I’m an accidental candidate for Congress. I didn’t plan on running in North Carolina’s Eighth District but when I realized nobody would file, seven minutes before the deadline I threw my name in the hat. I believe that people deserve a choice in elections and that politicians should be held accountable for their actions.
Unfortunately, gerrymandering has rigged districts so that incumbents, mostly Republicans, are protected and the people are denied the choice they deserve. Challengers are discouraged because of the long odds, the expensive races, and the politics of destruction that dominates so many races. But if nobody fights back, the system will never change. I’m fighting back.
The Eighth Congressional District is the most competitive district in North Carolina. Democrats outnumber Republicans by seven points, 41%-34%, and independents make up 25% of the registered voters. Among likely voters, Democrats hold a five to seven point advantage, depending on the model, and 26% of the voters are African-American, Native American or Hispanic. Historically, districts in North Carolina with more than 20% minority voters have been competitive.
In addition, Democrats have won the district in recent elections. Attorney General Roy Cooper and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, in particular, have racked up healthy margins there. Former Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin won a state Senate seat that incorporates much of the district in 2012, the year that may have been a low-point for Democrats in the state.
However, Democrats in the district are certainly not guaranteed to support their party’s nominee. Every candidate will need to earn their vote. Like the unaffiliated voters, Democrats in the district are fiercely independent. They haven’t been voting for Republicans; they’ve been voting against an establishment that was, until recently, run by Democrats and that, they believe, is beholden to special interests and has sold them out. And they’re right.
Today, though, the establishment is Republican and they’re still getting the short end of the stick–even more so. Politics is dominated by a broken Congress that thrives on special interest money from multi-national corporations who pay little in taxes but get a lot in favors. Hyper-partisanship prevents Congress from passing even the most basic legislation and cynical politicians peddle the politics of division instead of the politics of unity. We won’t fix the system until we change the people running it.
Congressman Richard Hudson is a product of the system. He’s spent his career on Capitol Hill, thriving as the dysfunction in Washington grew. When the Eighth District was gerrymandered, he traded on his insider status to fund his campaign for Congress. He’s built a massive war chest funded by special interests to discourage challengers to his seat.
Hudson is a poster boy for what’s wrong with Washington–an insider taking advantage of a rigged system that protects a dysfunctional establishment. The people of the Eighth Congressional District deserve a choice. I’m going to give them one.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
The way I see it, if you lose you’ll still have made an impact and gained followers/ supporters for your ideas, plus some useful “insider” points to convey to the rest of us; and if you win, we’ll have one more sane and presumably uncorrupted advocate in Raleigh . Seems like win/win to me! Thanks for throwing yourself on the altar, um, i mean “your hat into the ring”.
Not Raleigh, JC. Washington.
If I lived in that neck of the woods Tom I’d vote for you, but I’m downeast in Wilmington and we has the same shenanigan’s going on down here..!! Its very disheartning , but I am very thankful for people like you that shine a bright light on the corruption in our state and local politics that is being painted as a job making money making economy that only a very few have made there fortunes from. Again thank you for all you do to try to make our state better and more honest..!!!
I’m not in the Eighth District either, but am sending in my donation for this race today. Republicans in Congress have been terrible for the vast majority of citizens – best of luck Tom and thanks for running!
The reason nobody opposed Hudson is because people in the 8th support him! You are little oposition.
You mean EVERY person in that district supports Hudson? Rubbish. I for one believe that voters deserve a choice, and NO politician (even the ones I support) should be given a free ride to stay in office forever without being held accountable for their actions.