Growing up first in Taylorsville and then in Statesville, one of the great touchstones of my childhood was watching the news on WBTV, and every morning, the voice of that news was John Carter.
(Sorry to all you non-WBTV folks—hair color and news channels are two things everyone gets from their parents.)
I’ve always been kind of a news junkie—no surprises there—but there was something special about tuning in each morning. Because my Mom was a public school teacher, she was usually gone and out the door by 6:30 each morning, so if I wasn’t up by 6:00 sharp, I’d miss my chance to see her before she left. And when you’re up that early, the morning news—and John Carter—becomes your soundtrack for beginning the day.
And when I went off to college—first to Carolina for undergrad, then Clemson for my PhD—it was the first time in my life that I’d lived outside of the Charlotte media market. WRAL is a fine news station, don’t get me wrong, but it’s no WBTV, and nowhere else was ever really home in the way that Alexander and Iredell Counties had been.
And you know something? I eventually got tired of not being home. And, frankly, after a few years of watching the Republicans in the legislature slowly dismantle everything that had given me the opportunities that allowed me to succeed, I knew that I needed to come home and start giving back to the state that had given me so much.
The company I was working for at the time had an office in Charlotte and I had them transfer me there. Ask any of my friends or family and they’ll tell you just how excited I was to finally be back, but you know something? That first morning I was in Charlotte, I woke up early to get ready for work, turned on my TV, and I’ll be damned if the first voice I heard wasn’t John Carter’s Western NC drawl, still starting off everyone’s morning the same as he always had.
That’s when I knew that I was home.
I think we need more touchstones like that. One of the reasons I’ve always loved local news so much is because it brings us together, gives us a sense of community, and in a time when it feels like our neighbors are as divided as they’ve ever been, every opportunity for us to find common ground is a wonderful thing.
(And, fun fact, back in the late 80s and early 90s John Carter was actually a State Senator for a term—and a Republican, at that.)
Because the thing is, it’s a great thing to expand your horizons and explore the world. Getting out of my small town taught me things and forced me to grow as a person in ways I never could have if I’d stayed. But when you have no choice but to leave home—when the only path to opportunity available to you is to leave everything behind—that’s when we know that something isn't working the way it should.
I got involved in public service and I’m running for State Treasurer because I know how special it is to be home. I know how special every single corner of North Carolina is, and I want to have a state government that does everything in its power to strengthen our home.
It is my hope with this campaign that we can build a state where you know home will always be there for you.
It is my hope that we can build a state that will always welcome you back—and that you will always want to come home to.
And I hope I can count on your support as we work to get there. Anything you can contribute helps.
