Latest / Voices of the Albemarle / Episode 33: For Your Consideration, State Senate candidate Melissa Zehner

Transcript

Episode 33: For Your Consideration, State Senate candidate Melissa Zehner · Voices of the Albemarle

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome back to Voices of the Albemarle, and welcome back to our second episode of For Your Consideration, where we bring you all of the great things you might need to know about candidates up for election on November 3rd.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Today we will be joined by Melissa Zahner, who is the District 1 State Senate candidate.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, Senator Jerry Tillett will be unable to join us for this episode since he was appointed.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's become a very busy man, which is totally understandable.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: We would have loved to have him.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: We will potentially have him if his schedule allows, a little bit closer to election season.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: But for today, we have Melissa.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Melissa, thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you all for having me.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to be here.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're very excited.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Excited to have you here and to have you talk about your campaign and your platform and everything that the voters might need to know.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: You are our second, well, third technically candidate.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we had Judge Ginny Wells and assistant district attorney Kyle Jones, who are both running for District One District Court Judge.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: I listened to that episode.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you guys can check that out if you if you missed it.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was a great episode, very informative.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, be sure to go back and listen to it if you missed it.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: But for now, I think we're just gonna jump in and get started.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just to start off, I actually heard this story at the East Precinct Democrats meet and greet.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I covered that for the newspaper.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: There should be an article about that coming out soon.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Or it actually will already be out by the time this episode airs.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you should read that too.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um I thought it was a really cool story.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm hoping you can tell the story again about how you ended up running for this seat.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I think I started paying more attention to politics because of my kids went into public schools and my mom was a public school teacher, and she said, you know, you got to go to public school, the board meetings and pay attention to what's going on.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's how you can help teachers the most.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd run for school board.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't think I was gonna run for office again.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I did that mainly to have give people an option on our ballot in Dare County.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so wasn't sure I was gonna run again.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: And the night before the filing deadline, I got a phone call from Kate Barr, who um has run for office, but also has a lot of nonprofit organizations that help down ballot candidates who are running in these gerrymander districts and might not get enough attention from, say, a state party or anybody else, actually.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so she called and I said, I don't know, you know, maybe, maybe like that sounds okay.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: That could be fun.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a 10 county district, who wouldn't want to do that?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Apparently, no one else.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so she called me and I was hiding in in my bathroom, which is where I the only place in our house that I can hide from my kids.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: And uh the next another phone call came in and it was a 919 number.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, oh Raleigh, I better answer.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was Supreme Court Justice Anita Earl's.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I I still can't believe I when I think about that conversation, me sitting on the side of my bathtub at 8:30 at night talking to her about running for state senate seems like it it didn't really happen.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it did.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, you know, there was a the four-way uh primary for the Republican seat.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, no one wants to do this.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's a gerrymander district, and we need you to do this.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: We need someone on the ballot.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we need to give voters a choice.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I I was shocked and I walked out of the bathroom and looked at my husband and I said, Do you want to tell her no?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because I will not be telling Justice Need Earls no.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: I won't.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: I I felt like, yeah.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, do you know her?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Have you have you met her before?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: I had not met her before, but I followed her closely.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, I just it it just felt like a really awesome opportunity to kind of be loud and proud for this part of North Carolina.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: I am not from here originally, but my grandfather is.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and out of us 19 grandkids, I'm the one that returned.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, 19.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my mom's one of eight kids.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: So wow, yeah.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Big family.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: My grandfather was a tobacco farmer.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, it just felt I don't know, it felt like I could do it and I was gonna give it my all.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so yeah, I I that was that was it.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: You don't say no to Justice Need Earls.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, you just don't.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So actually, going back to what you said, um Dare County, that's where you live now, and you have family ties to this area.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: What is your background?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Were you you said you were not born here?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: No, I was born in the booming metropolis of Farmville, Virginia.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my parents are actually from Cumberland County, which um doesn't even have a stoplight.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so yeah, we come from a very small place, but a really awesome rural community.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my mom was a public school teacher.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: My dad and his brothers uh started a glass company.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um my dad unfortunately passed away, and one of his brothers passed away.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: And but my cousins now run it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um they do residential class, windshields, all kinds of stuff.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I come from very humble beginnings.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um my parents were kind of the first of you know, their families, that generation was kind of the first to build any sort of wealth, and it wasn't even, it was just getting by.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: But um, my mom's dad was a was a sharecropper, tobacco farmer.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: So we're talking not even owning the land that you work.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you said that was in this area where well he was from northeastern North Carolina.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: He was born and raised here, but he moved to Virginia to be with my grandmother because, well, who would not have?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, he they lived in they lived in Cumberland, and that's where he farmed.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's where I lived on that farm for the first few years of my life.