$1 billion in the red by the end of 2027—just a few short years away. When 750,000 state employees, retirees, and dependents lean on the State Health Plan for insurance, that’s not a problem we can just ignore. And yet, legislators gave the State Health Plan much less funding than it needed in the GOP’s budget last year, and according to the current Treasurer, the legislature still owes the plan about $300 million in COVID-related expenses.
That’s just not sustainable. And the current Republican-controlled legislature has made it clear that they aren’t interested in helping. Not when they’ve let state employee pay become such a crisis that 1 in 4 positions are vacant. Not when they’ve failed to fund public education so that they can funnel taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.
Our party talks a lot about the need to break the supermajority this year so that we can unlock our next Governor’s veto. And don’t get me wrong, that’s important—but we need a long-term vision for taking back the legislature, too. A veto can’t increase funding, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that if Democrats don’t get our act together, the entire public sector system could collapse by 2028.
Without a functional state health plan, our ability to recruit and retain employees will become almost nonexistent, and that 1 in 4 vacancy number will seem awfully cute. Imagine a North Carolina where no one is staffing the DMV, no one is driving your child’s school bus, no one is inspecting your produce for e. coli, and no one is guarding our correctional facilities. Our public sector touches every aspect of our lives, and letting it fail would be an unmitigated disaster for everyone in our state.
Our party needs to commit now to the hard work of doing whatever it takes to win back a governing majority in the General Assembly. That won’t be easy—in fact, I’ve been told by some of the decision-makers that it’s hopeless and we’re wasting our time by trying. But I don’t believe that for a minute, and I know you don’t either.
We know exactly what the groundwork for winning again looks like, and it starts with showing up in places that have been left behind and showing the people there that Democrats are the party that believes in them. That Democrats are the party that believes we actually have a duty to fund things like the State Health Plan or to pay public servants enough that we can actually find people to fill jobs. That Democrats are the party that believes North Carolinians can be great, if we just help them create the opportunities they need to thrive.
This campaign is a model for that vision, and if we do well, if we prove the naysayers wrong, if we take back the Treasurer’s office, then we can show our entire party the path forward to taking back the General Assembly. This campaign is about something so much bigger than just this race, and if you believe in that vision—if you’re ready for Democrats to win again—then I hope you’ll make a contribution of anything you can afford today. We need to raise another $7,930.21 before midnight tomorrow night to hit our monthly goal, and if we don’t, we may have to scale back our vision of what this campaign is.
