North Carolina Gains National Attention As Super Tuesday Looms

WUNC | By Leoneda Inge,

Jeff Tiberii, Frank Stasio, Liz Schlemmer, Amanda Magnus

Published February 25, 2020 at 12:28 PM EST

Voters head to the polls next Tuesday to cast ballots in the primary election. This is North Carolina's first time participating in Super Tuesday.

North Carolinians will cast their ballots on Super Tuesday for the first time next week. Although we join 13 other states in voting that day, some pundits argue North Carolina is the key state, even “ground zero” in this presidential election cycle.Host Frank Stasio and his guests talk about the importance of North Carolina in the Super Tuesday elections.

Host Frank Stasio talks to WUNC Capitol Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii about why North Carolina is receiving national attention not only for the top of the ticket, but for several high-stakes statewide races as well: Governor, Attorney General and U.S. Senate. And WUNC Education Reporter Liz Schlemmer explains why legislators decided to move North Carolina’s primary date and what the move to Super Tuesday means for candidates down-ballot.

Stasio also talks to Kerry Haynie about the historical context of Super Tuesday, the idea of a national primary voting day and his take on what voters are looking for. Haynie is a professor of political science and African and African American studies at Duke University. WUNC Race and Southern Culture Reporter Leoneda Inge digs into the potential impact of North Carolina’s newest voters, those who have turned 18 since the last presidential election or newly naturalized citizens.

North Carolina’s Hispanic population grew faster than the white population in 98 of the state’s 100 counties from 2010 to 2017. What role will the Latinx electorate play in November? Sergio Garcia-Rios shares his polling and research on this demographic group and the issues that bring them to the ballot box on election day. Garcia-Rios is a professor of government and Latina/o Studies at Cornell University and the polling director for Univision News.

Find your one-stop early voting polling place and same-day registration rules here.

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is WUNC’s race and southern culture reporter, the first public radio journalist in the South to hold such a position. She explores modern and historical constructs to tell stories of poverty and wealth, health and food culture, education and racial identity. Leoneda is also co-host of the podcast Tested, allowing for even more in-depth storytelling on those topics.

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Jeff Tiberii

Jeff Tiberii first started posing questions to strangers after dinner at La Cantina Italiana, in Massachusetts, when he was two-years-old. Jeff grew up in Wayland, Ma., an avid fan of the Boston Celtics, and took summer vacations to Acadia National Park (ME) with his family. He graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and moved to North Carolina in 2006. His experience with NPR member stations WAER (Syracuse), WFDD (Winston-Salem) and now WUNC, dates back 15 years.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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Liz Schlemmer

Liz Schlemmer is WUNC's Education Policy Reporter, a fellowship position supported by the A.J. Fletcher Foundation. She has an M.A. from the UNC Chapel Hill School of Media & Journalism and a B.A. in history and anthropology from Indiana University.

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Amanda Magnus

Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.

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