North Carolina House of Representatives District 8

What is your current job and title?

Mayor/Town of Bethel

What is your highest level of education?

Master of Public Administration

If you're elected or re-elected, what will be your top priorities? Why? 

Affordable health care – we need to expand Medicaid to get more North Carolinians on affordable health insurance and keep our rural hospitals open. No one should be rationing medicine, delaying treatment, or having one accident leave them with a lifetime of medical debt. Also, work with colleagues to enhance services for mental health and substance abuse.

Good paying jobs – we need to incentivize businesses to call Pitt County home, invest in local workforce development opportunities, and raise the minimum wage to $15/hour.

High-quality broadband internet- no matter where you live in Pitt County, you should have access to quality internet. Not just enough bandwidth to read emails, but enough to stream movies, run a business, and video chat with your family. As mayor of Bethel, I’ve been working with Suddenlink directly, and I don’t mince words when I tell them the costs are too high for the quality we’re getting.

If you're elected or re-elected, how will you involve your constituents in the process of making decisions?

I will have town hall meetings (in-person/virtual). I will make sure they have various ways to contact me.

Why should voters choose you for the position you're running for?

I was raised here in Eastern North Carolina, and like many of our neighbors, I worked the tobacco fields as a child to pay for school clothes. I was a nurse at Pitt Memorial Hospital, and when I had my son and daughter, I started volunteering with the PTA and on local boards like the United Way and Pitt Community College. As mayor of Bethel, I’ve brought together businesses, nonprofits, and the community to work on revitalization. We’ve opened a state-of-the-art Youth Center, renovated the Senior Center, and lowered residents’ water and sewer bills by 23%. That’s the type of community-oriented, results-driven, work I want to do in the State House.

Which three things about you do you most want voters to know? 

I’m transparent, hardworking, and fair.

Is there anything else about you that you wish to tell voters?  

The State House position will allow me to take this advocacy further and fight for Eastern North Carolina’s voices to be heard by the Raleigh establishment.