Latest / Breaking The Meta / NC House District 75: Jen Wiles on Schools, Medicaid & Flipping the Seat
Transcript
- Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meta. Today we are sitting down with Jen Wiles running for North Carolina's 75th, North Carolina House's 75th district. There's always so many more districts in the house. I have to remember how different that ends up being. ⁓ So hi Jen, thank you for being here. Yeah, Jen Wiles: All right, yeah, thanks for letting me come on. Breaking The Meta: for people that may be not familiar with what all is entailed in each of the districts, if you'd let people know where the 75th district of the North Carolina house is, and then give us a little insight into yourself, what made you decide to run for a seat. Jen Wiles: Yeah, so first of all, thank you so much for letting me come on your platform. I really appreciate it. My name is Jen Wiles. I'm running for North Carolina House District 75. That district is really central North Carolina. It goes through Walkertown, Kernersville and Walltown, South Winston and Forsyth County, North Carolina. ⁓ And if you're from this area, you'll know how much variety there is in those three places that I just listed. So Walker Town is a very rural area in North Carolina, very white, has higher median home prices. Kernersville is more diverse, suburban. ⁓ And then Walltown is actually a much younger age than the rest of my district ⁓ and is more ⁓ urban, ⁓ more minorities. It has a concentration of Hispanics and black population. And so these are just three very different groups and they get one representative for all of their voices. And so that's on account of gerrymandering by the North Carolina General Assembly. And so my goal in running this race is really to be a voice for the working people. My opponent is someone who has been in the General Assembly since 2013. I'm not gonna bash my opponent. I think he's a nice guy, but he's been in there since 2013. He's a senior appra... Breaking The Meta: Right, of course. Okay. Jen Wiles: Appropriations chair for the General Assembly and what that means is he's the person that decides where money goes in the budget and how we're going to Appropriate finances and so that that tells you two things one He's very well funded because he has a lot of corporations that want him to stay in that position because they like how he's appropriating the money ⁓ Breaking The Meta: Mm. Jen Wiles: But he also, you he's very well connected. so truly I decided to run because I saw that no one was stepping up this year to oppose him. In the past, some years we've had opposition for him, some years we haven't, it's kind of gone back and forth, but no one was stepping up this year. And I just know how many people ⁓ don't get representation when someone who is so funded by corporate PAC money is in office. And so I'm really here running, I'm a working mom of two little kids. I'm remarrying this year, ⁓ a veteran who has a 13 year old so we have a blended family. I've been in healthcare for 20 years. Like I'm just like a real person like you. That just said we need representation for people like you and me and so that is why I'm running and that's why I'm here. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. That's awesome. ⁓ So obviously, one of the things that you've ⁓ been doing now that you're starting to run is walking around your district and meeting the different people. What kind of things are they telling you? What are the pain points in your area compared to other? One of the things that we try and show here is that even though you've got We've got people in rural North Carolina, city North Carolina. A lot of the problems tend to be the same. Are you kind of feeling that same way and what do the problems that you're hearing the most in your area? Jen Wiles: Yeah, so just last night I got to go to a meet and greet for school board. We have just in my party ⁓ we have like 20 some people running for school board, which is insane. So we had a meet and greet. I'll tell you why in just a second. We had a meet and greet yesterday for just the people running for the at-large seats. So 10 people running for at-large and then there's also district or one and two or A and B. can I never remember some numbers or letters, but I Breaking The Meta: Wow. Jen Wiles: I'm in the 2B area. So I went yesterday. It was packed. mean, an absolute packed house. And that is because for Scythe County Schools, Winston-Salem, for Scythe County Schools, which is the fourth largest school district in North Carolina has had a major budget crisis. So it was found out a little over a year ago that we, yeah, yeah, yeah. We had actually overspent by $43 million. And there's a lot of... Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Mmm. That's right, I remember that story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jen Wiles: There's a lot of wrong information out there about why that is. A large reason that is, is because ⁓ money was coming in from COVID that helped us pay for additional support staff during COVID. ⁓ And when that money dried up, we did not let those teachers go. So it's not fraud. It's not, know, no one was like getting rich. They were just continuing to pay for staff that we didn't have the money for. But at the same time, one thing that people really don't understand is that the state was sending the money. Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Right. you Mm. Jen Wiles: So the state should have not been sending the money and that and that's where I will be the General Assembly. So that's the group that makes the budget. We're sending money and now we owe them back that money because they weren't supposed to send it to us in the first place. We've done a good job of rectifying that situation, but there's a lot of need for trust and accountability and rebuilding in this district. But one of the things I know is true is that even if we had the absolute best school board that could ever exist and I care a lot about that. That's why was there last night listening to people because I'm also a voter. