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Wesley Harris

50+ Messages / Page

  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
September 20, 2023 at 2:24 PM

We’ve always healed what’s broken

A cultural anthropologist, a broken bone, and a political campaign walk into an email blast, and you’ll probably never guess what happens next. John, there’s an old story I heard once that I wanted to share with you. I know that I can get long-winded sometimes, so if you’d prefer to skip to the part…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
September 18, 2023 at 2:54 PM

The sun is still rising

But we need to operate in good faith if we want to keep it that wayHey, John, On the second-to-last Monday of September in 1787, in a hot room in Philadelphia at the tail end of a long summer, the United States Constitution was signed and sent to the States for ratification. The men in that room had…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
September 13, 2023 at 12:24 PM

Did you remember, John?

I’ll give you a hint: it was exactly six months ago today, even though it simultaneously seems like forever ago and just yesterday.Hey, John, Today is exactly six months since we launched this campaign.Six months ago, I took a deep breath and a plunge. When I started this campaign, I mentioned how n…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
September 7, 2023 at 2:34 PM

Our state employees deserve better

North Carolina’s future hangs in the balance every day, and we won’t unlock our potential until we do right by them.Hey, John,My journey into the world of public service was heavily shaped by my community and the people who raised me, especially my mom. I’ve spoken before about how some of my earlie…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 31, 2023 at 5:28 PM

Before midnight tonight

You’re the only one with the power to decide if this campaign will sink or swimJohn,  It almost feels unreal to think that it’s already the end of August—this morning, my finance director and I plotted out our budget for the rest of the year, and as we were talking about setting up a fundraising eve…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 30, 2023 at 9:24 PM

We can fix what’s broken, John

And if we all band together, if we all resolve to work as a community, we can do even more than that.John, bear with me here. Earlier this year, I broke my favorite mug. Knocked it over, it fell on the floor, and the handle broke off and split into a handful of pieces. Now, maybe in the end that’s …
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 25, 2023 at 2:24 PM

We can’t afford to fall behind

There’s only a week left in the month of August, and we absolutely have to hit this target.Hey, John, I’ll keep this one short. This is a tough email to write, but with less than a week left in the month of August, we’re falling behind on our donor goals. When I decided to run this race, I knew that…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 23, 2023 at 9:29 PM

They’re playing games with our future

If you care about making our state the best place in the country to start a family, then we have got to start doing better by our public employees.Hey, John,Next week, thousands of school children right here in Mecklenburg County will go back to school—and they’ll do so with 516 teacher vacancies, n…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 21, 2023 at 2:36 PM

A Tale of Two Cities

Growing up, the difference between where I'd spent the first eight years of the my life and my new home couldn't have been more striking.Hey, John,When I was eight years old, my family moved to Statesville for my dad’s work. Compared to Taylorsville, where I’d spent my life so far, the beating heart…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 17, 2023 at 3:48 PM

They can't stop you, John

This is just one of those things that makes North Carolina a truly great placeHey, John, The campaign trail can be a little rough at times—I end up asking a lot of questions like, “Is it physically possible to drive from Waynesville to Greenville and then back to Durham all in one day?” that kind of…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 15, 2023 at 2:24 PM

How to protect our democracy

We can find the answer by taking another lesson from our good friend John Maynard Keynes.John, A few weeks ago, at the end of an email about malaria and political standing water (if you missed that one, you can read it here), I mentioned that one of the great ironies of the Panama Canal is that it w…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 9, 2023 at 9:18 PM

Follow the money, John

You can learn a lot about someone who’s running for office just by looking at this report.John, I’ve talked before about how the mid-year campaign finance reporting deadline was our chance to show the world what our campaign is made of—good, bad, or otherwise. But as much as that’s true for our camp…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 7, 2023 at 9:24 PM

Are there any adults in the room?

