Local Democrats share their visions for the future

ROCKINGHAM — Local Democrats gathered at the National Guard Armory on Monday night to discuss their plans for the upcoming election year.

Three candidates (Linda Ross, Cassandra “DeeDee” Wall and Deborah Washington) for the Richmond County Board of Commissioners and two candidates (Jimmy Self, Kevin Clark) running for the General Assembly discussed their platforms.

“We want to make sure that everyone understands how important it is for us to regain our position in government,” said Richmond County Democratic Party vice-chair Linda Ross. Currently, Republicans hold all seven seats on the Board of Commissioners.

Ross, who unsuccessfully ran in 2022, said she wants to see implement interpersonal communication skills in our school system and wants to see a recreation center in every community.

“The interest rates are going up for housing, so we need somebody to step in and say listen we need to be more conscious about the people in Richmond County,” Ross, a pastor in Dobbins Heights for over 20 years, continued. “When school is out, you know where kids go? Nowhere. They have nowhere.”

Deborah Washington said she wants to see Richmond County strive “in all areas for all people” and wants to see the county change for the better. Cassandra Wall, born and raised in the Philadelphia and Beaverdam communities, said she wants to see Richmond County be a place where her two teenagers are happy to live in.

Party chair Kevin Clark asked the about 15 people in attendance why they are Democrats. Clark opined that the legacy of the Democratic Party is the influence of the Civil Rights Movement and how it has forged a path forward for minorities and women.

“The Democratic Party listens to movements and enacts legislation as Obama and Biden have done,” Clark said. He said he is running against Dave Craven for a position in the state senate, in part due to one line in Senate Bill 49 that Clark stated as “no teacher or state employee can teach anything that will make someone of a particular gender of racial group feel guilty.”

“What kind of doublespeak is that? Clark asked. “You can’t teach anything to make anybody feel guilty? So you can’t teach about Jim Crow? You can’t teach when we couldn’t drink out of the water fountain?”

Jimmy Self is running for House District 52 against Ben Moss. He formerly lived in Dallas, Texas and briefly lived in Colorado before now living in Moore County

“We must be able to adapt the large number of people who are moving here,” Self, who worked for the City of Dallas for 25 years, said. “As quick as [North Carolina is] expanding there’s going to have to be a lot of improvements to keep up with the number of people moving to your community.”

Self said he was shocked by the homeless population in Colorado and is also worried about the lack of low-cost housing.

“There’s 1000s of homeless people everyday milling around the [Colorado] downtown capital. It’s unbelievable. This is going to come on to y’all,” Self began. “I’m just shocked at the price of homeownership. Homeownership is going to be something of the past if we don’t do something about that.”

A special guest speaker at the meeting was Anderson Clayton, the state party chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. Clayton is the youngest state party chair in the history of the nation. She drove three hours from Person County to attend the meeting.

“We saw voter ID comeback in 2023 under a Republican supermajority in our supreme court, we saw felon disenfranchisement happen, a reversal of a decision under a Democratic supreme court ,” Clayton said. “We need to make sure that people know that this year in North Carolina, this election cycle is about our fundamental rights as people.”

Clayton credited the Biden-Harris administration for the American Rescue Plan Act, which delivered billions to local and state governments across the country in the aftermath of the pandemic. She also credited rural communities for their resilience and that Carolinians should be proud that we have the second highest rural population in the nation, and that are economic history in manufacturing and farming is a source of pride. Clayton expressed concern for the Republican supermajority on the states supreme court that dictates the redistricting of the Congressional races.

The Biden administration, which visited North Carolina in mid-January, is committing a total of $3 billion to build and fund internet connections in North Carolina, according to the Associated Press. The administration estimates that an additional 300,000 state residents will be able to access the internet by the end of 2026. Clayton railed against the state legislatures that have banned municipal-owned broadband, stating that North Carolina is one of 18 states in the country has enacted these bans. Clayton stated that Internet access should be treated as a utility, not a luxury.

In her address, Clayton was optimistic about the future for the Democratic Party, while also stating that there is hard work to do to regain their power in local and state government. Clayton also stated that Republicans were willing to hold up Medicaid expansion last year for up to 600,000 people last year in an effort to legalize casinos and gambling, and they are not sufficiently interested in the concerns of their constituents.

“We are not ceding any ground this year to a party that has fully endorsed white supremacy, that believes in the demise of our democracy and that does not believe that people should have fundamental human rights anymore,” Clayton concluded.

Clark credited Clayton for having only one NC House and Senate district race that was uncontested by Democrats this election season. Clark said there was 44 races where no Democrats ran in the last election cycle. The Daily Journal previously reported that from 2016 to Feb. of 2022, Republican Party membership grew 23% in Richmond County while Democratic membership dropped 15%.

One attendee at the meeting said that for future Democratic Party meetings, the organizers should make that the meeting doesn’t conflict with other events, such as the Raider basketball games. Another attendee stated to Clayton that they weren’t aware that voter ID was required to vote this year. “You got to have an ID to vote this year,” Anderson responded. “That’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality.”

The Richmond County Democratic Party will have a precinct meeting on Feb. 17. The Ashley Chapel Community Center will be hosting town-hall style forums on Feb. 8 and Feb. 22.

Also present at the meeting was Nigel Bristow, who is running for Congress against incumbent Richard Hudson.

Bristow, who has served in law enforcement for his adult life and ran for Sheriff in 2022, said he knows how to protect citizens and is attuned to the needs of the public.

“I’m a father of two kids, 6 and 8, and I want things to be better for them,” Bristow said.