Four More Reasons To Anticipate Next November like Christmas Morning

With new polling showing a 16-point "motivation gap" (67%-51%) between Democrats and Republicans itching to vote in 2018 elections for the North Carolina General Assembly, we shall proceed in this space with celebration of some of the first-time Democratic candidates who are announcing they'll run this year:

Brandon Lofton

Brandon Lofton, running in the 104th NC House District

District currently covers much of south Charlotte and has been "reliably Republican"

Incumbent Republican: Andy Dulin, newly elected in 2016 to replace Ruth Samuelson (who was sometimes a "moderate" R). Dulin's an Appalachian State graduate (1984), with a bachelor’s in travel, tourism, and marketing. He was previously on the Charlotte city council, 2005-2013, and he told the Observer in 2016 that he wouldn't support the repeal of HB2. Just yesterday, the Charlotte Observer pointed out that if the court accepts the redrawn GA district maps produced by the special master, Dulin's 104th becomes considerably less congenial to The Party of Trump.

Democrat Brandon Lofton is a lawyer and a partner at Robinson Bradshaw, concentrating on public finance. Quoting from the Robinson Bradshaw website: "He regularly serves as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, borrower's counsel and bank counsel for tax-exempt and taxable financings. Brandon represents municipalities, counties, hospitals, universities, nonprofits and underwriters in the financing and refinancing of capital improvements. He also represents clients in a variety of public finance transactions, including general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, installment financings and limited obligation bonds."

Lofton graduated from Chapel Hill with his bachelor's in 2001 and then earned his law degree at New York University in 2004, trailing service awards and academic honors along the way. Lofton was honored by his law school as the featured representative and speaker for the class of 2004. He described "his childhood dream of being a lawyer, explaining how he wanted to be a source of positive social change and to emulate legal heroes such as Thurgood Marshall."

If you want to contribute to Brandon Lofton's campaign, click here: Act Blue Directory (scroll down). 

Erica McAdoo, running in the 63rd NC House District

Erica McAdoo

District covers Alamance County

Incumbent Republican: Stephen M. Ross, a Wells-Fargo banker (hiss!) and previously the mayor of Burlington, first elected to the General assembly in 2012. He recently voted to eliminate judicial primaries in the state (bad!), but some of his other ratings make him look like a squishy moderate: the American Conservative Union rated his usefulness at 42%, and the National Rifle Association put his slavishness to their special interests at 57%.

Democrat Erica McAdoo is "Firm Manager" for The Paynter Law Firm in Hillsborough and teaches at Guilford College and Meredith College (while simultaneously working on an MBA at ECU). She earned a Master's of Music from Appalachian State, a paralegal certificate from Meredith, and a B.S. in piano from Campbell University. According to the Paynter website, McAdoo previously "worked in the legal industry as a litigation paralegal where she was frequently responsible for legal research, document drafting, employee training, office and file organization, client recruitment and retainment, implementation of firm-sponsored community events, identification of marketing opportunities, and development of marketing materials."

If you want to contribute to Erica McAdoo, click here. 

Mack Paul, running in the 18th NC Senate District

Mack Paul

District 18 under the latest redistricting maps includes northern Wake County, Franklin County, and a small section of Raleigh

Incumbent Republicans: John Alexander and Chad Barefoot, double-bunked by those same redistricting maps. Barefoot, a conservative dick (his attempt to redistrict Wake's Board of Education was thrown out by the courts as unconstitutional), already announced his retirement, so holding the seat for the Republicans is all on John Alexander, the owner of a trucking company first elected to the GA in 2014 (barely) and reelected in 2016 with 50.01% of the vote. For a Republican he expresses hesitance at best and a dangerous moderation at worst on some issues like the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare.

Democrat Mack Paul is a Raleigh real-estate attorney and former Wake County Democratic Party chair. Paul says his campaign will focus on economic issues affecting the middle class, and he says the Republican-dominated Senate has “been focused way too much on issues that divide us.” He was a founding member of Triangle Growth Strategies and the Triangle Smart Growth Coalition, two groups that brought together homebuilders and environmentalists on growth issues. As a partner at Morningstar Law Group, he has represented big developers who were defeated in their plans by local opposition, but Paul says he does not support recent legislation backed by developers to limit local governments’ planning and zoning powers. “I feel like it’s important that our local governments have authority to implement the policies that they need because they understand the issues at the local level,” he said. I want to believe him.

If you want to contribute to Mack Paul, go to Act Blue. 

Wendy B. Sellars, running in the 80th House District

Wendy Sellars

District covers Davidson County

Incumbent Republican Sam Watford has announced that he'll move over and run for a senate seat, so technically this is now an open seat. (Republican Kevin Speight, the finance chair of the GOP's 13th U.S. Congressional District, announced last month that he will represent the Republicans on the ballot for the seat.)

