Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1340284
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM FEBRUARY 17-23, 2021 UCW 11 Zuckerberg among influencers who poured money into N.C. by JOHNNY KAMPIS North Carolina, which saw a tightening of the presidential race in the 2020 election, was among the states that saw an influx of money from Mark Zuckerberg in the months leading up to the voting. Donald Trump won the state by 177,000 votes over Hillary Clinton in 2016, but the Democrats cut the margin of victory by more than half in 2020, when Trump won by 74,000 votes over Joe Biden. Capital Research Center noted that Zuck- erberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated $350 million to the Center for Technology and Civic Life, which in turn gave the mon- ey to local election officials. CRC argues that the formerly small group "became an activ- ist juggernaut with the means to effectively manage the election in numerous cities and battleground states across the nation." CRC said $4.3 million of these "Zuck bucks" went to 34 North Carolina cities and counties, in addition to a $1 million grant to the state board of elections. CRC said Biden gained about 80,000 votes in the counties that received the grants. CRC examined grants in other battle- ground states such as Pennsylvania, Arizo- na, Nevada and — most notably — Georgia, which saw its electoral votes flip narrowly to Biden and whose two Senate seats flipped from red to blue. Scott Walter, CRC's director, testified about the donations to a Senate committee, imploring lawmakers to look into the issue. "e biggest question the Georgia legis- lature should ask is whether a California billionaire should be allowed to waltz into the Peach State and finance aspects of their elections?" Walter wrote in a recent blog post. "Do they want billionaires in the fu- ture to steer election resources so unequally and inequitably?" e Zuckerberg donations follow along with a general trend in politics last year. A joint analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in Politics found unprecedented growth in donations to federal Democratic candidates. Whereas spending on Democratic and Republican candidates in the past two presidential election cycles was relatively even at about $1.5 billion for each party, the advantage was stark for Democrats in 2020, who raised nearly $5 billion to the GOP's $2 billion. at includes $1 billion in self-funding by Michael Bloomberg for his presidential campaign. Take that away and Democrats — who captured the Oval Office, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate — still held a 2-to-1 federal fundraising advantage in 2020. e joint study said small donors giving $200 or less had a lot to do with the growth. Small donors gave $1.8 billion to federal candidates in 2020, triple the number from 2016. Democrats got 41% of their donations from these pledges. "It's easier than ever to donate to a politi- cal campaign online, and candidates invest- ed big money into reaching those donors," the analysis noted. NEWS After missing the mark on vaccinations, N.C. hones in on target by JULIE HAVLAK After a slow start, North Carolina is ramp- ing up its COVID-19 vaccinations. Some 9.2% of residents got the first shot of COVID-19 vaccines by Monday, Feb. 8, when 970,162 people had received a first dose, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Two days earlier, an average 8.6% of CO- VID-19 tests came back positive. North Carolina now ranks 24th in the nation for its percentage of COVID-19 vac- cines administered, according to the Beck- er's Hospital Review. e state shot up the rankings in late Jan- uary, but its rollout got off to a rocky start. Elderly residents crossed the state border to get vaccines, hospitals canceled thou- sands of appointments, and the slow rollout left many confused and frustrated. North Carolina spent weeks lagging behind the nation. Early January saw mas- sive backlogs — even as the federal govern- ment tied vaccine supply to the success of states' vaccine rollouts. State lawmakers and health care advocates criticized North Carolina's progress and questioned the gov- ernor's vaccination plan. By the first week of January, North Caro- lina was sitting on almost three-fourths of its available doses. e state had given only 25.5% of its available doses, according to the CDC. Only five other states in the country had worse vaccination rates, and West Vir- ginia's rate was almost triple that of North Carolina. North Carolina had climbed to the lower middle of the pack by Jan. 26. It ranked 32nd out of the 50 states for administering 699,722 of 1,250,900 available vaccines, ac- cording to the CDC. North Carolina's own data shows a better performance. e state has administered 69% of the doses. e state used mass vaccination sites to ramp up its numbers, but that tactic earned backlash from local providers. ey argued it left elderly and rural residents without access to vaccine sites. Hospitals had to cancel thousands of appointments as the state diverted vaccines toward Charlotte and Durham. But the state gained ground. North Caro- lina had injected 99% of the first doses sent by the federal government by Jan. 27. e state rocketed from 40th in first doses ad- ministered per 100,000 residents to 12th in a week. North Carolinians in nursing homes and long-term care homes aren't so lucky. Only 64% of the first doses had reached patients' arms in long-term care homes as of Mon- day, Feb. 8. e federal government man- ages that rollout. Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen says a limited supply of vaccines is coming into the state, and health officials have little advanced notice when it does arrive. "North Carolina is ready to take on more vaccines, and we need those vaccines now," Cohen said during a press conference in late January. "We know that this is hard on North Carolinians. Demand for vaccines is vastly greater than supply." North Carolina now ranks 24th in the nation for its percentage of COVID-19 vaccines administered. North Carolina was among the states that saw an influx of money in the months leading up to the 2020 election. JULIE HAVLAK, Carolina Journal News Service. COMMENTS? editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. JOHNNY KAMPIS, Carolina Journal News Service. COMMENTS? editor@upand- comingweekly.com. 910-484-6200.