On November 5th, we’ll be going up against Brad Briner—a New York Republican whose biggest claim to fame is managing billionaire former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s investment portfolio. And his primary campaign ad made it clear that just like Dale Folwell before him, we can count on Brad to be more concerned with politicized, culture war nonsense in the Treasurer’s office than actually making an investment in our people.
If he wins, we won’t be able to count on Briner to fight for our public school teachers and state employees—after all, he sits on the board of a private boarding school (in New Hampshire, of all places).
We also won’t be able to count on Briner to fight for our rural communities—he’s a private school kid from Dallas, Texas who made his money on Wall Street. He’s never known what it’s like to grow up in a community that’s been left behind.
But one thing we can count on Brad Briner to do? Well, his campaign finance reports show that he loaned his campaign half a million dollars so that he could make it through his primary—and we can be sure that that’s just the beginning of what he’ll do to win in November.
I’m not a wealthy man. I don’t come from money, I’ve never worked on Wall Street, and I’ve certainly never rubbed elbows with billionaires. I was raised right here in rural North Carolina, I went to public school, and I’m damn proud of that. But it’s just the truth that I don’t get to sit here over the next seven months and cut myself checks for whatever my campaign needs. Every red cent we raise will be down to good, old-fashioned hard work and the generosity of supporters just like you.
With the general election underway, we’re about to be in for the fight of our life for the soul of our state—there will be harrowing moments ahead, because we’re up against a lot. If you thought my primary opponent’s attacks were nasty, well, they’ll have nothing on the misinformation, distortions, and outright lies that the GOP is about to throw our way. But although Briner may have his Wall Street money to spend how he likes, I’ve got something better than that: I’ve got you.
So John, can I count on you to help us hit the ground running for the general election by making a contribution to my campaign today? There’s no time to rest on our laurels, because we’re truly going to need a warchest to keep getting our message out to every part of the state and show every voter—even the Republicans—that our campaign is the campaign fighting for North Carolina.
