This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Monday February 23, 2026.

Port City Daily reported last week on a settlement between the Democrat National Committee and the Republican National Committee on the issue of 225,000 voter registrations here in our state.  The dispute goes back to the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court race where the Republican candidate lost by just 734 votes statewide.

Port City’s reporting on this settlement is frankly disturbing.  While the headline talks about the DNC and the RNC, no where in the article is any official of the Republican party actually quoted.  Sam Hayes, the Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Elections – and who was appointed by the Republican-led legislature – gave an extensive reply that talked about the “collaborative efforts of all parties.”  However, two officials of the DNC were also quoted in the article – and both used their time to blast Republicans as trying to suppress the vote.

We contacted John Hinnant of the New Hanover County Republican Party.  As Port City Daily is a local publication, one would think that a local view from a local political party on this matter would be important.  Mr. Hinnant stated that no one reached out to him.  To be fair, Port City did not include the local Democrat party either.  That does not mean much – as Port City did decide to include two high ranking officials of the national Democrat party in their piece.

The fact of the matter is that Port City did not write this article.  According to a Perplexity.AI inquiry from today, the entire article – the ENTIRE article – was almost entirely a verbatim reprint of a DNC press release.  Port City did add some  statistics of local voter registrations.  But everything else was purely echoing the message of the Democrats – under the guise of journalism.  Port City Daily should have told their readers that the article was not reporting but reprinting.  But  they did not.

This is why The Wilmington Standard, the Nick Craig Show, The Carolina Journal, The Center Square and other new media outlets exist.  We will tell you our biases up front.  The Wilmington Standard is a conservative opinion and news outlet.  When our partners report on the news, they do so in the highest of journalistic standards.  When we comment on the news, we also do so after extensive – and cited – research.  You do not have to believe everything we say – but you can believe that we will try our very best to always bring the truth in our reporting and our opinions. 

Too bad Port City Daily – at least in this article – is not interested.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample.  Thanks for listening.