Jen Mangrum, Facing "The Arrogance of Power" in Phil Berger

Jen Mangrum with
NC Gov. Roy Cooper

Jennifer Mangrum, who is running in NC Senate District 30 against Phil Berger, the Darth Sidious of the General Assembly, is one brave woman. She knows very well the reputation of the Bossman of the NC General Assembly, his "arrogance of power," as fellow Republican conservative Luther H. Hodges Jr. described Berger's methods, but she's unafraid, she's determined, she's tough and informed and razor sharp. No one thinks she can win, but what everyone else thinks does not deter her.

"Public education is the core of our democracy," Mangrum says, and Phil Berger has presided over the systematic dismantling of that core in North Carolina. Mangrum has spent her entire life in classrooms, 15 of those years as a public school teacher. She's now teaching at a higher level at UNC-Greensboro, helping to train young people for the classroom. She recently earned the endorsement of the Network for Public Education, which called Phil Berger "the worst enemy of public education in the North Carolina General Assembly .... Berger has used his position as leader of the Senate to promote the privatization of North Carolina’s public schools. His policies have been harmful to the dedicated teachers of the state."

The Network for Public Education is a nationwide organization opposing high-stakes testing, the privatization of public education, the mass school closures to save money or to facilitate privatization, the demonization of teachers, the lowering of standards for the education profession, and the for-profit management of schools. In one way or other, Phil Berger and his minions in the General Assembly have promoted all those goals and have covered up the effects those goals create with gas lighting about how much money they've been throwing at schools.

(I wrote about Jen Mangrum way back in the middle of October, the first new Democratic candidate I featured in my on-going investigation of the 2018 Blue Wave that's building. I had a lot more to say about my beef with Berger.)

Jen Mangrum's campaign announcement video is worth watching for a taste of her intelligence and commitment to the race but also for the presence of Luther H. Hodges Jr., famous in North Carolina because of his famous Democratic father, but also famous for his switch to the Republican Party and his large campaign donations recently to conservative Republicans like Virginia Foxx. As conservative as he is and as dedicated as he's become to the North Carolina Republican Party, he's had his fill of Berger's "arrogance of power" and he wants to see Jen Mangrum win.

As do we all!

You can contribute to Mangrum's campaign (as I have): https://act.myngp.com/Forms/-786361854017533184. Her race is more than a local race. She's running for us all, those of us who want to see North Carolina's progressive reputation restored.