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, for me, my memories are great.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think it's it was just fun.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: He included us in everything.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: For my mom and her siblings, not so much.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think their memories are very different.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they worked hard, they missed a ton of school.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um it it it was really a different life.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right, absolutely.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I grew up there and I went to college at Randolph Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: And when I left college, I started working in minor league baseball.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was hired as a stadium operations director.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's so cool.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it was really cool.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: I had been interning with them, and um yeah, they they had just redone their entire stadium.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: We had added 11 luxury boxes and this huge concourse, and we had two concession stands now, and it had come up from this tiny little stadium, and they hired me to be in charge of all of that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was, you know, it's 21, 22.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I had 50 some employees and wow, was running a stadium, and it was wonderful and so challenging and nonstop.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I our hours that we worked were we would go to pull tarp off the field at like 7 a.m.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I would leave the stadium at 1 a.m.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wow following night.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like I lived there basically.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um very fun, very fun.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I loved it.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then I went into restaurant management and started working with um a couple of brothers that own restaurants, and I basically went around to restaurants making sure that systems were working correctly for the people that needed them.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: So that was fun.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, again, long hours and kind of crazy schedule.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: And my husband and I decided to have a family.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he was working a crazy schedule as well.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And childcare was well, started to cost more as we looked forward, was going to be more than I was bringing home.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we made the decision, um, given his work and travel schedule that I would become a stay-at-home mom.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: And something I never thought I would do in a million years.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's where I've been for 10 years.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: I've been volunteering as, you know, at my kids' preschool.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: I was on the preschool board.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: I did before that I did mommy and me.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: I was on the mommy and me board.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: We um, you know, volunteer around the community.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Now my kids are both in public school in Dare County.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm at that school much more than they would like for me to be.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but it's just education is so important to me.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's what um it, like I said, it's what brought me to all of this.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, that's where I've been.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Just just being a mom.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been wild.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we went through the pandemic and all of these things.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so when I look back on the last 10 years, I'm I'm grateful for that time with them.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I was really ready to go back to work this year.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: I I told my husband, I was like, I think I'm, I think I'm I've I've done enough.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: I need to get back to work.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like I can only rearrange our furniture in our house so many times.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so yeah, I I said I was gonna go back to work and then this came up.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's a different kind of work.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: It is, it is.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you just one thing?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, sure.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I want you to have an opportunity to to talk about your your your more complete uh platform, but um, I have a question.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're working with schools and featuring your teachers, um, and the schools are very the schools jump out at me on your website and what you said.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is it about school?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: I knew your mother was a teacher and you have kids in school.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: What is it about schools that raises it to the to the top of the list there?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know David has a good question when he steals it from my list by accident.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I like I said, when my kids went to school, I I was ready to help teachers however I could, you know, give me a list, I'll send every single thing.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Do all the things.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but when I said to my, when I spoke to my mom and said, what can I really do to help teachers?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't want to get in their way, you know, I don't need to be in their business.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: I just need to make sure that I'm helping them.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, go to school board meetings and start paying attention.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so I did.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: And from that, my Randolph Macon Women's College alum brain was like, Oh, we should research the history of uh public schools in North Carolina and see kind of what's been happening and how the funding is going and what's this voucher program.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And oh my gosh.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I I just dug in.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the more I learned, I think the matter I got.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, honestly, and I see the divestment in education and I know the value of education because where I come from, like my mom, for example, my mom missed months of school, big do work, working not for for money, but working on a tobacco farm to help her family.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: And she missed months of school.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: She still graduated early.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: And she's brilliant.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but she knew what the value of an education was.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: And my grandparents did.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: It was important that those kids, you know, they they came from very little, but it was important that they had an education.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you have an education, it opens doors for you.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: And when I look at Senate District One and all of these different counties, they have different needs, lots of them.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but the one consistent thing is that our schools in Senate District One are typically one of the highest employers in the county.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: When we're not paying our teachers well, they're not going to stay in those counties.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: We've had lots of counties close schools because of that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I think that good schools build good communities.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: If more people, if kids can go to school and parents have good childcare, that puts more parents in the workforce.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's economic growth.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: When you have teachers that are willing to, you know, stay in a place because they can afford a home there.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of the issues in Dare County.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of teachers who can't find a place to live.