The North Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House of Representatives consists of 120 members who serve a term of two years. Each member represents an average of 87,116 residents *, as of the 2020 Census . The presiding officer of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the Senate President pro-tem. The Speaker is elected by the members from their membership for a two-year term. The Speaker’s duties include maintaining order in the House and appointing members to the House standing committees.The North Carolina General Assembly, of which the House is a part, is to convene a new regular session every two years, and the dates for these sessions are set by law. The NC legislature makes decisions on the budget: taxes, tax credits, economic development, education funding, Pre-K, the courts, Medicaid, etc. It also passes laws that set environmental standards such as water and air quality, tax rates, tax credits, criminal justice. Legislators in both chambers serve two-year terms without term limits. Sessions begin at noon on the third Wednesday after the second Monday in January.* https://ballotpedia.org/Population_represented_by_state_legislators
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Position/philosophy statement
I care deeply about people. I take the time to listen. I know how the system works & I’m a fighter for making things better! I have been a fighter for kids & families in need for my 40-year policy & law career. I’ll fight for affordability for you!
Current Occupation
Retired
Age (optional)
65
Campaign Phone
252-491-1946
I have been a fighter for disadvantaged kids & families for my 40-year career, fighting in Congress, in state legislatures, and in the courts.
In 1981, I ran a national student organization fighting cuts in federal student aid. For 16 years, I worked on both sides of the aisle as a leader of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, bringing the voices of 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, and prosecutors to win over a billion $ in federal & state investments in proven-effective crime prevention! Before I retired, I ran a national education civil rights alliance, protecting rights of marginalized kids.
As your representative, I will bring policy & law expertise, skills working with many different people, & energy/passion for making things better for you!
The people of NC House District 1 need a Representative who will fight for budgets & legislation that will address the real issues facing all of us — affordability of housing, healthcare, gas, utilities, & groceries — rather than someone who just votes for whatever the leadership wants.
I hear from many folks across the district hurting because of bad decisions made in DC —tariffs, war, & big cuts to SNAP & Medicaid about to hit. Folks are upset about the failure of Raleigh legislators to take action. Some actions in Raleigh have caused further economic pain, from ferry tolls to utility rate increases.
It’s time for a change; it’s time for a representative who will fight for policies & budgets to help people afford the essentials.
On funding effort (state investments in PK–12 public education as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product), NC ranked dead last nationally (51st), in a national report issued last December. In per-pupil revenue from state & local sources, NC ranked second-to-last nationally (50th), spending approximately $5,600 less per student than the national average.
That’s an embarrassment for NC!
The budget passed recently by the NC General Assembly has modest education funding increases, but nowhere near enough to meet the need, or to improve NC’s bottom-of-the-barrel national ranking.
Our representatives also siphon off more & more resources for private schools.
I will fight to fund our public schools, pay our teachers, & end school vouchers.
State tax policy can be equitable, fund our schools adequately, & ensure some affordability help for people when they are hurting.
The recent budget includes tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich at the expense of most folks in NC. With the personal income tax rate cut that will go into place next year, most households will receive less than $170, while the richest 1 percent of households (with incomes above $870,000) will get an average tax cut of over $7,000. The budget also preserves the elimination of the corporate income tax.
I will fight for a NC tax code that ensures the wealthy & big corporations pay their fair share, reduces the tax burden on everyday, working families, & funds our schools & needed affordability help.
Having worked with a membership of 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors, and having served as a prosecutor myself, I know about effective crime-fighting. Police & prisons aren't enough. We must ensure we have the smart prevention investments proven to make us all safer.
Those crime-prevention investments include high-quality early childhood education, voluntary in-home visits to at-risk new moms, after school youth programs and a juvenile justice system that has evidence-based approaches to turn around kids that have started down the wrong path. We also need strong community-based treatment for mental health & substance abuse disorders; many offenders just need treatment.
These approaches reduce crime & save taxpayer dollars.
Are you tired of rising prices, cuts in services, and Raleigh politicians who don’t do anything to help? Are you fed up with the rich getting richer, at your expense? Are you worried about the fact that some of our best teachers are fleeing north to Virginia, where they can get a living wage, and that already inadequate public school funding is getting siphoned off for private school vouchers?
And have you had enough of your state representatives passing changes in voting rules that make it harder for you to vote and easier to challenge your vote after the fact?
You’re not alone, and there is a better path forward!
Northeastern N.C. — this election, let’s all vote for the change we need for ourselves, our kids, our families, our neighbors and our communities!
For more info, please visit my website and Facebook page, and if you have questions, please connect with me: call or email me. I’m here for you before Nov. 3, and — when I’m elected — after Nov. 3!
