You may think that talking comes naturally for a politician. For me, though, that wasn’t the case—in fact, it was a struggle I dealt with for a huge portion of my childhood. One of my earliest memories is actually that, growing up, I literally couldn’t say my twin sister Meredith’s name. (For some reason I ended up calling her “Boo Boo” instead and that ended up sticking.)
A lot of folks don’t necessarily know this about me, but in elementary school I would get pulled out of class once a week for speech therapy. A stutter and some trouble forming my “r”s might not sound like much, but it was a real roadblock to being able to participate in class the same way that my peers did. What really stands out to me is how frustrating it felt, knowing that I was plenty clear in my head but that I just couldn’t always get the words out.
And it wasn’t always easy, getting pulled out of school like that, having that separation from my peers, but the truth is, I was really lucky. My stutter was a challenge, but with help and support, I was able to overcome it. I went from not being able to say a name like “Meredith” to being able to clearly articulate (at least, I hope) for twenty minutes at a time on how the budget’s tax policy fails working families. I’m proud of the progress I made, and I couldn’t have done it without the opportunity I had.
Here’s the thing, though: not every child gets to access the same kind of professional assistance I was able to. There are lots of kids in our state who have a stutter, or can’t form their “r”s, or might be dyslexic or have any of a wide variety of conditions that stand in the way of their ability to reach their full potential. And just like me, all they need is a little help. For every story like mine, there are ten stories about someone who lacked the resources my family had. Someone who got left behind.
John, I’m running for Treasurer because we have got to stop leaving folks behind.
We are coming to a crossroads in this country. Extremist politicians have spent decades driving us farther apart from one another, trying to make us afraid of our neighbors because of who they are. Meanwhile, they’ve slashed our government’s capacity to pay for programs that our people want and need—like specialists in our schools, professionals who can help our kids just get a leg up and have a fighting chance.
They’ve worsened the divide between our urban and rural communities, and created an environment of distrust and anxiety that threatens to tear our country apart.
We have got to stand up and say no more. We have got to reverse the trend. We have got to build a government that works for our people, investing in opportunity for every North Carolinian. We have so much potential in our state that we can use to become a global leader in the 21st century economy and have real prosperity from the Blue Ridge to the Outer Banks.
We have got to have a state that’s willing to take the steps we need to get there. Together, we can build a better future for all our children—but I’ll need your support to get there. Every dollar you can spare will make a difference, empowering us to ramp up our operation and get our message of investing in our state’s people to the voters we need to win.
