September 21st, 2020
I wanted to write a post about where I stand at the moment on various 2020 U.S., NC, and Wake County election races. I’m slowly deciding who I want to vote for this year. I’m still thinking about voting for Joe Biden, but I was undecided about the NC Senate race. I just watched the 1st NC Senate debate between incumbent Thom Tillis (R) and Cal Cunningham (D). My thoughts at the moment are that I don’t oppose either candidate and I tend to lean a little more toward Thom Tillis. I think I agree with what both people say, but the issues don’t really resonate with me, namely health insurance and police reform. I have health insurance and I don’t live in fear of police brutality. Reading through his political positions on Wikipedia, there isn’t a lot I disagree with. My main issue is with Donald Trump and while I think it is a mistake for Thom Tillis to support him I do not consider this guilt by association. Donald Trump is the “head” of the Republican Party and Thom Tillis is a republican, what can he do. I don’t necessarily agree with the left and I kind of see Cal leaning a bit more left, which is not a bad thing per se, but it definitely seems like he’s lining up with whatever the democratic party sees fit to push which I see as an issue. The general sense that I have is that Thom Tillis would flourish if Donald Trump wasn’t the president. I’ve also thought a bit about the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District Board which is a nonpartisan position. There are four candidates: M.C. Brock, Jean-Luc Duvall, Marshall Harvey, and Scott Lassiter. I could talk about what I think about each, but I think I might go with the incumbent mostly because I trust that he is experienced, but if I had to rank the others I think I would say that Scott Lassiter would come next because he’s an educator (assistant principal) and is currently working on a Ph.D., then M.C. Brock. Jean-Luc Duvall doesn’t seem to have a lot of relevant experience so he’s in last. I may do some more research on this, we’ll see. There’s a city of Raleigh housing bond referendum that would provide $80,000,000 in bonds to fund four community development projects aimed at supporting affordable housing in Raleigh. I spoke with my father about this one since he is a realtor and I decided that I would vote yes for it mostly because I think it would benefit lower-income folks. Systemic racism is not a hot-button item for me and I don’t think it will go away anytime soon, but I do believe in offering support for people in lower-income and providing them with stability and opportunity whatever there race may be. Some offices that only have one candidate for whom to vote for include North Carolina District Court Judge – District 10E, Seat 3 (Eric Craig Chasse (D)), Wake County School Board – District 5 (Jim Martin (nonpartisan)), Wake County Commission – District 2 (Matt Calabria (D)), Wake County Commission – District 4 (Susan P. Evans (D)), and Wake County Commission – District 5 (James West (D)). I’ll get to the other races at some point in the future but wanted to document what I was thinking so far to see if anything changes.