John,

I’m proud to announce that this month marks my 25th year of service as an elected official. Serving my community for a quarter-century has been one of the greatest honors of my life, and I hope to continue this public service by representing my community in Congress.

Let me tell you a story about how I got my start as an elected official.

As a mother of two young sons, I worked full time at the Chapel Hill Police Department. While this was not an easy schedule to keep, I still found it fulfilling and necessary to volunteer regularly in my sons’ classrooms in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

I would leave the Chapel Hill Police Department at 7:00 a.m. and go straight to my sons’ classrooms until 9:00 a.m. Through my time volunteering in their schools, I recognized that kids, especially Black and Brown kids, needed another champion on the School Board who would always advocate for them and their success.

That’s when I decided I had to take things into my own hands — I ran for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board and won.

After meaningful years working to make our schools safer and more effective for learning, I took my next public service role, as the first Black woman elected to the Orange County Commission. From there, I went on to serve in both the North Carolina state House and state Senate.

Twenty-five years later, I find public service as fulfilling and rewarding as when I first started. With your support, I am confident that I will take what I’ve learned as a community and state leader and apply it to my next public service role — as a Member of Congress.

If you’re able, I hope you’ll consider contributing to my campaign for Congress. Every dollar makes a difference in this race, and whether you can give $1 or $100, it means so much to me.

Thank you for listening to my story and sharing this special milestone with me,