Politics Episodes

Welcome back to The Carolina Cabinet, where we bring you the sharpest conversations in Cumberland County and beyond. In this episode, host Peter Pappas sits down with Judge George Cooper Bell, the Republican candidate for North Carolina Court of Appeals seat number 2 and a sitting Superior Court judge from Mecklenburg County. Judge Bell, a former criminal defense attorney with over a decade of experience, shares insights from the campaign trail, discusses his philosophy on the bench, and explain...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. In this episode, host Peter Pappas sits down with Rob Hasty, Republican candidate for Superior Court Judge in Judicial District 14A. A lifelong county resident, seasoned attorney with over 25 years of experience, and former certified mediator, Hasty shares insights into his legal career, the distinctions between Superior and District court, and his perspectives on judicial impartiality and local court operatio...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. In this special session, Peter Pappas sits down with Rep. Charles Smith, the Democrat representing District 44 in the North Carolina House, who is unopposed on the November 3 ballot. A Fayetteville native who played college basketball at Emory & Henry and earned his law degree at UNC Chapel Hill, Smith came home to prosecute domestic violence and child abuse cases as an assistant district attorney before winni...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. In this special session, Peter Pappas sits down with Joe Hallatschek, candidate for the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors. It's a nonpartisan race at the very bottom of your ballot: seven candidates, and you vote for two. Hallatschek is a retired Army Corps of Engineers officer with public works experience and has served on Fayetteville's Stormwater Advisory Board sinc...

Welcome to a special edition of the Carolina Cabinet. This week, host Peter Pappas sits down with LaRue Windham, Republican nominee for Cumberland County Sheriff, for an in-depth conversation spanning his decades-long career in law enforcement, his family's legacy of service, and his vision for the future of the sheriff's office. From reminiscing about his first patrol car and favorite cop shows to outlining concrete plans for improving staff retention, pay, and public transparency, LaRue Windha...

Welcome back to another edition of the Carolina Cabinet, broadcast live from Cumberland County—your go-to hour for the smartest talk radio in the region. Join host Peter Pappas and co-host Laura Mussler as they deliver a rapid-fire, tightly packed episode exploring everything from early voting turnout, the shifting strategies and participation among Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters, to the big debates surrounding new data centers and their impact on local communities. Dive into a ...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. In this special session, host Peter Pappas sits down with State Sen. Tom McInnis, the Republican who represents North Carolina Senate District 21: all of Moore County and part of Cumberland County. McInnis grew up in Richmond County, built Iron Horse Auction Company, was first elected in 2014, and chairs the Senate Finance and Regulatory Reform committees. This November he faces Democrat Paul Taylor of Spring ...

Recorded April 27, 2026, after the March primary, in which Windham had no Republican opponent. Published as it aired; some of the news discussed has moved since. Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler are joined in studio for the full hour by LaRue Windham, the Republican candidate for Cumberland County Sheriff. The table opens on the gunfire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and the question of where political vi...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet. Host Peter Pappas sits down with Ron Ross, a Gray's Creek resident who spent 56 years with the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Republican candidate in a four-way race for two at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. Ross says running a nonprofit taught him not to waste a dollar, and he points to the canceled downtown event center as the waste he's running against. He lives with PFAS-contaminated well water and argues Chemours should pay t...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet. Host Peter Pappas sits down with Johnathaun Lee, an Army veteran and 15-year home health care business owner, and one of 16 candidates for three at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Education. Lee says his 2024 District 2 run taught him that a passion to serve isn't the same as the knowledge to serve. He explains why vouchers aren't the school board's call, and why he agreed with closing schools: the board has to manage buildings as facilities, n...

Recorded February 11, 2026, before the March primary, which McDuffie went on to win. Published as it aired. Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler sit down in studio with Troy McDuffie, the Democratic candidate for Cumberland County Sheriff. McDuffie traces a career that runs from the 82nd Airborne to the Fayetteville Police Department, where he worked patrol, child abuse and homicide cases. From there he served as chief...

Recorded June 8, 2026, and published as it aired. Some of the stories discussed, including Fayetteville's data center ordinance, have moved since. Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler are joined in studio by local attorney Jonathan Strange, the Republican candidate for NC District Court Judge, District 14, Seat 5. First up is school choice. The General Assembly overrode Governor Stein's veto, and the table debates wheth...

