North Carolina To Have First-In-History Openly-Trans Candidate for State Senate

There are many voices not being heard, currently, in North Carolina.  I am running because I hear those voices…and I want to make sure our Government does, too.
 

On Nov 9, this Saturday, my campaign for NC Senate District 18 becomes official, with my campaign kickoff, and my formal public announcement.  So you get this a little early!

People have asked me why I am running. 

I am running because every day you endure injustice is the longest day of your life.  I am running because I want to be in a position to correct these injustices.

Injustice affects many of us, and comes in many forms — educational, social, and economic.  For many citizens of North Carolina, these injustices are a part of everyday life.

Injustice, quite simply, is opportunity denied…denied because of who you are, your socioeconomic status, who you love, your race…and many other circumstances in your life not of your own making.  

I want to fight injustice everywhere and anywhere I find it.

Injustice is 600,000 North Carolinians who cannot get even the most basic health care because of cost.  We can do better.  We can expand Medicaid, as many states have, to provide much-needed care.

Injustice is the mother of a special-needs child, who pays taxes that support private schools that have closed their doors to her child.

Injustice is being stuffed into a too-small classroom with too many students…a classroom that sometimes does not even have desks, because there is not enough room for them — and having the state tell you there is not enough money to build more classrooms, and hire more teachers to reduce this load…while giving tax breaks to corporations.

Injustice is the teacher who is not rewarded for continuing/advancing their education, and making themselves better teachers.  The Master’s Degree bonus must be restored as part of the teachers’ salary package.

Injustice is the social and economic opportunities missed by people living in rural areas that lack access to broadband Internet.  Broadband has become a necessity in modern life, and economic opportunity does not come to areas that lack coverage.  In addition, the most modern precision agricultural equipment requires broadband.  This is the Rural Electrification of our century.

Injustice is the LGBTQ person living in fear of being denied medical care, a job, or a place to live,, simply because of who they are or who they love.

I am running because I believe that we can and must do better.  We must find the will to do so.

Being an out transgender woman for the past 25 years in an often-hostile society, I have had to learn how to take things that do not work…and make them work anyway.

For many citizens, our Legislature does not work; their concerns ignored, their issues unaddressed.  I want to change that.

Outside the box thinking is a survival skill for transgender people like myself, and i want to bring this creative problem-solving to the NC Senate, and help my fellow citizens in District 18 — and across the state — to have better lives.

There are those who ask me if I believe North Carolina is ready for a transgender person in the Senate. 

And I tell them about the first time I visited our Legislative building after moving to North Carolina.

There are pictures on the walls of all the former Senates.  If you start around, say, 1963, and look…you see nothing but white men in the picture.  A couple pictures down, and you see the first couple of women in those pictures.  And the Senate survived.

A couple more pictures down and you see the first black person in those pictures.  And, again, the Senate survived.  Not only did the Senate survive, but it became stronger, and better served the citizens of North Carolina, because more voices were at the table and being heard.

The voices of the uninsured, the poverty-stricken, those forced from the neighborhoods in which they grew up…and forced further from economic opportunity by gentrification…these are some of the voices not being heard.

I am running because I want their concerns to be heard, and their issues addressed.  The citizens of North Carolina deserve nothing less!

My District is the only one in Wake County, NC not currently held by a Democrat. 

The current Senator, a Republican, is not running, giving us an excellent opportunity to flip this seat blue!  We need just 4 Senate seat gains across the state to take the majority in the Senate.

With so many issues and concerns not being addressed, and with the redrawing of Congressional Districts coming in 2020, it is imperative that we flip this Chamber. 

If elected, I would join with other legislators who have called for the formation of a non-partisan citizen’s commission to draw the Districts, taking the process out of the hands of elected officials with a vested interest in the outcome…and putting the needs of North Carolinians first.

I will work to bring a return to to pre-lottery levels of funding for education, adjusted for inflation, so that the lottery becomes a true supplement to education funding, as was intended by the voters who approved the Lottery in 2006.

I will work to bring Medicaid expansion to North Carolina, giving 600,000 currently uninsured people much-needed access to healthcare, while at the same time creating jobs and helping to keep rural health clinics and doctors’ offices open.

I would appreciate the support of this community as I run to bring justice and equality to North Carolina. You may follow me Facebook at www.facebook.com/AngelaForNCSenate18 You may follow me on Twitter @AngelaForNCSD18 I am listed on ActBlue, and the direct link is https://www.secure.actblue.com/donate/angelancsenate

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