More big news out of North Carolina courtesy of the Charlotte News & Observer:
After leaving her ACLU post, Ross, 53, served five terms in the state House representing a Wake County district. Most recently, she served as legal counsel for GoTriangle, the region’s transit agency. Ross entered the race after more prominent Democrats declined, and she has taken Burr by surprise with her energetic campaigning and her pride in being a civil liberties advocate. In an embarrassing but predictable response, Burr has tried to make that advocacy an issue by focusing on Ross’ role in trying to make sex offender registries more just and more protective of victims.
Ross has dismissed Burr’s attempts to distort her record. “People are smarter than these ads,” she says. “People like someone who is going to stick up for what’s right.”
In this Senate race, voters have a choice of vivid clarity. Burr and Ross differ on virtually every key issue. To name a few, Ross supports the Affordable Care Act, more regulation of the financial industry, increased efforts to halt climate change, more federal spending to spur growth, the Iran nuclear deal, tighter gun controls, a higher minimum wage, increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy and holding hearings to consider Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
Burr does not.
Ross has rightly focused on Burr’s comfort in office and his distance from the everyday concerns of North Carolinians. As she has campaigned across the state, she has encountered widespread dismay over the direction the state has taken under Republican leadership and the gridlock in Congress because of the GOP’s relentless opposition to President Obama.
As a former leader of the ACLU, as a progressive and effective state lawmaker and as a dynamic candidate, Ross has demonstrated that she will fight for what’s right and what’s needed, not what’s popular or what’s easy. North Carolina needs her smarts, her energy and her courage in the U.S. Senate. We urge you to put her there.