John,
I said earlier this week that North Carolina politics can be like the weather—wait five minutes, and they’ll change. Well, our race just changed again in a big way, because yesterday afternoon, another Democrat filed to run for this seat. I officially have a primary opponent: a former credit card company executive who moved here from Los Angeles just a few years ago.
You know, I think a good primary can be a great thing for our party—but we also need to make sure that we’re making the right choice. In 2020 and 2016, our nominee for Treasurer underperformed the Democrats at the top of the ticket, which means that if we really want to take this seat back in 2024, it’s absolutely critical that we nominate someone who can get out into areas of the state where Democrats have lost ground and truly talk to those voters. And that means I need your support once again.
We need to nominate someone who knows North Carolina like the back of their hand, because if we don’t, that’ll be the quickest way to lose this race. It's hard enough for any Democrat to win North Carolina, much less one who doesn’t understand the complexities and quirks of our large and diverse state.
I grew up in rural Alexander and Iredell Counties. My dad worked at a local bank (back when we still had those) and my mom taught public school. I’m a proud product of an amazing public university, Carolina. My entire family calls North Carolina home, and I’ve spent the last nine months getting out to every community I can from the Mountains to the Sea, where I’ve seen firsthand that our message of opportunity is resonating with exactly the kind of voters we need to win back next year.
I’m so proud to have earned more than 150 endorsements from school board to Congress, from every corner of this great state. I’ve earned the trust of my colleagues in the General Assembly, members of our Congressional delegation, and many of the local elected officials who work with the Treasurer’s office every day to finance the important work they do.
They trust me because they know me: they know I’m the only Democrat who grew up in North Carolina and has seen firsthand how Republican leadership has torn down what we used to be. They know I’m the only Democrat in this race with experience serving in state government. And they know I'm the only Democrat in this race that has run in—and won—a competitive election before. The people who know this state best, who serve our communities every day, understand that this campaign is doing exactly what we need to flip the Treasurer’s office in 2024.
But just because I know we’re on the right track and doing the right things, it doesn’t mean it’s time to get comfortable.
If we're going to win back this seat, we need to start by winning this primary. We need to be able to hit the ground running in January with a robust campaign operation that will have us ready to win in March, not just November. We’ve got to be able to have a presence in every corner of our state so we can make sure that every single voter knows that government can be a force for good when it invests in our communities. So I need you, today.
If you believe in me—if you believe in this movement—can I count on you to donate whatever you can today? Anything you can spare will help.
