It's Thursday! Let's get to it.

⛅ Today's weather: Fog then partly sunny, with a high again around 80. Low 65.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Grace Kemble!

Today’s newsletter is 943 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Democrats in North Carolina's state legislature, long relegated to the sidelines during lawmaking, gained new life in this week's midterms.

Why it matters: North Carolinians delivered a resounding rejection of Republicans on Election Day, flipping at least two dozen state and congressional seats.

• Now, Democrats must piece together a strategy for governing — including how to work with Republicans should the GOP keep a narrow hold over the N.C. Senate.

What they're saying: Anderson Clayton, chair of the N.C. Democratic Party, tells Axios her party needs to use the momentum of Tuesday's election to continue introducing its newest legislators to voters and make them household names.

• She says Democrats plan to go to legislative districts they just won in the coming weeks to give away food before Thanksgiving and highlight the effects of Republican cuts to SNAP.
• Democrats need to make sure "that people know they're not just going to show up right before an election, but they're just going to keep their boots on the ground year-round," she says.

By the numbers: The Democratic Party will soon control the N.C. House and already holds the governorship. N.C. Senate control hinges on one not-yet-called race.

• Democrats flipped at least 17 N.C. House and four N.C. Senate seats, with several races uncalled. An unaffiliated candidate also ousted a Republican. No Republicans flipped seats.
• Clayton says Democrats' success was driven by Roy Cooper's popularity, but also by increased investment in rural communities. She believes those investments helped flip several congressional districts.
• "When I came into this job," she says she wasn't "asking to win rural North Carolina over. I [was] asking to increase the margins that we have in these communities."

Between the lines: Democratic leaders say they're waiting to see whether Republicans control the N.C. Senate and, if so, whether Republicans are willing to work with Democrats.

What's next: Republicans could squeeze in some last-minute GOP priorities during a lame-duck legislative session this month before losing control of the House. Democrats don't fully know what to expect.

• Gov. Josh Stein told reporters yesterday a Republican-led session isn't needed because "the voters spoke pretty daggone loud last night about who they want making decisions for them."

Go deeper on Democrats' hopes for the constitutional amendments

The biggest midterm gains for North Carolina Democrats came in suburbia, including around the Triangle.

Zoom in: Here's where Republicans lost the most ground this year:

• Suburban Wake County: Republican Reps. Mike Schietzelt and Erin Paré both lost by over 9 percentage points.
• Triangle outskirts: Republicans dropped state House and Senate races in Nash County, where future U.S. Sen. Roy Cooper is from. They also lost in Lee, Wilson, Johnston and Franklin counties. A Republican-held House seat in Sanford was flipped by an unaffiliated candidate.
• Wilmington: Sen. Michael Lee is currently in Republican leadership, but will lose his competitively drawn Wilmington seat.
• Piedmont suburbs: Democrats made gains in Forsyth, Guilford and Alamance counties.
• Charlotte and its suburbs: Rep. Tricia Cotham, who left the Democratic Party in 2023 to become a Republican, lost by over 14 percentage points. Democrats also picked up House seats in Gaston and Cabarrus counties.
• Mountain country: Congressional candidate Jennifer Balkcom's former N.C. House seat went to a Democrat, as did another Blue Ridge seat.

Keep reading

📹 The UNC System set new rules for campuses using tools like Flock cameras. (The Assembly)

🏗️ A $200 million development on Durham's Hillsborough Road featuring a Sprouts Market has stalled due to a lawsuit between its two developers. (Triangle Business Journal🔒)

⚖️ Attorneys for the man convicted of murdering UNC student Faith Hedgepeth are asking for a new trial. (WRAL)

🚨 Willie Rowe won another term as Wake County sheriff. (News & Observer)

🗳️ Several U.S. House races in North Carolina remain uncalled, with Rep. Virginia Foxx's N.C.-05 still considered a tossup. (Axios)

N.C. State appears to be circling two of its most successful former quarterbacks as potential replacements for fired head football coach Dave Doeren.

Why it matters: Doeren led the Wolfpack for 14 years — a period that saw the college football world change dramatically.

Driving the news: ESPN reported this week that former QB Russell Wilson interviewed for the head coaching position.

• Wilson played at N.C. State from 2008 to 2010, before transferring to Wisconsin.

Yes, but: A different quarterback is seen as the favorite to land the job, according to reports.

• That would be Philip Rivers, who is currently coaching his son, Gunner, in high school in Alabama. Gunner Rivers, who is committed to N.C. State next year, is one of the top quarterback recruits in the nation.
• Philip Rivers played at N.C. State between 2000 and 2003. CBS Sports reports that momentum appears to be in his favor.

The North Carolina Museum of Art is inviting people inside after-hours tonight.

Zoom in: See the new Ancient Nubia exhibit for free and check out two other new installations, including a large-scale projected piece that will light up the museum's exterior tonight for the first and only time.

📍 If you go: 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh

• The event is 5:30 to 9pm on select Thursdays, typically one a month. Register online.

😲 Zachery is marveling at this photo of Bob Dylan (and his commitment to wearing a hood) meeting Pope Leo.

☀️ Mary Helen can't believe it's just casually 80 degrees this week.

Thanks to Melissa Oyler for editing this newsletter.