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're having to subsidize that.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: And we're lucky that, you know, we've had our local government put that to the forefront.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: But when you don't have those basics, those teachers don't stay.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then your schools will fall apart, both, I mean, literally and figuratively.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's the other thing.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: The investment into the actual structures of our schools has lessened.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And the voucher program is just continuing to draw funds from our public schools into these private schools.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I see that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I know that if communities are given a chance to have fully funded schools and have affordable housing for teachers and have opportunities like CTE programs and those kinds of things, um, it's only gonna do better for our communities.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I have a few more questions about policy-related things, but before we get too much further into that, I do actually want to ask, kind of going back to what you were saying about your the jobs that you had beforehand and how you became a stay-at-home mom, which that's a whole other job entirely.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my mom was a stay-at-home mom for a long time when I was growing up.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's the hardest thing I've ever done.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: It is a thing.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I've done really hard like physical work.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it's truly the hardest thing I've ever done.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm wondering, I feel like a lot of people, a lot of voters are going to wonder this as well.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: How you can translate that into being a state senator.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I definitely think that there's a way, but I'm hoping you can explain it.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and I think when we look at experience, you know, I my experience is dealing with people.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: I would go and at the stadium, I like I said, I had all of these employees that I had to answer to that I was responsible for.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: I was very young.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: I learned a lot on the job.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but and then in restaurants, I, you know, you're answering to the public, you're making sure that your staff has everything that they need to succeed.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really about budgeting.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's there's this all-encompassing thing when you're anybody that's ever managed a restaurant or done anything in that part of the service industry, you know that you're juggling a hundred things at one time.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: And you've got a budget to worry about, you've got food costs to worry about, you have labor to worry about, and moving all of those pieces so that your business is as successful as it can be.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I can say that that I worked for some really successful businesses.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that when it comes to our state government, I think uh it needs to get back to the basics.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that schools, roads, housing, those are basics that we should have, that our government should make sure that we have.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm not saying they necessarily need to pay for it, but they do need to be aware that the needs of the people be met.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what my job was.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I was a general manager, but I really, I, you know, I used to say I had bosses, right?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like all of my people, they were my bosses.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because I was making sure they had what they need.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how I feel about this job.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like a lot of times our politicians answer to donors and they answer to corporations.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to answer to people and we need to hear what people need.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: We need to go into communities and find the people that are already doing the work.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you, yeah, if you want to learn about a place, go into the community and find the people that are making sure people are housed and fed and all of these things, making up the difference.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: And those are the people that I would look to.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's how I always conducted myself when I did work outside of the home.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I would, I had, I had people in the restaurant that I would go to and say, you know, is everything okay for you?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like I need to make sure that everything's running well for you.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: And if it wasn't, we would change it.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: We would figure out a different way.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we have to be creative.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: We need more creative people in government.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: We need people who just want to.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, we need people who just give a damn about each other and about um the world we live in.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Great answer.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so kind of moving back towards those policy-related questions.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned roads, and this is this is current.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we just had a nor'easter and it it destroyed the road to Pea Island and out by Hatteras.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's completely, it's practically washed away in part.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's really devastating.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's so sad.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it's very near to your heart being from Bear County.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um North Carolina was one of the 20 states that sued to receive more FEMA funding.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, it was granted.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, unfortunately, because of the state of the western part of the state, right, because of Hurricane Helene, a lot of that is going back towards there.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And totally understandable.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely needed, it's required.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but as far as accomplishing bringing funding to northeastern North Carolina, how would you go about accomplishing that?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: How, what are your hopes for things like that if you're elected to the seat?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's kind of a loaded question.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, but it's it's it is very uh poignant because of I've I said when I was coming here, I passed about five NC Dot huge dump trucks headed to the beach.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: And they're going down to put the road back together like they always do.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And um that's the thing about that area is this is not the first time right this has happened.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's been a long time since it's happened at that that the road's been that destroyed.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Hatteras Island missed 17 days of school last year, strictly due to weather.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like we it's something that the people who live there are very conscious of.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: They know, you know, and they know what to do.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: And they um it's it's it's kind of awe-inspiring to watch them just like spring into action and get get to work and take care of each other and they do.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm of the belief that they shouldn't have to do that every single time though.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like there needs to be a permanent way that we can make this road um that that they're not cut off from the rest of their county right every time something happens like this.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um and NCDOT, it specifically to that place in Hatteras, that that section, there is a study that's going on right now that will be done next summer.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but there's been many, many, many studies over the years.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think one of the biggest issues right there is that you're dealing with an unincorporated part of DARE, which means you're local.