GRNC Candidate Evaluations Now Available!
Gun
Rights Supporters:
Once again, GRNC volunteers have issued candidate surveys and compiled voting records, survey scores, and other factors to perform OBJECTIVE evaluations for ALL CANDIDATES for state and federal office across North Carolina. That’s 480 candidates evaluated!
Before getting to that, however, I need to explain that I’ve been contacted by candidates for the NC House, NC Senate, US House, and NC Court of Appeals, all of whom face threats as Democrats register as phony Republicans to primary incumbents, RINOs are primarying gun rights stalwarts, and pro-gun candidates in marginal districts are under siege.
The good news is that GRNC is the go-to gun rights organization for NC political candidates. The bad news is that we still don’t have enough money in the GRNC Political Victory Fund account to defend them all, meaning we stand to suffer losses that could put our policy objectives out of reach.
As you probably know, GRNC is limited by law from using membership money to advocate election or defeat of candidates, which is why we formed the GRNC Political Victory Fund, our federally registered political action committee. But that means we need to raise money separately for GRNC-PVF.
I apologize for having to keep saying this, but I need you to dig deep. Please contribute to GRNC-PVF by either:
Donating to GRNC-PVF at: grnc.org/wp/2012/08/donate-to-grnc-pvf/ or by
Thumbing your nose at Biden’s defunct pistol stabilizing brace ban by buying tickets to the GRNC-PVF Springfield Kuna raffle at: grnc.org/wp/2025/12/grnc-pvf-2026-raffle/
With your help, we will prevail.
Armatissimi e liberissimi,
President, Grass Roots North Carolina
Executive Director, Rights Watch International
Host, Guns, Politics and Freedom
Author, Rules for ANTI-Radicals: A Practical Handbook for Defeating Leftism
GRNC Candidate Evaluations Explained
Unlike other organizations, GRNC candidate evaluations are OBJECTIVE. We don’t make “deals” for candidate “ratings,” and we don’t favor incumbents. Survey scores, voting records, and measures we call “bill support” are fed into a database which estimates the percentage of time a given candidate can be expected to agree with a control group of gun owners who also answered the survey. A candidate who agrees on at least 90% of issues gets a “4-star” (****) evaluation, 80% gets 3 stars (***) and on down the list.
The important thing to know is that a candidate gets what he or she earns – no more, no less. Moreover, if a candidate lacks a voting record on gun issues and refuses to complete the GRNC candidate survey, he or she is automatically awarded a 0-star (0) evaluation on the premise that they are hiding their position.
To get GRNC Remember in November candidate evaluations, go to:
https://grnc.org/wp/2014/04/2026-candidate-evaluations/
GRNC Evaluations vs. GRNC-PVF Candidate Recommendations
Our federally registered political action committee, the GRNC Political Victory Fund, then takes the objective evaluations and analyzes races in which gun voters can most effectively apply their vote to defend the Second Amendment. Those are GRNC-PVF candidate RECOMMENDATIONS (as opposed to “evaluations”). Because they are analytical in nature, GRNC-PVF candidate recommendations are slightly more subjective and, unlike evaluations, do advocate the election or defeat of candidates.
Please note that we do not make recommendations in all races, such as where no candidate stands out for the 2nd Amendment, or where even a good candidate doesn’t have an opponent (e.g. an unopposed primary election). Then, in selected races, GRNC-PVF will do “independent expenditures” for or against candidates in the form of mailings, automated phone and text alerts, radio spots, and even sophisticated geofencing.
GRNC-PVF candidate recommendations will be out soon!
USING GRNC’s Remember In November Voter Guide
Introduction
“Remember in November” candidate evaluations estimate where candidates stand on gun issues by comparing their views with those of a control group of gun owners. As noted below, a "4-STAR" candidate agrees with control group on at least 90% of gun issues, a 3-STAR agrees on least 80%, a 2-STAR on at least 70%, a 1-STAR on at least 60%, and a 0-STAR candidate agrees on less than 60% of gun issues.
Registering & Voting
Option 1: Register in-person at your county Board of Elections office or mail registration forms to arrive at the office by Feb. 9, 2024: Voter registration deadline is Feb. 6 at 5 PM. Forms are available at Board of Elections offices, county libraries, county offices or online at https://www.ncsbe.gov/registering/how-register.
