Today I was on a Zoom call sponsored by Swing Left, a great organization working towards defeating Donald Trump and flipping purple states blue (I recommend everyone check them out ASAP). The call featured Cal Cunningham, who is the Democratic Candidate for Senate Candidate in our fine state of North Carolina.
So, yeah, this guy. He’s a super solid candidate. Served in Iraq and Afghanistan, MS in Public Policy and Public Admin from London School of Economics, law degree from UNC, former state Senator, received an award for his Pro Bono work representing victims of domestic violence an tenants rights abuse. And he’s only a few months older than me, so makes me feel a bit like a failed adult.
I donated to his campaign today. I am going to be volunteering and dedicating as much time as possible to getting him elected and will probably end up spending more time and effort working on his campaign than I have ever spent volunteering for any other candidate, including President Obama.
Why? Because he inspires me? Because I believe in him? Because his platform is amazing? Because he was my first choice out of all the candidates who were running? No. No. No… and No.
He’s running against this guy:
This is NC Senator Thom Tillis. He. Is. The. Worst. He’s got an A+ rating from the NRA. He is anti-choice and against marriage equality. Even groups of his own supporters starting leaving his side when he voted for Trump’s national emergency declaration that took millions from military construction projects in NC and shifted them to build – you guessed it – the wall. Trump has endorsed Tillis. Enough said.
Add to that the fact that Democrats need to pick up just three or four seats to gain the majority in the Senate (depending on the party of the VP), and that FiveThirtyEight has Cunningham currently seven points ahead of Tillis, and my support of Cunningham is literally a no-brainer.
But you see, this is the candidate I really wanted to support:
That’s Erica Smith. She’s a former Engineer with Boeing, and was also a patent examiner in Chemical Engineering Technology. And even more impressive, she is a public high school math and science teacher and the current NC State Senator from the third District. But… she… yeah.. she’s not a white dude.
She lost in the primary. The DSCC basically met with Cunningham behind her back and endorsed him. She was just too much of a risk in the current political climate (see above, Tillis/Trump/Senate Majority/End of our Democracy if this s**t continues/etc). Cunningham was seen as such a significantly bigger threat to Tillis that a GOP super PAC that is associated with Mitch McConnell actually funded efforts in NC to help Smith in the primaries.
Let that one sink in a little. Two extremely qualified candidates. Smith is more progressive, and remember, not a white guy. Cunningham more middle-of-the-road, oh, and a white guy. And as if Smith didn’t have enough of an uphill battle, she’s seen as such a potential disaster for the Democrats in the race that the friggin’ Republicans fund efforts in her favor because they know that had she become the Senate candidate, there was basically no way Tillis would lose. But sure, the playing field is level.
So, that’s the long-winded way of explaining how I got myself here — 150% behind this guy:
I feel like I am being asked if I would rather have a wilted ice-berg lettuce salad or a Clorox-smoothy, when at the same time there is this amazing vegan buffet sitting behind a glass wall that I have to pretend I just don’t see.
And don’t even get me started about these two:
I mean, I get it, it’s not like we had any better choices. He was the only one. Well, him and Bernie.
That’s it. Nobody else.
Can’t imagine why I am so angry all the time.
Biden 2020
Cunningham for US Senate
#BlueNoMatterWho
Karen A. Taggart 