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Wow. Jen Wiles: ⁓ We are 50 for 50 in funding for public schools in North Carolina. We're 43rd of 50 for teacher pay. And so counties can only do so much and I and I've kind of heard through the grapevine that other counties in North Carolina are having similar problems. They're just trying to delay the audit so that way maybe they have time to rectify it before it comes to light and creates the crises it did here. ⁓ But yeah, I mean truly one of the things I hear more than anything is about public education and our school board and I'm just trying to reframe the message a little bit to say okay yes we absolutely need the right people in the school board but we need the right people in the General Assembly also. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah, probably doesn't help that we're going on, close to a year now without a budget and it's not looking like, I feel like I just heard the ⁓ chair of this, at least the North Carolina Senate said that there's no time in sight that they're looking at actually doing it. Jen Wiles: Yes. Yeah, so that was actually potentially my opponent in the house. He's done some interviews. Yeah. I'm not gonna say his name. No free press on this call. But he recently said that he doesn't think there'll be a budget till April. I just did a video about this and I'm very passionate about this budget issue. So I'm happy to talk about it a little bit more if you're interested in hearing about it. Breaking The Meta: Was it? Okay. No, free press. Yeah, I mean, I think it's important that anyone knows what kind of issues that we're dealing with in North Carolina. I think a lot of people don't realize how bad it is. Even if you live in North Carolina. I mean, if I wasn't as deep into politics as I am, I probably wouldn't realize it either. Jen Wiles: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so the way North Carolina works, we've also gone through a shutdown at the national level. That was something that was all over the news recently. In North Carolina, we luckily don't shut down when we don't pass a budget. We just use the preceding terms budget. And so I actually was talking to someone in a conservative advocacy group that's, he actually volunteers at a homeless shelter with me. And so that's how we got connected. So it's good that we're both doing good work, even though we have different political opinions. and he was telling me, oh, we have a budget. We have a budget. does, you know, why does it matter? But the thing is that budget was not created for the current time that we're in. It was created before. Breaking The Meta: There you go. Yeah. Jen Wiles: prices have risen because of tariffs. was created before some of the things are coming out with a big beautiful bill that puts new rules in place that we need to have for 2027. And so that budget is not for the current. It was made for another time. That's a weeper word pass. And so some of the ramifications of North Carolina not having a budget is teachers and state employees cannot get raises until we have that budget. They will be backpaid once a budget goes through, but you know, they have groceries to buy now and they have expenses now. And so they unfortunately can't ⁓ do IOUs for all those things until a budget passes. Another thing that I'm incredibly worried Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jen Wiles: about is with the subsidies ending at the national level, there is a real need for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. And we do not have a strong history of doing that in state. We finally got around to it a few years ago, but it took a lot longer than it should. And one of the things is the Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina said that we need to... Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jen Wiles: have a budget by March 31st, 2026 of this year in order for them to be able to successfully roll out Medicaid implementation for January 1st, 2027. And that's because with the big beautiful bill or large terrible ugly bill, depending on how you feel about it, there are new requirements for. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Jen Wiles: work requirements for Medicaid. And so what that means is North Carolina has to have more technology resources in place. You to have more staff in place because we used to do Medicaid verification once a year and we'll have to do it every six months and we have to verify a lot more things. So it takes ⁓ increased, ⁓ you know, resource planning to make sure we can implement. And so they've said if we don't have a budget by March 31st, we are not going to reach the deadline. And interestingly enough, my opponent said we're not going to reach the deadline. So And I struggle a lot, you know, because I am a hardworking person. I definitely believe in contributing to... society but I am also just a firm believer that health care is a right and if something is a right it's not conditional and so when you put conditions on it like working anything more than being alive it no longer is a right there's it's conditional and so I just really think some of these things that we're doing make problems kind of intentionally hard to solve instead of just giving people health care access we put all this bureaucracy in place that costs states a lot of money and costs the tax taxpayers a lot of money to implement. And then what happens is people that need care don't get it and then we're also paying for crisis care on the back end. And so I'm a firm believer in simple solutions for simple problems. If someone doesn't have food we get them food, if they need housing we get them housing, and I think there's a lot more money out there than we like to believe there is for these types of things. