Republican Big Wig Nelson Dollar Gets a Democratic Opponent

Julie von Haefen, running for the NC House District 36

District 36 is a Wake County seat and is currently the subject of a new lawsuit filed just a few days ago alleging that Republicans redrew this and three other Wake County districts just for the pure hell of it. District 36 had been one of the special master redraws that got thrown out. At any rate, it is perhaps more favorable to Republicans right now, but gawd only knows what tomorrow brings. If you want to unravel this history, try this source.

Republican incumbent: Nelson Dollar, than whom there would be no greater pelt for the Democrats to hang outside their wigwam. Dollar is the chief budget writer in the House, so we have plenty of bones to pick with him. He was first elected to the House in 2004, so he's got lots of seniority and lots of power. He won his last reelection in 2016 against Jen Ferrell by a margin of 1,400 votes, and Ferrell was planning another run against Dollar in 2018 under the special master's maps (along with Democratic Wake Commissioner Matt Calabria), but when those maps were thrown out, so were Ferrell's

Julie von Haefen

and Calabria's plans, since they were no longer residents of District 36. For what it's worth, Tea Party conservatives hate Dollar.

Democrat Julie von Haefen (which my computer wants to auto-correct to "von Heaven") is president of the Wake County PTA Council and has three school-age children in the Wake County public schools. She scorched Dollar in her filing announcement for what his state budgets have done to public education: "From the expansion of school vouchers and charter schools to the failure to pay our teachers and principals what they deserve, Representative Dollar and his legislature have harmed our students and our schools. Most recently, their reckless and unfunded K-3 class size mandate caused unnecessary stress for school districts across the state. It is time to put our teachers and our children ahead of partisan politics. North Carolina's students deserve better than they are getting from our legislature. They deserve increased funding for school counselors and nurses. And they deserve a public school system with the funding and resources it needs to prepare them for the future. We owe it to our students, and to the economy, and to the state." Von Haefen is married to an NC State professor, and they have lived in Apex for the last 13 years. She trained as a lawyer and practiced law for 10 years.