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's also the state involved.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then we also have a national seashore.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: So you're dealing with Federal Park Service.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it's I think for a long time there has been a lot of like, oh, you you get to deal with this.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, you get to deal with this.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot of, you know, that kind of thing.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't know what the answer is for that place.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the answer is for that road, but I do feel very certain that it could that it's out there.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: There are, you know, I I think we need to think outside of the box and we need to think beyond just Dare County.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel the way that way for the rest of Northeastern North Carolina.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: When I think about bringing jobs to Northeastern North Carolina, when I think about infrastructure, because it's not just that road on Hatteras Island, you know.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just FEMA funding either.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's not.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: And the FEMA funding, you know, that is disaster relief.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so rightfully so, it should go to Western North Carolina because that is a disaster that happened that was, I mean, I think yesterday was the two-year anniversary, it was catastrophic.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: And those people are still recovering and will be recovering for a very long time.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is something different that's happening in on Hatteras because it is something that's happened over and over.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we do have an emergency ferry.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so people are, you know, we're able to move people around and that kind of thing.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think um when we talk about FEMA funding, what I worry about is the actual funding and and how much we're putting into that.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: We know that there have been cuts made to the program and that kind of thing.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um and who has to make up for that.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's local economy typically, or the state.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um the state has put a lot of um, they have made it really hard for local economies and local county governments to kind of recoup those losses by putting, you know, like tax they they want to limit tax rates and that kind of thing, and how which taxes you can collect from for local government and which you can, and that kind of thing.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I think there needs to be a lot of work done in.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: All of those things working together, the local government, federal government, state government, there has to be there, we have to come together.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know that I'm the answer to that, but I am a different voice.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm also uh pretty stubborn.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like if I were elected, my whole job would just to go to be to go to Raleigh and advocate for this area.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: And all of North Carolina, truly, because I know that there are other rural parts of North Carolina that are suffering just as much as northeastern North Carolina.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: But I I do feel like advocating and being loud about this place.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think anybody's been really loud about this place for a long time.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: And we've had people in our state government, and things have happened to us in Dare County, the shrimp ban, those kinds of things, those have been done without our state senator having any clue.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Completely left out of those conversations.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, I hope I can be a part of these conversations.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's actually interesting that you bring that up, the shrimp ban, because I actually do want to touch about talk about that, and I want to talk about um farm, farmland, farming.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because those are two huge industries in northeastern North Carolina.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would say those are the two huge industries.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: They are, and there are heritage industries.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean these are they've built communities.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I do know a lot of people in northeastern North Carolina, a lot of people in Pasquatink County, especially right now, are feeling that shrinking.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: They are feeling um these developments coming in, and it is taking from rural farmland, which it's it's a tough economy for for diesel.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tough economy for a lot of things right now that affect farmers.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of them are not necessarily being forced, but it's a better financial decision for them to sell off their land.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: But that has raised concerns.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I am the one that covers our county commissioner meetings and our Elizabeth City Council meetings.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And people are going and talking about that a lot, talking about how we need to protect our farmland.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and like I said, back when the shrimp ban was going on, um, my brother's a commercial fisherman.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of his friends are commercial fishermen.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that was all that they were talking about at the time.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, what would you, like you said, advocate?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: How would you advocate for rural farmland and for those those fishermen whose livelihoods depend on preserving that heritage?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll tell you, when the shrimp ban happened, I was pretty active in our local Democratic Party at the time.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was doing like communication stuff for them.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: And um our treasurer, her, she comes from fishermen and um her husband is a fisherman.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so we we found that a lot of people, and I will say this, a lot of the Democrats didn't really understand the the severity of it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I think in their minds, they're like, oh, well, you know, these people aren't doing what they're supposed to, and we have to worry about the environment, and you know, there's all of these things.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so she and I um actually kind of we had this huge meeting, and we brought in a couple of watermen and we brought in a couple scientists, and we had them explain that you know how detrimental to our entire area a shrimp ban would be.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because it doesn't just, it's not, it doesn't just mean that we won't get fresh North Carolina shrimp.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: It means that the fish houses, the delivery truck drivers, these commercial fishermen who a lot of them have been doing this for, you know, generations.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: And um really kind of we're trying to get people to rally around this idea that, you know, I don't know.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think being being a a country crat, as my as my dad would have called it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Is that like a country democrat?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think so.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm from like real, I'm from working people.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, my dad, I grew up fishing and riding four-wheelers and doing all the things, and you know, grew up in on farmland and back roads.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: And um, these are the things that I love and want to honor and protect.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I see, you know, commercial fishing as kind of it, it is the farming of the eastern part of the city, you know.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so for me, it's just very simple.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: When I think about farmers, I immediately am like, oh gosh, I I want, you know, we we need our farmers.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: I see that direct line of what happens when a farmer has to sell off land and how that affects their family and how it affects their community around them and all of those things.