This legislator was given a seat through the NC Supreme Court invalidating the Congressional maps in 2020. Once again, the court invalidated the new maps for 2022, and made sure that her seat was fairly protected. It still could fall in the right circumstances, and it could be a short term rental. That is why Majority Savers is heading to North Carolina’s 6th district to look at Rep. Kathy Manning!
If you want to find my previous entries in this series, I recommend following me or searching for #MajoritySavers as a tag! Majority Savers is also a group now, thanks to 2thanks!
Kathy Manning for North Carolina-6
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Candidate Background
It was kind of difficult to write this section, as her background isn’t as interesting as many other candidates that I have profiled. I will do my best based off of her campaign website.
- Her roots come from the Detroit area, where her father worked at a Ford plant for 40 years and her mother was a school teacher. Her ethos of hard work was instilled at a very early age by her hard working parents.
- She graduated from Harvard, and then went to the University of Michigan to complete her Juris Doctor. She moved to Greensboro with her husband and went into private practice for around 15 years.
- She has been involved in so many different charities and initiatives that it is hard to properly list them all. She has been a community leader and activist ever since she moved to the Piedmont Triad way back in 1987.
Signature Issues
Rep. Kathy Manning is a part of the New Democratic Coalition, which is a group that tend to be more pragmatic than ideologically progressive. Manning embodies the spirit of the organization, having a more moderate economic record and steadfast on social issues.
Her DW Nominate score is -0.274, which indicates a moderate voting record. She is more liberal than 57% of the entire House membership, while also being 83% more moderate than her colleagues in the Democratic caucus. Her second dimension is also moderate. She votes with Biden on the issues nearly 100% of the time.
Health Care and Abortion: Manning would add a public option to the ACA, and also protect it from the GQP, which even after all this time is looking to scrap it. She is 100% pro-choice, and was aghast at the Dobbs decision which stripped away abortion rights from our population.
Defending Democracy: Manning is sensitive to this issue, because the NC Legislature, if given the chance, would eliminate her district. She would enshrine the John Lewis Voting Rights Act into law if possible, and she stands against those who pillaged the Capitol on 1/6.
Quality Education: Manning is on the committee that deals with education, which means she has a special interest in it. She supports better technical and vocational schools, more Title I and HBCU funding, and any means to lower college costs down.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 55.5%, TFG (R-inc) 43.1%
2020 House: Kathy Manning (D) 62.3%, Lee Haywood (R) 37.7%
2022 Race Rating: Likely Democratic
2022 PVI: D+4
The Piedmont Triad of Winston-Salem, High Point, and Greensboro used to be cracked amongst 2-3 districts to dilute the reliably Democratic votes of the cities. Until 2020, the last time any of the three cities had Democratic representation was when parts of Greensboro were located in the 12th district nicknamed “the snake” which wound from Charlotte to Greensboro to scoop up black voters.
Rep. Kathy Manning ran for a district TFG won in 2018 in the 13th district, and she faced off against current Senate candidate Ted Budd. It was a much closer race than everyone though it would be, but Manning fell to Budd 51-46. The lean of the district was just too much for Manning to overcome, but the overperformance was in line with the 2018 blue wave election.
The 2020 election was conducted under fairer lines because the NC Supreme Court stepped in and invalidated the old maps. One major change in the map was that the Piedmont Triad was all placed in the same district. The district TFG won was transformed into one that Clinton won by about 60% of the vote. Rep. Kathy Manning ran for this new district and won easily, thus starting her Congressional career.
Political Tour of the District
This district now takes in less of Winston-Salem and more rural territories, thus weakening it to a swing seat. It should still result in the re-election of Rep. Kathy Manning, but this time around she will have to be on guard for a surprise upset instead of automatically assuming she wins.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 6th district.
- Greensboro: All of Greensboro is located in the district, and it is the main source of votes for Manning. It also is her base of support, so maximum turnout for her is necessary for her to win the district yet again.
- High Point: This smaller city is also critical to the success of Manning, as it is another source of a lot of votes. Failure to turn out the Piedmont Triad vote will result in the rural vote overwhelming her and a certain loss.
- Winston-Salem: Most of the city has been placed in a different district, but some of the eastern precincts of the city are still within the boundaries of the district. Manning needs to turnout what is there as a boost to her chances of retaining the district.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Piedmont Triad Exurbs: Once you get outside the three cities of the Piedmont Triad, the voters turn red rapidly. These rural voters are primarily hostile to Democratic candidates, and Manning cannot expect very many voters out in the sticks.
- Rural Counties: Unless the precinct has a high percentage of black voters, the precincts in Rockingham and Caswell Counties are irredeemable. TFG won 65% and 58% of the vote in both counties respectively, so Manning cannot rely on these counties for her victory.
Activism — Help How You Can!
Rep. Kathy Manning is doing well on the fundraising front, having raised $571k for the 2nd Quarter of 2022. Her opponent isn’t included in the database I use for fundraising totals. Either he hasn’t raised significant money or it is an oversight in the database. Either way, Manning is in a good position right now.
In terms of cash on hand, Manning has $1.5 MILLION to spend on her re-election. If things get dicey come this fall, she will have a cushion of prior fundraising quarters to spend if necessary. Her opponent isn’t listed, which either means it is an oversight or he hasn’t raised any cash. Manning may still need your donation to win, so go ahead and give at the link below!
DONATE TO REP. KATHY MANNING HERE
As per usual, the closer we get to November, the more urgent the need for volunteers for a campaign. If you are in the Piedmont Triad area, this is the campaign to work on in terms of the House. Know that by working this campaign, you help Cheri Beasley win the Senate seat as well! Go to https://www.kathymanningfornc.com/page/volunteer in order to volunteer today!
In terms of social media presence, Manning is on four different platforms. Starting with Twitter, her campaign account has around 8k followers. She isn’t very prolific with her tweets, and that is probably why she has a small following. We can increase that by following her campaign today!
She also is up on Facebook at KathyManningNC and Instagram at kathymanningnc. She also has a YouTube channel, but it features ads from her previous campaigns and there is nothing recent.
Rep. Kathy Manning is “Probably Safe”, just like all of the candidates this week. However, her future looks bleak for two reasons. 1) If we lose control of the NC Supreme Court, the state legislature will redraw the maps and eliminate her district. 2) The US Supreme Court may validate the extreme “independent state legislature” theory, which does the same thing but worse. I’m afraid this seat is on borrowed time, but let’s take it one election at a time!
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Kathy Manning for North Carolina-6
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