Democrat Wendy Sellars is an adult probation and parole officer for the N.C. Department of Public Safety and was elected for her second, two-year term on the Thomasville City Council in November. She was previously a member of the Davidson County Board of Education. She criticizes the Republicans’ refusal to expand Medicaid and sufficiently address the opioid crisis: “For too long, Republicans in the General Assembly have failed to adequately address the issues facing our community. Our leaders should fight every day to make sure people have access to a quality education and affordable health care, including lifesaving answers to the opioid and mental health crises. It’s time we fight for those who are in need and stop catering to those at the top .… Everyone deserves a representative who will be their constituents’ voice and speak up for the voiceless among us – I intend to be that representative for Davidson County.”

If you want to contribute to Wendy Sellars, here's the link. 

It's Not the Word, People

I keep seeing people on Facebook and in newspaper opinion pieces drawing back in horror that Trump said "shithole." Saying shithole was not the offense. Writing off huge segments of dark-skinned humanity as being unworthy of respect let alone empathy -- that was the gaping abyss in Trump's soul which suddenly opened up for all of us to contemplate. Is there any bottom to that hole?

It was not the word he uttered. It is the fact that this particular person -- putatively, the "leader of the free world" -- would express such racist contempt for millions of other people, out loud and in front of witnesses.

“This is how the forgotten men and women of America talk at the bar,” said a Fox News host, as if Trump's "honesty" were his saving grace. A lot of things get said in bars, which does not necessarily elevate those sentiments to a place of privilege in our public discourse. Bars are where small men go to swagger in front of their friends and rivals. The utterance “shithole countries" is mere swagger, meant to short-circuit discussion and bully any opposition.

The United States of America is full of people who came from troubled places, mere shitholes you could say, but it was not their places of origin which defines them. It is the content of their aspirations that defines them as "American," their willingness to become contributing and productive citizens of our commonweal (despite any asshole bully currently ruling the joint).

This president has clearly grown more comfortable blurting his overtly racist attitudes, condemning whole countries and their people for not being more like Norway, one of the whitest countries on Earth. Did those Republican congressmen in the room who now profess a failure of memory about what Trump said, did they laugh nervously when he said it? Did they through their grunts and gestures, like a gaggle of masculinity at a bar, let the bully's opinion stand unchallenged? Did they study the floor of the Oval Office, wishing they were elsewhere but also secretly acknowledging that Trump was speaking their truth too?

Senator Lindsey Graham claims that “following comments by the president, I said my piece directly to him yesterday," and we wonder what that "piece" might have included. We'd love to believe that Senator Graham told the president to knock it off, to stop being the braggart racist in the bar, but we also know the senator for a suck-up, so we're hedging our bets on that one.

How You Treat People When You're a Racist Jerk

This Man Wants To Be a US Senator

He says the president was just saying what people -- including Rep. Jim Renacci, presumably -- are thinking, and we shouldn't judge the president on what he says.

I am judging, and history is judging, the immoral fool sitting in the White House. He's a fucking racist and always has been.

And I tend to believe that Rep. Jim Renacci, who says Trump called him recently to urge him to run for Senate from Ohio, is proud to defend Trump because he agrees with Trump's racist views but would never utter them out loud.

It Took an Open Records Request To Know This

The public comments collected by the NC Senate Committee on Judicial Reform and Redistricting, regarding legislative attempts to rig the court system for partisan gain, have been overwhelmingly opposed and critical of the Republican power grab. Initially, Republicans refused to release the comments and for more than a week ignored the open records request made by ProgressNC.

Of the 1,025 comments collected by the committee between December 12 and January 9 and released today, only three were positive toward the General Assembly’s plans to gerrymander court districts and eliminate judicial elections altogether.

The rest of the comments were overwhelmingly negative, ranging from disapproval of the committee’s lack of transparency to comments arguing that a legislative body elected using unconstitutional districts shouldn’t be allowed to pass new laws at all -- much less legislation making it easier for the majority to keep their stranglehold on North Carolina’s government.

“These comments show that voters overwhelmingly disapprove of lawmakers’ attempts to rig North Carolina’s court system for partisan gain,” said Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress North Carolina. “Unfortunately, the politicians in Raleigh have shown that they couldn’t care less about what average citizens think. Lawmakers will continue their attacks on judicial independence in order to cement their unconstitutional control of state government unless we hold them accountable.”

Another Republican Bites the Dust. Release the Dems!

Doug Applegate

Darrell Issa of California, a veteran Republican US House member and another of their prominent committee chairs, announced yesterday that he'd rather retire than face certain defeat this fall.

The Cook Political Report promptly moved the 49th House district from "toss-up" to "leans Democratic."