Because the NCGOP sure isn’t governing like it.John, A little over one month ago, our state entered a new fiscal year—traditionally, the deadline to pass a budget for said fiscal year.Well, it’s been a month, and the General Assembly still doesn’t even know what that budget looks like.It gets worse:…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
August 4, 2023 at 3:59 PM

We’re falling behind, John

And we’re going to keep lagging if we don’t work hard to flip the Treasurer’s officeHey, John, Earlier this week, our current Treasurer shared his annual update on the returns for the State Pension Fund. It… wasn’t that great. For fiscal year 2023, our pension plan only had a 5.3% rate of return, l…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 31, 2023 at 2:24 PM

Looking ahead

There’s a long road ahead, and we need to keep the momentum upHey, John, Yesterday, I emailed you and told you that on a campaign like this one, each goal we set is only as good as the one that comes after it. In a way, this campaign is all about looking ahead, toward the future—it’s certainly about…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 30, 2023 at 4:24 PM

Will you help us beat the summer slump?

We’ve got to keep up momentum or else we might have to make some tough choices.Hey, John, Campaigns are full of highs and lows—the first few weeks of July, I have been ecstatic since we were able to surpass out fundraising goal for the first half of this year, showing the entire state that this camp…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 27, 2023 at 2:51 PM

Standing Water

If we don’t start attacking our political problems at the source, then they’ll just keep cropping back up forever and getting stronger. John, I’d like to take a quick trip back in time together, if you’ll humor me. Picture it: the Isthmus of Panama, the early 20th century. For years, workers have be…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 19, 2023 at 2:00 PM

Thanks to your help, John!

We're just getting startedHey, John, Earlier today my campaign announced our fundraising numbers and I wanted to make sure that I relayed my thanks, while also giving a little bit of context: Some bigger numbers have already been reported this cycle, but I cannot express to you how excited and prou…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 18, 2023 at 2:09 PM

John, I have a hot take for you

This email might rile some of my colleagues up, but I just have to say it.Hey, John,Can I tell you a secret? It’s kind of a hot take.I’ll just get out with it: sometimes I hate the way that we as Democrats talk about the economy. 😬 See, the thing is, we spend a lot of time pointing out how good thin…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 14, 2023 at 12:47 PM

Why does this race matter to you, John?

The Treasurer’s office is one of the most overlooked, but it’s also one of the most impactful.Hey, John, I spend a lot of time in these emails telling you why this race matters and all the good we can do with a Treasurer who’s willing to invest in our people. One thing I probably don’t do often enou…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 12, 2023 at 4:24 PM

What do Sears, Blockbuster, and NC have in common, John?

I’ll give you a hint: the answer isn’t good, but we still have time to change course.Hey, John, You may have heard that North Carolina was once again ranked as the best state in the nation to do business—a distinction we’ve won for a few years now, thanks in large part to a track record of strong in…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 10, 2023 at 9:25 PM

It’s clear where their priorities are, John

But maybe if we’re lucky then this year we’ll actually pass a budget before November.Hey, John, As of ten days ago, North Carolina is in a new fiscal year… except, you wouldn’t know it looking at the General Assembly, which, once again, still hasn’t passed a budget.The budget works mostly like any o…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 7, 2023 at 4:24 PM

Will you add your name, John?

Donations aren’t the only way to show that you’re standing with this campaign.Hey, John,A week ago, I was emailing you about our campaign’s very first reporting deadline—our Q1 finance report will be a critical tool in our arsenal for showing everyone how strong our team is. We’re still getting ever…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 4, 2023 at 2:03 PM

And the pursuit of happiness

This is what’s so remarkable about the American promise we made almost 250 years agoJohn, Two-hundred forty-seven years ago today, suffering in the summer heat in Philadelphia, the fifty-six delegates to the Second Continental Congress brought forth a new nation upon this continent—as Abraham Lincol…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
July 1, 2023 at 4:23 PM

Thank you

We hit our goal, and we couldn’t have done it without you.John, I know it’s a holiday weekend, so I’ll keep this quick.As we close the books on our finance reports for the first half of the year, I just wanted to say thank you. You’ve stood by me, you’ve believed in me, and together, we didn’t just …
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 30, 2023 at 9:26 PM

Just a few hours left

We’re almost there, John, but I still have just a little more I need to ask of you. John, you know I hate to be sending you two emails in one day, but there are just hours left before our midnight reporting deadline and we have just a little bit further to go in order to hit our goal. When we close …
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 30, 2023 at 1:31 PM

It's now or never, John

Today's the day, and we have until midnight to reshape the face of politics in NC.John, I've been emailing you for a week now about today's fundraising deadline. Well, now we're here, and we're just $4,470 shy of our goal.If everyone who opens this email gave just $25, we would blow past that number…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 29, 2023 at 9:16 PM

John, can I ask you for a favor?

