We just finished holding 100 town halls — one in every county in North Carolina. We took questions from anyone, anywhere. And here’s the thing, my answers at our 100th town hall were different from my answers at our first town hall — because honestly, I just learned a ton along the way. The experiences and stories from folks across the state are genuinely impacting the policy priorities of a U.S. Senate campaign. That’s how it should be. And that approach means we won’t have the standard national agenda you often see in political campaigns. Instead, we’ll have a North Carolina Agenda. But before we roll out more of our North Carolina Agenda this month, I want to make sure we hear from you too. On the road, I learned that subsurface infrastructure, like water and sewer, is a huge component of addressing affordable housing. You can’t build a 60 unit apartment on septic or well water. Makes total sense, but I hadn’t thought about subsurface infrastructure as an affordable housing issue until I talked to a bunch of folks in rural NC. North Carolina is a big state. (Example: You can drive three hours west of Asheville and still be in NC.) And to get a sense of what life looks like for people all across the state, you have to actually go there. Because I serve in the state Senate, I knew the broadband situation in North Carolina wasn’t great. So when I visited a county, I asked folks to give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down on broadband in their area. And when 80 out of 100 counties give you a big thumbs down, you realize how bad it really is. I also learned just how much consensus there is among us. We held open town halls and sure, there were a few hecklers, but for the most part, people just wanted to talk about what was going on in their community, and how national and state politics would impact their lives. We’re going to keep learning. And your input is a critical part of that. If you’ve got a couple minutes, would you please fill out our survey? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. More soon. – Jeff |
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