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: But I I feel like a lot of people who maybe didn't grow up in the rural South, they don't see it that way.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: And they don't understand the importance of it.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's one of the reasons I'm passionate about all of that is because I think when you do explain it to them, when people understand the importance of keeping farms and families and making sure that our shrimpers can go out and, you know, make a living, they do, they're like, oh gosh, there's something like snaps in them.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh yeah, you're right.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: You're right.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I see a lot of this development.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: I see the signs around Pasco Tank.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the yellow signs developing in Texas County.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I read articles, I've read articles about it.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: And um my articles.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, your articles.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm famous.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but but I truly I there's a lot of things at play here.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: The state legislature has made a lot of rules that make it really hard for farmers to continue and and keep going and pass that that farm down.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you've got kind of the overdevelopment.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: Curituck County is the fastest growing county in North Carolina right now.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: I have heard that, yes.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh okay, you know, so glad that people want to move to northeastern North Carolina.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: However, um, when those developers come in, are we making sure as a state and as local government even, but certainly as a state, that they're paying their fair share and making sure that, yes, if they develop this land, that when they leave there's infrastructure built to make sure that we aren't overcapacity.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we think about grocery stores, yeah, things like that.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: It it has a ripple effect.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: If you pop up one community with 25 houses, and then now all of those people are gonna go use the one grocery store that you have, and the one, you know, it it eventually that infrastructure has to keep up.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then you think about septic systems and you think about water and all of these things that um developers just build and they leave.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's the local government and and taxpayers that are footing the bill for all that development.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a problem as well.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just the loss of land, it's that not only has this family lost their land, but now we've all got to pay for this development when we didn't build those houses.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, people need affordable homes.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's the other thing.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we need affordable homes.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's got to be a way that um that farmers can be successful and not have to sell their land, but also we have to have land to build homes on.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's a it's a huge, it is an ordeal.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: I just think that in that way, if people want to develop, they need to pay, they need to pay their fair share and make sure that these communities aren't left footing the bill for however long as they try to recoup and build infrastructure to now to keep up.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: In government, um there's there's several things that come up, and and yeah, maybe you said them, but I'm not saying that you said them, it it's what I hear.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for example, is the stop developing type of thing.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: The the word I hear is stop.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's an it's almost a negative word, and that's why it's why.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a why to it, and you're trying to explain that why.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you talk about the the building the roads and the infrastructure.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um how did it you've talked about this issue.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: You started with a shrimp, which is an issue, right?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then we come to global issues.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: How do you make that real?
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: How do you make that real to people that that live here?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do you make it real in your communication to to people that want to make that decision to back you?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good question.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and I think with the shrimping, it's easy.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like I can say, I I know what bill's coming down the pike.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: I know what they want to do because they've tried to do it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: So with that, it's easy.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a it's a hard no.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: Always gonna vote no against them.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's a matter of voting, right?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: Fairy tolls, banning shrimp, exactly.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because those are policies that come up, you vote on them.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's an easy one for me.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and that is to protect, right?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: To protect those people and protect that that heritage.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think what's different about development and farming and farmland are, like I said, all the moving pieces.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: We're working with tariffs that have harmed farmers.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're working with gas prices that are harming farmers.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: We're, you know, we're looking at things that are at the federal level, at the state level, and at the county level that are all kind of coming together to make it really good, make it a sweet offer to sell your land to a developer because anything else seems like maybe too much or too hard or like it's not gonna work.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so I do feel like a lot of times, like you said, they they kind of get cornered and it's not it's not at the fault of anything they've done.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, farmers are are just trying to make a living, just like anyone else.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's just that they live off of a piece of land.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: And if they can no longer do that, they, you know, they have to feed their family too.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so I do understand it.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's there has to be responsibility in growth and responsibility in any sort of development that you do.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: And whether that is the local government and the state working together, which I think is what needs to happen moreover than what does happen, because what happens typically is the legislature makes a rule or policy or law, and then the local governments are just forced to deal with it.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's a hard lift because you're talking about something logical.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, and instead of emotional, you know, the emotional stop, you know, but you're talking about let's work together.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think that's tough.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: It is, it's very tough, but I think I think that's what is going to have to happen in order for there to be, like just said, responsible development because we have to grow.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: We have people moving here, people want a place to live.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: People like living out in in on farmland.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: They like living further out outside of city spaces and towns.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, we want people to have that option, but we want the state to make sure that they are not hindering local governments from being able to keep up with all of that, you know.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's why it has to be a hand-in-hand thing.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the the state legislature working with county governments in eastern North Carolina is not something that has been happening.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it needs to.
