who are pushing for a final decision to say yes, this does survive the court challenge, they wanna hold a hearing because they think the legislators filings in this case have caused confusion and would prevent some of these felons from signing up.

So we'll see if the state Supreme Court takes this up.

- Morgan?

- So under-reported this week are candidate debates a thing of the past?

In the last several cycles, or traditionally we'll say, is that a major race, whether it's US Senate, [mumbles], and obviously the presidential debates have three or four televised debates between the top candidates.

This year, you're seeing in most of the us Senate races, maybe one, maybe two.

A lot of 'em are doing none in North Carolina.

There's only one face-to-face candidate debate.

And it's on a Friday night, which will, as we know, is not peak viewer night for folks-- - [Man] Except for front row.

- Because everybody will be watching front row on this-- - [Man] You get a home run there.

[man laughing] - Because everybody else is watching front row.

But it's a tough time for candidates who are trying to get their message across.

And it's, you know, in North Carolina, folks have, Ted Bud didn't do a debate in the primary and is only doing one in the general like-- - Sherry Beasley didn't do one either.

- You know it's anyway, are they a thing of the past?

- Jay?

- Washington Post had an article this week about how Republicans and key battle ground states, including many of the state US Senate races that we talked about have said that they will refuse to accept the results from the election, the reluctance of Republican candidates to embrace a long principle standing democracy that if you lose you accept the winner's outcome shows that really Trump's assault on democracy is extended past the 2020 presidential.

- Well, in 2016 Democrats challenged the legitimacy of the elections too, didn't they?

- They may have challenged the legitimacy, but I think they accepted the result.

- Well I'm not sure Hillary Clinton did.

I will say this, you know, Nixon and Kennedy was only 100,000 votes and Nixon never challenged it.

Donna?

- So if you went to a UNC school over the last decade or so you may have been tracked by the university.

As it turns out a you report out, it was actually broken by a former UNC student that now works for a Dallas Morning News, they found that UNC schools, at least seven or eight of them, signed up for a company called Social Sentinel.

And they were tracking students who were involved in protesting, were posting things about drugs.

Now, whether you think it's big brother or just trying to keep a lid on things, the students weren't notified that the university was tracking them in this way, particularly during the Silent Sam protests.

And I think it's, it's worth noting that parents and kids need to know that they their kids could be tracked by their school.

- Well, that's a fine balance isn't it though, Jay between security and listening in on people or checking up on 'em.

- I mean, it is, but I mean, I think you gotta manage what the expectations of privacies are for students.

And I think some of the, some of the, the information that's come outta this is- - Go ahead.

- I think can be problematic.

- Has there been a reaction from the universities?

- Not at this point.

I know that the, most of the information was gotten through public records requests.

So I think that they've really not been talking about it but it was certainly sought out by some of the chancellors in the universities to find a way to gel all the social media information of the students so that they can figure out who's protesting, who's using drugs, who's mentally unstable or struggling.

And so there are good things that may have come out of it, but notifying the students is an important piece of that.

- Great catch.

Let's go to lightning round Mitch.

Who's up and who's down this week?

- My what's up is is the price tag for this commuter rail project.

In "The Triangle" the latest report in a presentation for Wake County commissioners was that it would cost $3 billion.

Just a couple of years ago, they were talking about $2 billion.

Generally, if these things do get built, they end up costing about twice as much as what they were projected.

So the numbers will continue to go up not down.

Unfortunately, the city of Greensboro, the ACC is moving its headquarters to Charlotte.

So staying in North Carolina, which is good news.

The state budget had some money making sure it didn't move to Florida, but for Greensboro, I don't think it's gonna be a huge, negative economic impact, but it's a loss of a piece of history.

The ACC started almost 70 years ago at the Sedgefield in, in Greensboro.

- Morgan, so up this week, I'll say the cancer hospital an UNC was renamed for former president pro tempore, Senator president pro tempore, Marc Basnight, who was the leading driver of a huge amount of investment to create a world class cancer treatment center in North Carolina.

It's a really, a really fitting thing.

And it was a really nice ceremony where they honored, obviously Marc passed away a couple years ago, but just a a tremendous public servant and a very fitting, very fitting.

- A Powerhouse.

He was a political powerhouse.

- A very fitting tribute.

- And down this week is..

I'll follow up on Jay's under reported, is, Ted Budd was asked five different times this week if he would accept the result of the election.

He wouldn't respond.

Wouldn't respond.

Wouldn't respond.

Finally, he said, "I don't know why I wouldn't."

So not quite the resounding "Yes, I will accept these results."

- So its public pressure in your view?

- Public pressure, yes.

I think voters want candidates who will say they'll accept the election.

- Jay.

- Who's up, is Duke professor and former democratic treasurer nominee, Ronnie Chatterjie.

He's gonna be responsible for implementing the Chips and Science historic $50 billion investment in the semiconductor industry that was announced by the White House today.

Given Wolfspeeds recent announcement in Chatham County that they're gonna do chip manufacturing.

His announcement's a big deal for the state and for national security.

And he's down Wake County GOP party where Marjorie Taylor-Green will be the keynote speaker.

Green's track record of extremism is included in selling t-shirts that say "Defund the FBI" and suggesting the September 11th terrorist attack were fake.

And so at the outset, I talked about the Republican coalition not holding together.

I think having Green as a keynote speaker is really problematic for the Wake County republicans.

- Safe to say you're not attending.

Donna.

- Actually, I'm gonna shift a little bit.

I'm gonna say my up is partisan messaging.

I think the one thing we've seen is an effort to divide the border and fentanyl poison as two different issues.

They're inextricably linked.

You can't divide them.

And this effort to say, "Okay, we're not gonna accept the results of the election because I think what that really signals is a fundamental mistrust in the American people about elections.

And that's something we have to re, we have to rebuild.

There's there's mistrust in the judiciary.

There's mistrust in elections.

And this is a real crisis regardless of which side of the aisle you sit on.

- What do you think?

Do you think people mistrust now the folks that talk to them about COVID?

- I think so.

I think some of that started then, and there was, everything has become politicized, and that has been, trust is a real issue.

- Ron Horn, quickly, headline next week.

- US Supreme Court decides whether to take up North Carolina state health plan case.

- Headline next week.

- Big news this weekend.

Farm Aid and Willie Nelson returned to Raleigh.

Everybody should be there.

- You got backstage?

- I'll be there to celebrate my 25th birthday tomorrow.

- Headline next week.

- Triangle football teams, UNC, Duke, state and central continue to go undefeated.

Fans no longer anxiously wait for basketball season.

- Donna, headline next week.

- Okay.

Well I think we're gonna be talking maybe Leandro.

- We might be talking about the railroad strike.

Okay.

Great job panel.

That's it for us.

Thanks for watching.

Hope to see you next week on "Front Row."

Have a great weekend.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Major funding for "Front Row" with Marc Rotterman is provided by Robert L. Luddy.

Additional funding provided by Patricia and Koo Yuen through the Yuen Foundation.

Committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

And by... funding for the lightning round provided by Nicholas B. and Lucy Mayo Boddie Foundation, AE Finley Foundation, NC Realtors, Rifenburg Construction, Stephen Gleason, a complete list of funders can be found at pbsnc.org/frontrow.

[upbeat music] ♪