Erica Smith Just Passed The Halfway Point In Her 100 Counties In 100 Days Tour Of North Carolina

North Carolina is going to have one of the hottest Senate races in the country next year. With Richard Burr's retirement, it's an open seat. Trump has already endorsed fringe extremist Ted Budd and he's in an intra-party civil war with the Old Boy state GOP establishment which is backing failed former governor Pat McCrory, whose time in office was consumed by his obsession over his bathroom bill.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have an intra-party conflict of their own. The same establishment figures who lost last year's Senate race with a dull, tepid issues-free candidate, is back with two dull, tepid issues-free candidates-- centrists Cheri Beasley and state Senator Jeff Jackson-- for those looking for a Senate with more Kyrsten Sinemas and Joe Manchins. Blue America has endorsed state Senator Erica Smith, the only candidate running a strong, inspirational issues-based campaign aimed at the Democratic base, rather than at wishy-washy Republicans who may or may not switch parties. Currently, Erica is on a tour of all 100 counties and she's offered to bring us up-to-date on how the campaign is going. Please give it a look-- and consider chipping in for gas and BBQ-- by clicking on the Blue America 2022 Senate thermometer above.

I had so much traveling to Rowan County for Farmer's Day on Saturday. I helped folks get registered to vote-- and even won a zucchini racing contest!

The 100 Counties Update

-by Erica Smith

Just last week we passed the halfway mark of our 100 county tour! 51 counties down, 49 to go!

I want to give you an update, but first, I want to thank DownWithTyranny, Crooks and Liars, all the Blue America members and all of you. You have followed our campaign, and you have invested time, money, and care into our vision for North Carolina, and a Government that works for all of us.

You are a part of this campaign and so, I couldn’t imagine not writing to update you on where we are and how things have been going on our tour.

Here at a roundtable in Greene County we discussed reparations, HBCU funding, and cancelling student debt.

It pleases me to report that what we’re seeing as we travel across the state is incredible hunger for bold ideas and transformational policies. What we’re seeing is a diverse coalition of working people banding together at this moment of crisis for our country not just to insufficiently address the symptoms, but to address the root causes of the problems plaguing our country.

Everywhere we go, folks are ready for Medicare for all. Regardless of where you live or the color of your skin. People are tired of a healthcare system that prioritizes profits over their lives, of being paid starvation wages, of watching as monopolies hollow out their communities.

Folks everywhere are feeling a disconnect between what they are putting in and what they are getting out. People are working longer hours but making less, people's health is declining but they’re having to drive even farther to get to the closest hospital. These people aren’t thinking about the squad or about arbitrary Senate rules, they’re thinking about their survival.

In Hertford County, we stopped by the Rivers Correctional Facility, a recently closed private prison. It felt like visiting a plantation. Private Prisons are utterly and entirely immoral, and they should be abolished immediately. Look at this land. Land that could have been a camp for kids, or a community swimhole, a place for people to come together, has instead been used to destroy livelihoods.

The progressive agenda is a "progressive agenda" to journalists and political insiders, but to working people it’s just a survivor's agenda. That’s what I’m seeing as I travel across this state.

It’s the promise of these transformational policies that is building us a new coalition that will win us this primary and that will flip to North Carolina in 2022. Electability is not achieved by promising close to nothing and campaigning even less, electability is achieved by fighting for solutions big enough and bold enough to address the crises people are feeling, and letting people know that they will feel a tangible difference in their life if you’re elected to represent them. And that starts with showing up. Everywhere I go I tell folks that I’m showing up because it would be robbery to ask for their vote without first asking to hear their voices.

I’m showing up for these communities as a candidate and I will show up for these communities every single day as the next US senator from North Carolina.

In Caldwell County, our first stop was Piccolo’s Italian. I met the lovely Octavio, who’s owned the place for "44 years and two marriages."

While on the road, we pass a lot of Trump/Pence signs and even a few confederate flags, it would be easy to be cynical.

But I leave these small rooms, I leave these groups of people, inspired and hopeful because I know that one Townhall at a time, one farmers market at a time, one county fair at a time, one stroll down main street at a time, we are building a new coalition that is capable of shocking the DC establishment and ensuring the government works for all of us not just a wealthy on the well-connected.

I’ve shared just a few photo highlights from the first 51 county’s we visited!

From Clay to Edgecombe County, we’ve had some great town halls we’re folks have been fired up about ending the filibuster and passing Medicare for All.

Thank y'all, I couldn't do it without you

I know we're tired, but we have many miles to go before we can sleep

Let's keep fighting