• 33:53
  unknown: Okay.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, kind of going back to what you said about affordability for housing.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and for families.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: You you talked about, you know, farmers having to feed their families as well.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, you also said a huge reason why you ended up becoming a stay-at-home mom is because childcare costs were going to be more than you were bringing in.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually, I have multiple, I know multiple people who have said the exact same thing.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: They became stay-at-home moms, stay-at-home parents, because what they were going to spend on childcare was their entire salary, if not more.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and they would rather spend that time with their kids.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because what's the point?
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and it yeah, it was a it was a really hard choice.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: And childcare is something that I I mean, when I think about we were talking about Hatteras Island earlier, they for a long time had no childcare centers.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: And there are a lot of rural communities that don't have childcare.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I am, um, we did a thing called the state of the child in Dare County a few years ago.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that was where I kind of learned about all of these interesting and creative ways that people are looking at child care.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: And um, there's this one out uh out, I think like Greensboro way, and they bought this old building.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: It kind of reminds me of this, like lots of offices.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: And there's this one woman who kind of runs the building, but then there's childcare providers in like each little oh wow.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, there's co-op childcare, all of these things that we should be thinking of.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Because like I said earlier, if you have childcare, you can go to work.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: The more people we have in our workforce, the better our economy.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and childcare means that more women can go to work, which I care deeply about.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so yeah, I I that is something that I I think should be universal.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think that we should just have childcare.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think early pre-K programs too are really, really important, early childhood education, um, giving parents that extra year of school and giving kids that extra year.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it takes a lot of weight off of child care if you have pre-K in public school because your kid can go in there at four years old.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's a whole year.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to pay for child care.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: And find child care and keep child care because that's the that's the issue.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just about finding it, it's about keeping it because they're not always able to stay in business.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so yeah, I I care deeply about kids.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: I really do.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I just think that um a lot of our focus for a lot of our years, and and there's always been people that care about kids, right?
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like my mom was a teacher, so that's all she cares about still.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I just feel like there should be more focus.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that there are a lot of uh bills that Democrats have written over the past few years that would have really helped with uh pre-K programs, with childcare, lots of different things.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but they never see the light of day in the legislature.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because we are Republican-controlled legislature, and that means they also control the committees and they choose who runs those committees, and those committees decide which bills make it to the floor.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's a lot of really great legislation that could help families that's left on the floor.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why so many of us are running this year is to flip that and change that so we can get some new creative ideas.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: I have one more policy question for you before my big final question.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and this is something we have not talked about yet, but it is incredibly important to Northeastern North Carolina, and that is healthcare, specifically Medicaid.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: There are huge budget cuts.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, again, in in these county meetings that I attend, um, people are going and speaking during public comments, but especially the commissioners are discussing openly and and really in heavy communication with our Department of Social Services here in Pasquatine County about, you know, when those budget cuts really, really affect our community, yeah.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: The county is gonna have to pick that up.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: They are gonna have to to expand services, they're gonna have to expand budgets that maybe we just don't have.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and that is, I know, happening all across the state.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it but specifically we're gonna talk about northeastern North Carolina because of course we're here.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: But what are your your thoughts on all these budget cuts?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: How would you how do you hope to navigate that if you win this election?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I do think you're right.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna end up in the hands of local government.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: They're going to have to, you know, we're already we across this whole district, this 10 county district, um, there are hospitals closing.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: Carolina Forward did a study last December.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: It was, I remember it was it was right before I decided to run for this office.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe I should blame Carolina Forward for putting a little fuel in my fire.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: But um, there was a list of 45 hospitals in North Carolina that were, you know, once this big beautiful bill goes into effect after the election, of course, um, that once those cuts go into effect, there were 45 hospitals around North Carolina that really were going to struggle to stay open.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: They're mostly rural hospitals.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they were.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: And of the 45, five of them were in my district.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna call it my district.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they're all on that list.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: Every single one of them.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so yeah, when you I mean, uh in Dare County, it's different, right?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're hours away from lots of medical care.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: So we're trying to build infrastructure there.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: We've had um Manio kind of took it on upon themselves to create a community medical center.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they really did.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what's having to happen is local government is having to figure out ways to take care of the health of their people because the money's already lessened, right?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: And and the healthcare options are fewer and fewer.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: And again, we can't keep we can't keep doctors if they don't have a place to live.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_02: My doctor in Dare County couldn't find a house for the longest time.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, wow, you're my doctor.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: You can't find a house.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's that's and that's the reality of it.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: And keeping doctors in rural areas when you don't have good infrastructure, good schools goes back to good schools because good schools will keep people around.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, people will move to a place for a good school.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: They will.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people moved when I was growing up here in Pasquatine County.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people would move to Camden because their their school system was better than than Pasquatine's at the time.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I remember that a lot.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: People would buy houses, people would buy buy land and say, Hey, we live in Pas, or we don't live in Pasquatine County anymore.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: Please let's let's let our kids go there.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a real thing.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um, yeah, it goes hand in hand with healthcare.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I do worry about the future of rural health healthcare.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it is, you know, there are a lot of places that are doing a lot of things to kind of try to keep up this, like I said, social services.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, our our social services at in Dare County, they are incredible.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: Our health department, they've started, you know, a program where you can do telehealth from school now to try to keep kids, you know, staying in school and like not just leaving because they have a headache.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but there are communities that are having to get creative about how they're gonna take care of their people in preparation for this major cut that's going to come.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think no one that I've talked to can really point to an exact number, right?