Recorded April 27, 2026, after the March primary, in which Windham had no Republican opponent. Published as it aired; some of the news discussed has moved since. Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler are joined in studio for the full hour by LaRue Windham, the Republican candidate for Cumberland County Sheriff. The table opens on the gunfire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and the question of where political vi...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Host Peter Pappas sits down with Judge Craig Collins, a sitting Superior Court judge and the Republican candidate for the North Carolina Court of Appeals, Seat 3. Collins has worked as a prosecutor, in private practice and as a District Court judge before taking the Superior Court bench. He says he's put about 100,000 miles on the car this campaign, and he admits he plans his routes around the best milkshakes ...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler sit down with Judge Michael Byrne, an administrative law judge at the NC Office of Administrative Hearings and the Republican candidate for the North Carolina Court of Appeals, Seat 1. Byrne explains how an NC State English major headed for Washington think tanks ended up practicing law for thirty-plus years, and why the best advice he ever got was three words: "Get it right." H...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler open on Fayetteville City Manager Doug Hewett, who announced he'll step down before the end of 2026 after more than ten years in the job. Voters elect a mayor and nine council members, those ten hire one person, and that person runs everything else. With 911 consolidation and the data-center rules still in progress, Peter asks the council: who's steering while you're hiring? The...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet. Host Peter Pappas sits down with Troy McDuffie, the Democratic candidate for Cumberland County Sheriff, who rebuilt Spring Lake's police department after the sheriff's office spent more than a year covering the town. McDuffie says he'd keep the sheriff's office's new pay plan, which starts deputies at $54,735 and reaches top pay in 13 years instead of 23, and fine-tune it rather than start over. Peter presses him on why voters should change sheriffs if, as ...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Host Peter Pappas sits down with Keith Byrd, a Fayetteville native, 20-year Army veteran, public school teacher, and one of 16 candidates for three at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Education. Byrd explains how a rough experience as a parent led him to homeschool, then into the classroom through lateral entry, and now into the school board race. His case starts with morale: teachers aren't brea...

Welcome to the Carolina Cabinet. In this episode, host Peter Pappas sits down with Representative Frances Jackson, who serves North Carolina’s House District 45, covering Hope Mills and parts of West Fayetteville. With a background spanning 27 years in local and state government—as a transportation planner, transit analyst, and middle school social studies teacher—Frances Jackson brings a wealth of experience to the conversation. Together, they dive into pressing local and state issues, from Ho...

Richard Ojeda, retired Army major, former West Virginia state senator and the Democratic nominee for Congress in North Carolina's 9th District, sits down with Peter Pappas. He grew up in coal country, where his choices at 18 were to dig coal, sell dope or join the Army, and he makes his case on three fronts. On labor: why he wants every job unionized and right-to-work repealed ("when you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu"). On health care access: keeping VA care close to home f...

Welcome back to The Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County’s smartest hour of talk radio. In this episode, Peter Pappas sits down with North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls for an insightful conversation about her personal journey, her dedication to civil rights, and her distinguished career on the bench. Raised in a mixed-race family that overcame legal barriers, Anita Earls shares how those formative experiences shaped her passion for law and motivated her lifelong commitment to justic...

Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler welcome Judge Rosalyn Hood, Cumberland County District Court, Seat 6, who is finishing her first four-year term and running unopposed. A Western Carolina University track athlete whose Olympic hopes ended with two fractured ankles, Hood enlisted after 9/11 as a parachute rigger, commissioned as an officer, served multiple overseas tours, and retired in 2024 as a lieutenant colonel after 22 years. She spent 16 years in the district attorney's office before taking th...

Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler sit down with Judge Toni King, a Cumberland County District Court judge for 17 years, who is running unopposed this fall. A military kid whose father served 30 years, King first came to Fort Bragg in middle school and came home to Fayetteville after college and law school. Most of the conversation is about the human trafficking court she runs, with separate juvenile and adult dockets. She explains why Fayetteville's spot on I-95 makes trafficking a local problem, ...

Welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet, Cumberland County's smartest hour of talk radio. Peter Pappas and Laura Mussler sit down with Theodore Lee "Ted" Miller, one of 16 candidates for at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Education. Miller, a Flint, Michigan native who came to Fayetteville with the Army and retired in 2001 after a 20-year career, puts one proposal at the center of his campaign: every senior takes and passes the GED to graduate. He argues an 89% graduation rate means ...