For more than a century Democrats in North Carolina were able to govern by forging a working coalition with progressive and pro-business, middle-of-the road voters. Great governors like Kerr Scott, Luther Hodges, Terry Sanford, Bob Scott and Jim Hunt knew North Carolina could be a regional and national leader by bringing together progressives ideas with pragmatic business voters.
That coalition built our university system, our road network, our agribusiness sector, our health care delivery system, our public schools and our community colleges. These governors knew the success of farming, business and the middle-class would provide a robust economy and a quality of life that was unequaled in the country.
Over the past five election cycles, there have been too many pro-business, moderate Democrats leaving the state legislature. The loss of these legislators cost us the majority and threatens the progress of our state. NC Main Street Democrats will work to reverse that trend.
There will be two main thrusts behind our effort.
1. We will have a legislative caucus that will focus on three core areas of public policy: Job growth; Public Education and Community Investment.
2. We will have a Political Action Committee that will raise money from donors across the state to allow us to support pro-business, moderate Democrats in a manner that is necessary in today’s competitive campaign environment.
We want to make sure there are more middle-of-the-road, pro-business, Main Street Democrats serving in the State Legislature. That way we can focus on the real issues facing voters on Main Street.
You can make a difference too. Join us at Main Street Democrats today to help launch a better North Carolina tomorrow.
Thank you for your time, your interest and your support.
There is wonderful opportunity here to get NC back to attaining her potential. Moderation got us where we were before the radicals took over. Now we are sinking to the bottom in employment, education and look at our Transporation system. The road we are on now is leading to hell. We can do better but not by electing people who bow to the rich and powerful and kick the rest in the teeth.
Rep Goodman, my support (and I would guess the support of many others) is going to hinge upon your actions, not your history lesson.
If you or any substantial portion of this Caucus support regressive or mean-spirited efforts by Republicans to punish certain groups of people, you will be called out for it. And I’m not just talking about bills you sign onto as sponsors, I’m talking about votes, as well. If you throw your support behind efforts to degrade our environment even more than it already has been, you will be called out for it. If you support budgets or other measures that exacerbate the problems those who live in poverty are dealing with, you will be called out for it. If you support efforts to funnel even more money out of public schools and into for-profit private or charter schools, you will be called out for it.
These aren’t “Liberal” issues, or extreme left issues, they are core Democratic Party principles. And they are not part of an a la carte menu you can choose or dismiss. I understand there’s a lot of “sausage-making” involved with getting your favorite policies enacted, but some backs should simply not be scratched. We’ll be watching.
the way I see it, “pro-business” means giving expensive incentives to companies that working people end up paying for. There have been studies about that, and it is breaking the backs of many states. Pro-business also seems like anti-regulation and pro-pollution. Oh, and anti-worker, anti-union. Business wants corporate profits and high salaries to those at the top, but they expect to pay low wages in order to accomplish that. The system is screwed up and tilted toward the rich, and Republicans are tilting it further that way…at the expense of the rest of us.
You’ve got an interesting idea about what being “pro-business” means in North Carolina. Pro-business in North Carolina means doing all it can to make sure we have a flourishing economy. It means investing in education to further a 21st century work force. It means making sure that we recruit and retain high quality teachers to educate those students. It means working to connect students with jobs and that they’re ready to enter into those jobs. Most importantly the jobs that are recruited and retained in North Carolina are not exploitative jobs. They’re jobs at businesses like Honda Jet, headquartered in Greensboro, or any number of businesses located in RTP or Charlotte. Jim Hunt and others proved you can be pro-business and pro-worker at the same time. The proposition is not mutually exclusive unless you’ve got a closed mind that bends more easily into us vs them. That’s not North Carolina is about; that’s not what any of this is about.
That’s the kind of leftist propaganda the NC GOP loves to hear. But it does suggest an important question: Do you “pro business” Democrats support the GOP-sponsored State personal and corporate income tax cuts?
This is definitely the road we must take to make significant gains in the legislature. We already have all the liberals that we’re going to get from these partisan districts. It’s now time to recruit and run moderates. I’d rather vote for a conservative Democrat than a conservative Republican any day. It’ll take time and a lot of work, but we can do it.
Thanks for coming around, Ken, and welcome to the fray. Rural Dems have largely been purged from the legislature in the last three cycles, and as Mike L notes, taking the legislature without them isn’t likely. The statewide party has been a shambles lately, let’s hope that Patsy Keever can help with that. I know she will tackle the problem with energy, enthusiasm, and good people skills.
Hooray for your three core areas. I would love to see some substantive policies implemented in these areas. The Rs in the NCGA don’t seem to know how to govern. Maybe you can give them a few pointers. Winning in the suburbs and exurbs will take some work, but I firmly believe it’s possible, and drawing clear distictions on kitchen table issues like these will help.
Our state has a lot to be proud of, and its record of good government for most of my lifetime is a part of that. The current NCGA is not.
One thing progressives need to realize is that the key to making gains in the legislature is by running moderate Democrats in districts in the House and in the Senate. The four members we gained in the House were lauded by progressives, but those members are moderates. Some represent more suburban areas, some more rural. The legislative leaders of the past were not hard line progressives, but they lead our state through great times and kept the culture wars outside of the legislature. The key to winning back the legislature and controlling the agenda is winning in rural districts and reconnecting with moderate voters. Someone who agrees with you 90% of the time is a friend and ally, not an enemy. Running liberal out of touch candidates in these swing districts is the very definition of crazy. I want Democrats to control the legislature. No adjective required. Main Street Democrats will be key to winning back these chambers. And when people who comment fail to raise substantive points, then they’re proving that they’re not exactly the most politically savvy group of individuals.
Wow…thats the way to get progressive Democrats to back you…be a condescending as you possible can. “out of touch”, with whom?
With the district. That’s who.
You cannot run a Pricey Harrison in all 150 House districts or an Ellie Kinnaird in all 50 Senate districts. That’s common sense. It takes a mix of liberals and moderates (and the occasional conservative) to win seats. That’s common sense. A recent Pew study showed that by self-identification conservatives were a plurality of the state’s electorate (I believe it was nearly 40%). In order to win you’re going to need a strong showing of progressives and moderates. This is a winning strategy and was the key to the greatness we experienced with Jim Hunt. We will do it again with Roy Cooper.
Rep Goodman, Hogwash.
I do agree that Democrats may still be able to compete for statewide votes but there would be no way for them to ever regain the majority in the General Assembly if all the Democrats are concentrated in NC’s 5 urban counties and the northeastern Minority majority districts. The liberal urban Democrats (I don’t say the term as derogatory…I am from Wake County myself although I tend to straddle the line between moderate and liberal on most issues) need to realize that a moderate/conservative on issues important to their district Democrat from a rural area is much better than the alternative….a conservative Republican from that district.
No, Rep. Goodman. Just go ahead and switch parties and be done with it. Claims that you are in the mold of the likes of Terry Sandford are laughable.
Take your bigoted social conservatism, economic cowardice and join the GOP where you belong.
And that is why Dems lost the majority.
A small tent! Yea!
Good luck with winning back control of the legislature by closing the door, but I guess it is better to be ideologically pure and untainted than to be in a position to actually put a stop to the race to the bottom this state has been in for the past few years.