My former colleague and friend,
Laura Fjeld, is running against Mark Walker in NC-06. Walker, a pastor, has earned Hunter's respect as a top contender for America's Dumbest Congressional Candidate with his recent declaration to a tea party gathering that he has "no qualms" about
using fighter planes to blitz Mexico. Walker also willy-nilly supports
impeaching Obama, as ably reported by David Nir. Laura, who most recently served as
Vice President and General Counsel for the seventeen campus University of North Carolina system, wants to
bolster education. Ordinarily, Laura's race might be yet another sad example of true blue overwhelmed by deep red, since this seat has been held by staunch conservative Howard Coble for 30 years. However,
Coble finally retired this year, just when
Republican gerrymandering turned this previously "safe" district distinctly "purple." In Coble's own words:
"As a result of redistricting, the district is now a more Democratic district. That's bad news for Republicans. I think the right Democrat could win. (News & Records, 11/7/13)
Laura
is the right candidate for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that she could be the
first woman to ever represent this district in Congress. Follow over the fold to see more reasons why this under-the-radar race could be a blue pick-up opportunity!
Many factors line up to make this the best chance in 30 years for Dems to convert this seat from Red to Blue. Voters who get to see or hear Laura love her. But Laura needs to get her message out even as she battles what seems like increasingly desperate efforts to undermine NC voter enfranchisement, including the Koch brothers sending fake voter registration forms and efforts by state Republicans to limit voting rights.
Here' an encouraging page from the Fjeld Campaign, showing how significantly the demographics have changed:
Laura is the right Democrat for this district who understands traditional values like education, healthy families and being fiscally responsible but she is progressive where it matters and has been endorsed by
Emily's List,
Lillian's List,
Planned Parenthood and many other state-wide groups, including the North Carolina Association of Educators, the AFL-CIO and the Professional Firefighters of Greensboro-IAFF, Local 947 which previously supported Coble.
In my personal experience working with Laura, she brought indefatigable energy, poised graciousness and a seriously heavy-weight intellectual understanding to her otherwise simply likeable personality. She selflessly served as the "only adult in the room," capable of defusing a totally frought situation by hearing and applying empathy to find the middle path so often that I have to believe she thrives under those conditions. I can't imagine a person with better skills to send to Congress if what we want to do is diminish the polarization and bring forth solutions.
So, if you wish to fight to push back on the forces of political dumbness, I invite you to help get Laura Fjeld's message out to more voters in NC-06 district. She desperately needs more support to air her own messages but she could also use help with the GOTV effort, letters to the editor, and any other on-the-ground support you can provide.