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is district 75 ⁓ one that will suffer and hurt from those ACA subsidies going away? Like obviously things like hospitals shutting down and ⁓ what is it? ⁓ Like elderly care areas, things like that. that something not only, is it a problem in general, but do people realize that it's a problem in your district? Jen Wiles: Yeah, I mean there is a high poverty level in part of my district and so there will definitely be people affected by the subsidies, especially if we don't. ⁓ ⁓ expand Medicaid to cover those gaps. ⁓ Walkertown is a more rural area. So there is, you know, thoughts around rural hospitals and things like that that could affect Walkertown. I am also just closely connected to ⁓ people that have children with, you know, you know, chronic needs, whether it's medical or developmental or things like that. I have some neighbors in my ⁓ neighborhood right here where I live who have two kids who, ⁓ I mean, they are PhD. Breaking The Meta: Here, yeah. Jen Wiles: educated individuals, but they just have high needs children because of medical issues and so they rely on Medicaid and so they're very concerned and so I think we have this we have and honestly this idea doesn't bother me. I think people are deserving regardless of who they are, but we have this idea that people are just, you know, mooching off the system and they're staying at home with 17 kids and da da da da and all these like lies that were told. So we hate the wrong people. And truly, I mean, they're just like real hardworking people that are going to be affected by this. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. So obviously, North Carolina, for those of you that are listening or watching, if you don't know, is Republican controlled and has been for a while now. Even for a while, they had a super majority, which is one of the reasons we're in a lot of the issues that we're currently facing. Have you felt a turn from people not Not that all of the values have changed, but that there's at least a realization that maybe the status quo, even in the state, is no longer working for us. Jen Wiles: Yeah, I have and so one of the things that really made me feel this strongly and made me Go from thinking that this race that I'm in is unwinnable to Absolutely winnable, but with a lot of hard work. So I'm on doing that work is watching some of the Municipality races that happened last year. So like Lewisville is also an area that is highly Republican. That's district 74 We have someone running over there Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jen Wiles: ⁓ against ⁓ the incumbent ⁓ and they just elected their first black mayor which was great. I mean that's awesome in that community not something you would expect. Kernersville which is a big part of my district just selected three Dems on their town alderman and so I mean there really are some things that happen in municipal elections that give me hope that Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mmm. Jen Wiles: And again, for me, it's not party. Like I tell people all the time, I don't care which party you're in. If you're not making millions of dollars, you should probably follow my campaign because I'm probably the better candidate for you. ⁓ But I think people just really are realizing that the status quo is not working for them. ⁓ You know, I think a big thing that happened in North Carolina recently is with Jim Hunt passing away. He was governor during, you know, when I was growing up and everyone thought of him as ⁓ just a great supporter and advocate for public education. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Jen Wiles: education and I remember growing up we were so proud of our public education in North Carolina and then over the past 10 or 15 years it's just been very intentionally dismantled and now it's an embarrassment truthfully. I mean the scores are not there but it's also like can they be when we're giving people pennies for education and things like that and so I just think people really are seeing the effects of what this last you know 10-15 years of gerrymandering has done in North Carolina. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's it. North Carolina. So I grew up just so you know, I grew up in Massachusetts. So when I moved down to North Carolina, it was a shock to me. One of the biggest shocks to me, though, was the realization. Jen Wiles: Mm-hmm. Breaking The Meta: We vote very weird in this state as a whole, and maybe that will change, but I have always been very confused because since I've been here, we've had a Republican governor constantly. We very rarely vote Democrat, or no, since we've been here, we've had a Democrat governor. We very rarely voted a Democrat for president one, like one time, like it was basically Obama. Jen Wiles: Mm-hmm. A Democrat governor, yeah. Breaking The Meta: And then everything else, seems like it feels like we were doing Republican. But I definitely have noticed, obviously, as you talked about, I've noticed the shifting. It's great to hear that that's happening. ⁓ Obviously, you've talked about some of the things going on in your district that people have talked to you. ⁓ I'd to take a leap forward for a second. Let's say we get through November 4th. You win. You get sworn in. What's the first thing that you want to tackle ⁓ as part of the legislature? Jen Wiles: Yeah. be optimistic and say, you know, we went a lot of races and we can really make a difference. But I do, I do actually think this is going to be, ⁓ you know, the next two to, sorry, one to three, so two to six years ⁓ cycle for us to get the seats we need to really make a difference. But what I do think will happen if we get ⁓ even just like five additional seats on the General Assembly is that they'll have to talk to us. They can't not talk to us. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mmm. Yeah. Jen Wiles: And so for me, ⁓ part of the reason, part of the reason running obviously I want to go, I want to go and I want to be able to affect living wages. I'm running on a very big economic justice platform. I truly believe that a lot of the other social justices and climate justices and a lot of the other things that are going on are byproducts of the economic justice, right? So when people can feed themselves, when people have homes, when they can generally be okay and get by and thrive, a lot of the other things work themselves out. And I'm not saying we don't still fight for them. I just think there's, it's kind of like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Like people need to be able to eat to even go to school and learn and things like that. And so ⁓ that is a big part of my thing. So I'd love to say I could go and like change our wage to a living wage that hasn't been changed and like, Breaking The Meta: Mmm. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Jen Wiles: two decades that's at seven dollars and 25 cents an hour still. I'd like to say I would go and expand Medicaid that would be high up on my list if things look at. I'd like to go and say that I can be a part of Josh Stein's plan to get teachers paid where it's actually competitive with other states. I mean that's a big thing. He's running on... ⁓ I don't know if that's gonna happen but what... Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yep. Jen Wiles: I am very committed to is to be transparent in this process. ⁓ I am running as a Democrat, but I, you know, and they probably are not going to like that I say this, but and also I will say I love my state party and I love my county party. The national party is kind of angering me right now, but I do think the state party in North Carolina and the county party is Yeah. Breaking The Meta: To be fair, you're not the only one who is angering, so... Jen Wiles: But I mean, to the point that I wouldn't even, I didn't even ask them to help me with my campaign website. Like they were gonna create a logo and they were gonna help me build the website and they were gonna do all these things. Man, there was some money that I had to pay, but they would do it a lot at a very cheaper rate. But I wanted to be so in control of my messaging that I didn't take those opportunities. It was really important that I get to be authentic to who I am and transparent. So one of the things I wanna do is go up there and tell people what's going on. Like, you know, I think of like AOC in the house Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Jen Wiles: the US House and how she's just been, you know, she sits down and talks to people and educates them and really lets them know what's going on. And I want to be that voice in North Carolina. I just set up an event that's coming up in February where I'm actually inviting kids to do a meet and greet where they get to ask me hard-hitting questions. Yeah, because I mean, they're our future. So first of all, if they don't like me, we should listen to them. But truthfully, because I think people need to, I think politics needs to be Breaking The Meta: Wow, there you go. Jen Wiles: back to the people and like, you know, the real people that are involved need to understand it, need to get what the General Assembly does, need to know what skills you should have to do it. It should not be a popularity contest. So if people aren't going to ask me, I'm going to go out there and be like, okay, well now ask me, like I want to earn your vote and I'll start with kids if I need to. And so ⁓ that's one thing I really want to do is just throughout my campaign, make the political process accessible. Breaking The Meta: Meh. Yeah. Jen Wiles: tell people my mistakes, tell people, you know, like what I've learned from this. So other working moms feel like they can do it. They're not supposed to. I mean, it's designed so that way we can't, but I'm just like, well, you know. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jen Wiles: I tell my kids every day, we do hard things. So here I am, like living up to that principle. But then when I get there, when I continue doing that work of just being very honest about how people are voting and what lobbyists are showing up to talk about things and what corporations are calling people up and things like that and just keep being transparent, even if it affects my own party. Breaking The Meta: You Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, I think, I say this with the understanding that ⁓ in general, I will always support progressive or one, I will always support someone that cares about humanity and empathy over. over money and power and things like that. I've always been independent. I've never officially associated with anything for the only reason of I don't. I want it to be about the person. And I think what I like what you were saying is you going and talking to kids, the way I've seen a lot of people that are running, which is one of the reasons that we're trying to do what we're doing here on Breaking the Meta is Jen Wiles: Yeah. Breaking The Meta: bringing humanity back to politicians. ⁓ There's this idea that right now, most of the politicians that are ⁓ Congress ⁓ ⁓ federal or state, ⁓ a separation between us. Most people wouldn't even know these people exist, let alone ⁓ they're one of them. ⁓ there's a real humanity coming back to, I think, a lot of people that are running where Jen Wiles: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Breaking The Meta: not only are they just one of the people, but they want to interact with the people. They want to do things like town halls again. They want to meet with the people. They want to be held accountable when they, you know, for things because there's, there's just been a, this, this is, think what we're dealing with is the end game of a, of a group of politicians, a group of people that have done everything they can to separate themselves and not be held accountable for their choices. Jen Wiles: Yeah. I agree. I say all the time that there's a trillion dollar propaganda machine and any time you are able to act against it or think against it that that's that says something. I mean that you weren't victim to it and we all are victim to it at times but anytime you can ⁓ ignore it and do things in spite of you know this this trillion dollar propaganda machine that's telling us that we're supposed to hustle all the time and we're supposed