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: Of how much they're gonna lose.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: But like I said, that report had all five hospitals in this district being finan, you know, perhaps being financially unstable after these cuts are made.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, where do we go from there?
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's gotta be the state.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: The state's gotta do more.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I I come from, you know, uh if they wanted to, they would.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's how I feel about a lot of things.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't think that North Carolina has a money problem.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: We have a priority problem.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that a lot of times attention is not paid specifically to rural areas and health.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and whether that's on purpose, it's not for me to say, but sometimes it feels that way.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: It really does.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: And when I I mean, I talk to people who have to I mean, but I it feels that way.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: And when I talk to people who, you know, live in Sorrell County who have to drive two hours to go to the doctor.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: They drive here a lot of times.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, and they're only um there they have one like nursing home there, it's closing, hard stop, end of September.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: Done.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I did not know.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_02: And all of those people are being moved to other places.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that is because they see this, these cuts coming and they don't think they can survive.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what we're looking at.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: We're looking at people being moved around and having to drive hours for health care.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's not, you know, your zip code shouldn't depend, like shouldn't decide your life expectancy.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_02: But if you look at the life expectancy of people in eastern North Carolina versus the Piedmont region and around Raleigh and Wake, it's less.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_02: We live fewer years.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of that is due to the fact that we don't have accessible health care.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that's unacceptable.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's on the state.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: In my mind.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_02: It truly is.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we're going to be affected by the federal cuts, absolutely.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: But we we should have healthcare that is accessible and you know, you shouldn't have to decide if you're going to pay your medical bill or pay your rent.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so I do, I think it's about investment.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm this is fascinating to me.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: I you know what you're saying again, it's it to me, it it it it speaks to bringing the issues are there.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: I keep hearing the issues in national news, local news, regional.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what is missing is the pragmatic way by which we can address these things.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I liked what you said.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the things you said, like a number of them, but one of the things you said was it's gonna take all of us working working together.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not just one party, one senator.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is the region, the state, the the local municipality, yes, national.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's tough when we've got our own, everybody's got their own agenda.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh that's that's what gets that's what gets voters frustrated.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that gets frustrated.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_02: No, and I I I get it.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: I know you get it.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: I have been a voter.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: I also, but I also, you know, I the people that I'm running with this year, I can say, like other candidates that I've met, I've met a ton of candidates, House candidates, Senate candidates.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: We have a Democrat running in every single seat in North Carolina.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm really proud of that because a lot of these people are running in districts they will never win because the maps were drawn that way.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: And they know it.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: And they're still out there.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: They're still out there fighting the good fight.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: And we're doing it all because we think that government should focus on working people and not corporations and not tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy people, that it should focus on the people who keep this state going.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that is um, I mean, that's what Roy Cooper wants to do and did do when he was governor.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, you know, his track record with with healthcare is a good one.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I I I the people that I know that are running, I they're they're of my age, maybe a little younger.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: We're all parents working, just trying to live life and also bring change to our state government because we need to shift focus.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: We've we've lost the plot in North Carolina.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: We are chasing this.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure what they're chasing, honestly.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't quite figured it out.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we're chasing something that is is not beneficial to the people who live here.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's beneficial to, you know, people who own a lot of stocks that live out of state.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's what it feels like.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's encouraging to me is that is that whatever the outcome, you embody what uh I hear, I read.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not because they told me, but our forefathers created the the United States of America uh with they wanted the common people to participate in the government.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and um when I were use the word common, it's a com it's a compliment because it's real, it's in touch with what is needed, and that's what I hear, and that that's that's encouraging to see that and and to hear that.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I I hope we get to see and hear a lot more of that too.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, me too.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Did you just imply that you were there for the creation of these?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to let you know that I wasn't there from the full file.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: He knew I was gonna go there.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: I did it anyways.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: Too bad.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, my last question for you um is one that I asked our previous two candidates and one that I plan on asking all of our candidates.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to the voter?
