North Carolina: Democrats walk out of Senate committee meeting. At a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, the three Democratic members walked out after the Republican chairman refused to let a retired judge speak as Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) representative on a proposal to appoint rather than elect judges. State Sen. Joel Ford (D), one of the departing Democrats, told the News & Observer, “It would make you think they have a preconceived notion of how this is going to go.” ……. Texas: GOP goes to court over Farenthold. US Rep. Blake Farenthold (R), undergoing an Ethics Committee review of alleged sexual harassment charges, announced he would not seek reelection after the Texas period for withdrawing from a contest had passed. When the secretary of state refused to allow Texas Republicans to remove Farenthold’s name from the ballot, the GOP brought suit in federal court to get the name off the ballot …….Georgia: Bishop opposed net neutrality repeal. Last week US Rep. Sanford Bishop (D) told NBC/WMGT, “Our phones have been ringing off the hook” in opposition to the FCC’s repeal of the net neutrality, which was put in place by President Obama. “They don’t want to have to have the risk of having to pay higher fees to get access.” Although it’s a done deal for now, Bishop added that he would vote against repeal if given the chance …….