Folks,

Some people said that a gay woman and ordained minister just couldn’t win in the South. Skeptics didn’t think I could pull it off when I was organizing marriage equality campaigns or when I ran for county commissioner.

There are still some who tell me I shouldn’t even bother running to be the next representative of NC-11 because WNC is not ready to elect someone who is a gay woman, regardless of any other factor in the race.

I disagree. And one of the main reasons is because of what I hear people in WNC saying about their own lives.

As I organize across the district, lots of people tell me they’ve heard similar messages -- that they just can’t do something because of who they are -- the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their education, their job, how much money they make.

This kind of thinking is dangerous -- and damaging. It tries to limit what people can achieve and become. And it’s way too common in our politics.

Cynicism won’t deter us from doing the right thing and giving everything we’ve got to this campaign.

I’m running to unseat extremist Madison Cawthorn and help pave a new path forward for Western NC. Will you chip in $10 today to help meet our end-of-month goal so we can take the next step forward together?

You see, who I am has helped shape my perspective on life and politics. And it’s helped me build bridges to connect to folks and have real conversations about how to make our communities stronger and better.

With this approach, we won marriage equality and I was twice-elected as county commissioner. And with your support, we can win again.

Will you chip in $5, $10, $25 or whatever you can to help us make our $20,000 end-of-month goal and defeat Cawthorn?

Let’s show what’s possible in WNC in 2022. We can win -- together.

-- Jasmine