The district stretches across northern San Diego county and went for Hillary Clinton 50 percent to 43 percent in 2016. Even before Issa's announcement yesterday, the Democrats already had several serious candidates who intend to compete in California's unique "top two" primary on June 5th, including Marine veteran and 2016 Democratic nominee Doug Applegate, who came within 1,622 votes of beating Issa out of over 310,000 votes cast in 2016. Without spending that much money (Issa out-spent Applegate by millions).

Applegate’s military background -- he was a Marine infantryman and rose to the rank of colonel -- "could make up for the Democrats’ voter registration deficit in an area that includes the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, thousands of defense industry workers and a substantial veteran population" (according to Democratic political consultant Laura Fink). After he left the Marines, Applegate became a trial lawyer. His introductory video posted on his website is ham-handed and grates (sorry!). He wants to be the 49th's political infantryman against "the corruption of special interests over the needs of Americans and the nation." Okay.

Mike Levin

The up-and-coming Democrat who's contesting Applegate -- lawyer Mike Levin -- has actually raised the most money of any of several Democrats who've announced their intention to run. Fundraising generally for Democrats has been "robust" in the 49th, according to reporter Christine Mai-Duc. Levin announced his candidacy on March 8th, 2017 -- yes, way back then -- and between April 1 and June 30, he took in $333,537 and has $416,345 in the bank. That represents enthusiasm. It also represents plenty of campaign spending on finance professionals, "digital services," and -- maybe most important -- a "ground game" involving paid organizers. I favor that kind of commitment and organization.

There's another serious Democratic contender in the 49th: EMILY's List-endorsed former State Department official Sara Jacobs. Sara has no political experience (neither does Levin for that matter), except as a foreign policy advisor to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. She promotes herself as an "experienced policy-maker, [serving] in key policy positions at the U.S. State Department under the Obama Administration, UNICEF, and the United Nations."

Here's a thing: Sara Jacobs is the granddaughter of Qualcomm co-founder and billionaire philanthropist/major campaign donor Irwin Jacobs, and she has been able to tap into old Clinton operatives who've help her raise money and get the EMILY's List endorsement. Like Mary Pat Bonner, reportedly one of the most prolific Democratic fundraisers "in the history of elections." No kidding.

There are even more candidates who've announced for the primary, and no matter who the Republicans put up at this point, smart money says it could easily be two Democrats who take the top spots in the primary and will have to face one another in November. In which case, the 49th District is destined to have a Democrat in Congress. The California 49th will be well worth watching in June!

A Democrat Has Announced for the 45th Senate District

Big news for the 45th NC Senate District, which includes Watauga, Wilkes, Allegheny, Ashe, and Avery counties. Brandon Anderson, who is currently the Chair of the Wilkes Democratic Party, will announce his candidacy on Monday. He'll be challenging either Shirley Randleman or Deanna Ballard, two Republican incumbent senators who were double-bunked and who will face each other in a Republican primary in May (hint: Randleman is going to win).

With Republican Candidates Like This, How Can Democrats Lose?

Arpaio and Whatisname

We're totally focused on the general elections of 2018 and on what might happen in those elections, so we've been tracking some of the Democratic candidates stepping forward this year to take on Republican incumbents. Once in a while, there's a new Republican candidate that makes our heart soar sore.

Like Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, famously pardoned by Trump for being a racist dick and for defying a judge's order not to continue being a racist dick. Arpaio, who was sheriff of Maricopa for 24 years until the voters decisively booted him, announced yesterday that he's running for the Senate seat being vacated by Jeff Flake.

Hurray! We can only hope that Arpaio will win his Republican primary, because Arpaio will be Roy Moore of Alabama fame squared, a walking and spouting electoral train wreck that we'd all like to watch crash and burn. Maybe Steve Bannon will rush to campaign for him, because he's definitely a Bannon white nationalist.

Arpaio ran for reelection for his seventh term as sheriff in 2016. He got buried by a Democrat. Arpaio didn't even get as many votes in Maricopa County as Hillary Clinton did, and Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in that county. He's poison. Being a colossal jerk finally caught up with him. So we wish him

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (center) and her staff spread gravel
as part of Habitat for Humanity's Neighborhood
Revitalization Program (Photo: Mark Henle/The Republic)

the best.

Meanwhile, several Democrats are also jockeying for Jeff Flake's seat, of which US Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is probably the front-runner right now. Sinema represents Tempe and parts of Phoenix, Chandler, and Mesa counties in the US House, and she's running an uphill race in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to anything state-wide in an eon.

Sinema is criticized by the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party for not being progressive enough, but I'm in no mood to split those particular hairs when there's a potential winner in the race. Along with a potential train wreck named Joe Arpaio.