Important: If you miss the February 6 deadline, you may still register and vote on the same day using One Stop Early Voting between February 12 and February 28 as described below.
Option 2: You may register at DMV offices or other state agencies which dispense benefits (e.g. DSS, WIC, ESC, etc).
Note: If you are a DMV customer with a NC driver’s license or DMV-issued ID, you may now register to vote or change certain parts of your registration online. Using this service existing DMV customers may register to vote, update their voter registration address, or update their party affiliation. For information: www.ncsbe.gov/Voters/Registering-to-Vote
Getting Voter Information
On the NCSBE home page at http://www.ncsbe.gov/ you will find links to look up your voter registration, one-stop voting site, Election Day polling place and provisional ballot. For early voting hours in your county, you may call your County Board of Elections.
Voter deadlines and instructions:
February 6 (5 PM): Deadline for voter registration or to update registration (e.g. for an address change). Click here for details. To check your voter registration, click here. Note: If you are registered as “unaffiliated,” you may vote in either the Democrat or Republican primary election.
February 12: Primary election One Stop Early Voting begins. Click here for details. Click here to find your One Stop Early Voting place. Using in-person early voting, you may still register and vote simultaneously until February 28 at 3:00 PM.
February 17 at 5:00 PM: Last day to submit an absentee ballot request form. Click here for information on voting by mail.
February 28 at 3:00 PM: One Stop Early Voting ends. This is your last opportunity to use One Stop in-person early registration and voting.
March 3, 2026, 6:30 AM – 7:30 PM: Primary Election Day: Click here to find your polling place on Election Day. Absentee ballots must be received by 7:30 PM.
Making Your Vote Count
Inform yourself: This guide presents only part of the picture.
Vote early if possible at your county’s one-stop voting sites; or
Vote on March 3 at your designated polling place between 6:30 AM and 7:30 PM.
IMPORTANT: AS IN PREVIOUS ELECTIONS, VOTING A STRAIGHT BALLOT IS NOT AN OPTION!
FREEDOM IS NOT FREE! Please consider helping to make this project happen by going to:
grnc.org/join-grnc/contribute
What Candidate Listings Mean
GRNC’s "Remember in November" project estimates candidates’ views on "assault weapons," concealed handguns, gun storage laws, gun rationing, other gun control and the Second Amendment. THE EVALUATIONS HEREIN ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS. We issued surveys first to a control group of gun owners and then to candidates. Next, we measured how closely each candidate’s views and voting record (if available) agree with the control group. Pay more attention to voting records than survey results unless, of course, you believe politicians never lie.
“Office”: Candidate’s district number and office sought. “D BROWN” ABOVE is seeking election to the US Senate Abbreviation for the candidate’s party is in the third column.
"Survey": The percentages listed depict agreement between a given candidate and our control group (e.g. an "80" under the "Survey" section means 80% of the candidate’s answers agreed with the Conservative Gun Owners). “NR” means the candidate failed to return the survey.
"Voting": Votes are more accurate than surveys and should be given more attention in determining candidate stance. GRNC Remember in November candidate evaluations weigh voting record more heavily than any other metric. Where available (and it might not be available for challengers who have not held office), this column indicates how often candidates’ votes agree with the control group of gun owners (e.g. a "90" under "Voting Record" indicates candidate’s voting record agrees 90% of the time with what was desired by control group).
"Other": Derived from evaluations of bill sponsorship, leadership willingness to hear (or not hear) legislation, etc.
"Star Eval": The evaluation is not a rating. It estimates percentage of time candidate is expected to agree with the Conservative Gun Owners. The maximum **** candidate tends to agree with conservative gun owners at least 90% of the time.
**** Expected to agree with conservative gun owners on at least 90% of gun issues
*** Expected to agree with conservative gun owners on at least 80% of gun issues
** Expected to agree with conservative gun owners on at least 70% of gun issues
* Expected to agree with conservative gun owners on at least 60% of gun issues
0 Expected to agree with conservative gun owners on less than 60% of gun issues or else candidate failed to return survey & insufficient information exists to make evaluation. Is he or she hiding something?