to be individual listed and we're not supposed to help you, we're supposed to treat each other like enemies and all that. Anytime you cannot do that, we are winning. That is a win. Breaking The Meta: Yep. All right. So kind of to wrap it all up. So if you had one message that anyone listening or watching this ⁓ that you would want them to come away with ⁓ knowing about you and what you want to do for district 75, what would that be? And then if you wouldn't mind letting people know where they could find you, if they want to learn more about you or support you. Jen Wiles: Well, I'm gonna have two, but two things to take away. okay. So one is for anyone. So anyone at all, you I am running for North Carolina House. I do really believe that we are at a place in our country where the divide is incredibly strong and people are working incredibly hard. Breaking The Meta: That's fine. I'll accept two things. Jen Wiles: to ensure that that divide remains. And I think even just going to my website and like considering what I have to say, even if you're like, ⁓ my God, I can't vote for a Democrat is taking a step to... ⁓ be in control of your own mind and in control of your own decisions and making sure that you're not a part of that, know, propaganda machine that we both have on both sides. And I would say the same, like you should be checking out all candidates, regardless of party, really seeing what they're about. I didn't run independent because it's very hard to run independent. You know, I would have ⁓ if that made me viable, but it doesn't. And so it's somewhat of a necessary evil. But I also know in North Carolina, independence is the largest Breaking The Meta: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Jen Wiles: growing group of voters. So I really think in the future it can be completely viable. And so I think our first step is really giving everybody the attention they deserve to say, what is it that you stand for and ask questions. I want to hear hard questions. So like, feel free to reach out to me and I'm happy to come to your house and explain why I think what I think about things. The set. Yeah. Breaking The Meta: You heard her folks, she said give her a call. Jen Wiles: Yeah, the second thing is ⁓ if you are a supporter of mine, ⁓ which I have many like already a ton of people I've shown up to volunteer and to help and have have given me great support. ⁓ Breaking The Meta: That's awesome. Jen Wiles: I would really recommend that you look at some of these smaller races. So look at your school board, look at your county commissioners, look at the people running for your general assembly. This isn't just in North Carolina, this isn't any state. ⁓ They are going to knock on doors and they are going to reach people that the people running for Senate and US Congress are not going to reach. know, Roy Cooper is the big name in North Carolina. He has a, and this is no hate to Roy Cooper, great governor, but he has a whole team. He has tons of funds, know, donations. ⁓ I am right now a campaign or a campaign committee of one. So I, but, but I am already calling people, hundreds of people. I'm already knocking on doors. I am already doing the work. And I know there are so many great candidates in my County that are doing the same. When you donate and support our campaigns, you actually help the up ballot too. Because when someone decides to come out and vote for me, that wasn't going to vote. When I flip someone that would have voted for the other party, but they like actually sit down and listen to what I say, they start considering the people up the ballot also. And so supporting your local candidates, not only is it important to real change because those are the people that actually affect your day-to-day lives more than anyone. County commissioners control your property taxes so someone you should know a lot about you know things like that. ⁓ Not only is it good for you and and your life it also really helps ⁓ you know all of us if we're trying to kind of like really change the status quo and so that those are my two things I would say. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah. All right. You want to let people know where they can find you if they want to check you out? Jen Wiles: Yeah, so you can go to Jen, J-E-N, Wiles, W-I-L-E-S, NChouse.com. That's my website. And from there, you can find Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, how to donate, fill out a volunteer form if you want to support or just contact me with the hard questions that I know you're going to now. Breaking The Meta: Perfect. And we'll put a link down in the description below. ⁓ Jen, thanks for coming on and letting us hear more about your race and what you're going to do. I'm excited to see ⁓ the outcome. hopefully, ⁓ fingers crossed, you'll be able to serve the people of the 75th district. ⁓ For everyone else that got this far, thank you so much for listening and considering. And ⁓ please consider ⁓ hitting all those buttons down below, like, subscribe. Also consider sharing, especially if you're in North Carolina. ⁓ Please share this with people. ⁓ It's important that we all stay informed about what's going on in our states, but it's also important that we understand what's going on in the country abroad. So please stay informed. Please vote in your primaries. Obviously, this one doesn't have a primary, like you're the only Democrat running. So. OK, so but. Jen Wiles: Yeah, I will be on the ballot in November. Breaking The Meta: There are plenty where lots of people are running and it's really important that you get out ⁓ when the primaries are. ⁓ just so you know, this whole movement, this whole community is based on the fact that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender or identity deserve rights, respect, dignity and safety. And we will continue to fight for that. Jen, thank you again for coming on here and look forward to seeing where everything goes and we'll see everyone next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye guys. Jen Wiles: Hmm. Yeah, thank you.