Our state can’t take much more of this, and we can only change things together.John, this has not been a stellar week for the General Assembly’s Republican supermajority. This week alone, the NCGOP has advanced multiple bills designed to target LGBT young people and ensure that our children feel le…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 29, 2023 at 2:07 PM

Here’s how I found my voice, John

And how we make sure that everyone has the same opportunity to succeed.Hey, John, You may think that talking comes naturally for a politician. For me, though, that wasn’t the case—in fact, it was a struggle I dealt with for a huge portion of my childhood. One of my earliest memories is actually that…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 28, 2023 at 11:24 AM

John, this is the other half of that story

Keynes was just the beginning… here’s where things really start to come together.Hey, John, Earlier this month, I emailed you about John Maynard Keynes and how fundamental his ideas are to my outlook and to this campaign. Today, I wanted to continue that conversation, because Keynes’ is only part of…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 26, 2023 at 5:14 PM

Here’s how to make a difference

With only five days left to one of our most important deadlines this year, I’m counting on you like never beforeHey, John, Wesley here. As I mentioned on Friday, at the end of this week, we’re going to be facing one of the most important deadlines we have this year. The next five days will determine…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 24, 2023 at 4:31 PM

It’s all on us now

A year after the Dobbs decision, we’ve got to roll up our sleeves and work hard to protect abortion rights in our state. Hey, John, A year ago today, we faced one of the dark days in American history: the hyper partisan majority on the United State Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, undoing decad…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 23, 2023 at 4:18 PM

To be, rather than to seem

But what we are over the next seven days will decide who we seem to be over the next sixth months.Hey, John, Our state’s motto is esse quam videri, a quote from the Roman politician and philosopher Cicero, which translates out as “to be, rather than to seem”. It’s a noble ideal for our state, a decl…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 19, 2023 at 4:39 PM

Happy Juneteenth, John

Our newest federal holiday is also one of the most important John, On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved persons in the rebellious Confederacy to be free—but enforcement of the proclamation depended heavily on the advancement of the Union …
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 12, 2023 at 2:30 PM

John, this was an important lesson for me

And I hope that it’s something that will resonate with you, too You are receiving this email because of your support for Democratic campaigns in the past. Wesley Harris is running for Treasurer to invest in North Carolina's people and bring opportunity back to the forgotten corners of our state. He’…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 10, 2023 at 2:33 PM

John, let me tell you about home

Well, I’ve had a number of different homes, but this was the first one You are receiving this email because of your support for Democratic campaigns in the past. Wesley Harris is running for Treasurer to invest in North Carolina's people and bring opportunity back to the forgotten corners of our sta…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 8, 2023 at 2:37 PM

I’m glad to meet you, John—here’s why

My name is Wesley Harris, and I’m asking you to hear me out before you click the unsubscribe linkHey, John, My name is Wesley Harris. If you don’t know me, I’m a third-term member of the NC House of Representatives and the only PhD economist in the North Carolina legislature. I was one of ten Democr…
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 8, 2023 at 2:17 PM

We need to talk about John Bradford

Normally, I’d like to hope that my colleagues are operating with similar motives to my own…John,We need to talk about Representative John Bradford. I’ve mentioned Representative Bradford before: he’s currently the only Republican candidate declared for State Treasurer and my likely general election …
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  Wesley Harris · [email protected]
June 7, 2023 at 7:58 PM

Thanks for joining #TeamNerd!

Hey, John, Thank you so much for joining #TeamNerd. I can't wait to share more about our fight to restore common sense to the Treasurer's office and bring opportunity back to every North Carolinian. In the meantime, if you found this email anywhere but your main inbox, can you do me a favor and …
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