WCPT 820 Interview: Anderson Clayton

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

Clayton talked about how North Carolina Republicans have, over the past 15 years, poisoned state politics with extreme partisanship. "I think it's really important to know that when Democrats had control of this state, the number one thing that they did was invest in public education. When Republicans took control of it in 2010 it became a 'we have got to deny and we have got to degrade public education in this state,' to the point where they have now given away billions of dollars over the next decade to private school vouchers, to take away money from public education in North Carolina. The teacher raises that the governor is fighting for in his budget right now is just trying to come back from where Republicans have lowered teacher pay so much over the last 10 years; we're just trying to give back teachers what the state used to do for them, actually. And I think it just goes to show . . . how much our state legislature is hurting communities with that."

Clayton also talked about the Republican-controlled state legislature's failure to pass a budget this year.  "The Republicans in the House cannot agree with the Republicans in the Senate on how much to cut, essentially, and we're at a place right now where [Governor] Josh Stein has asked for . . . a 10 percent raise on teacher pay in the state of North Carolina, and our state legislature is arguing whether or not to give them 3 [percent]." 

She added: "When you're a state legislator, the one job that you have is to pass a state budget. I mean, that's just basics of if. If you don't have a budget, you don't have a way to operate your business. And right now, Republicans, who are supposed to be best in business, are refusing to acknowledge the staple thing that we need to be able to move forward as a state."

The conversation touched on the impact of recent federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the prospect that North Carolina will no longer be able to provide SNAP assistance by 2028. "It won't be something that the state can provide because 1.4 million people are going to lose SNAP benefits from the federal government, and that would mean that the state legislature would have to fork over about $240 million a year to be able to keep SNAP up. That's the legislature that I just told you couldn't pass a budget. You think that they're going to be able to help people that are hungry right now in our state? Absolutely not." 

Clayton emphasized the importance of local engagement, citing a 50-county rural tour the party is undertaking this summer to connect with communities and elevate local issues. She also talked about the open U.S. Senate seat that recently opened when the Republican incumbent, Thom Tillis, declined to run for another term. 

Asked by Eisendrath why listeners should care about what's going on in North Carolina and why they should support the North Carolina Democratic Party, Clayton said:

"Because if North Carolina had not been a gerrymandered state, Hakeem Jeffries would be speaker of the House right now, and there would be a check on Donald Trump's agenda. We are paying the price right now for ignoring the state of North Carolina in 2020 and in 2022, and we do not anticipate for the national party and national apparatus to do that again to us, because North Carolina is the future of the South but also the future of the Democratic Party. And we need to make sure that we take back and that we repeal racial and partisan gerrymandering in the state by 2028, which we will do with our Supreme Court, and we're going to give four more United States House of Representative seats back to the Democrats, along with two Democratic senators that we're going to have both up in 2026 and in 2028. So we've got a lot of power left to give to the national level, and we're excited to do it." 

Catch “The Big Picture with Edwin Eisendrath” Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/the-big-picture).   

And find “The Big Picture (Full Episodes)” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Amazon and TuneIn.

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