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of independence in North Carolina.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_02: They that they would they make up the largest part of our voting block.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, even just Democrat or Republican does not mean necessarily that you're going to vote for one side or the other.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to the voter who is on the fence and who is thinking, maybe I want to vote for Melissa, maybe I want to vote for Jerry Tillett.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you where do you go?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: How do you say vote for me?
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um let me just say this.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: For the past 15 years, we have had one party in control of our General Assembly.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: They have held all the cards, they've made every decision, they've decided where every cent goes, they write budgets in the dark.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that has, you know, brought us to where we are now.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I say to people, if this is where you like to be, then let's continue.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: And certain by all means, vote for my opponent and his party.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they can continue.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: But if you would like to see change be made in North Carolina in the legislature, you're going to have to vote for Democrats.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because right now we don't really have a voice in our legislature.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, bills that Democrats write, those kinds of things, they don't they don't go anywhere really.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's it's a lot of I don't know.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think any any good comes from only hearing one side all the time or having one decision maker all the time.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm a stay-at-home mom, right?
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I can't be the only decision maker in my house.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: My husband's got to tap in every now and then because I need, yeah, I need clarity.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I need a fresh set of eyes.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like when we're all looking for something in our house.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_02: We're everything's always lost in my house, right?
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: Kids are always looking for something.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_02: Where's my thing?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: Where's my thing?
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so I give my family a chance to look.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: I give them a chance.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: And we've given the Republicans 15 years, we've given them a chance.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_02: But at some point, I know that I'm always going to have to walk into the room and be the one with the good eyes and find the thing.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's time for a fresh set of eyes.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's time for a fresh set of ideas.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that a stale government is good for anyone.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: And we've sort of reached a point where we're at this.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: Are we going forward?
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: Are we going backward?
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're just plateauing.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_02: What are we doing?
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_02: There's no movement.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so yeah, I I don't know.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: I I want to say, you know, I'm just a regular girl, but it's true.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: I just, I really did get a phone call on a random Sunday night from a very impressive woman who sort of made me feel like I could do this thing.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's important that more people like me get involved in government, every level, local government, everybody should be running for office.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_02: Truly, I do feel that way.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: The more people that run, the more options we have, the more voices we hear, the more stories are shared.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: It it only benefits us all.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, opportunities like this to come and, you know, give my side of things, I'm very grateful for.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we are very grateful for you coming on this episode.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so happy to be here.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as I have said in our last for your consideration episode, early voting starts on October 15th.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: Election day is November 3rd.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, check your local listings, as they say, um, to see where you can vote.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: Check your voter registration and every Friday.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, everyone I check mine every Friday.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_02: Check yours every Friday.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I've got a reminder up on social media.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_02: Check your check your registration.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_02: Check yours every Friday.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: You never know.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: You never know.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's true.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: We got everybody.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and check back to our page for another episode soon.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much to all of our listeners.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: This article will be in print and online.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have switched over to our brand new formatting.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we have print editions every Wednesday and Saturday, e-editions seven days a week.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much to all of our listeners and our readers.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: We really appreciate you.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: And Melissa, we really appreciate you coming on the subject.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much for having me.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, stay tuned for another episode soon.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_01: We will be doing for your consideration leading up to election day to keep all of our listeners and readers informed.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: As well as the other regular podcasts that are talking to people that may not be as tuned in as Melissa.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: They have they have pointed it, pointed out.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of amazing things to do.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they have time for hobbies and things.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's nice.