OK guys, this is HUGE. This is the best news since however many days ago it was that John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov and anger translator for Gov. Tom Wolf, announced that he was exploring running for Toomey’s open seat.
Jeff Jackson is a Mecklenburg County NC Democrat. He was my State Senator since 2014, until I lost him in the most recent redistricting. But I have stayed on his email list and followed him anyway because he’s great at communicating to the public how the state legislative sausage is made (or isn’t made since we’re in the grip of Republican obstructionists).
He writes frequently on Medium and in his constituent newsletters, explaining everything from the (lack of) evidence for 2020 election fraud to legislative budget shenanigans. He uses Twitter quite effectively too, e.g. a recent helpful thread on NC vaccine priorities.
Although stuck in the minority in our legislature behind a wall of some of the most destructive and obstructionist Republicans around, Jackson has been active in state efforts to take away the Republicans’ legislative supermajority and the ongoing effort to flip seats in the legislature. He is a consistent advocate for nonpartisan redistricting and ending gerrymandering. He was briefly famous in 2015 for taking over the entire state legislature on a snow day to make a case for what kind of legislation could be passed if the GOP were not in the way.
He chose not to run against Thom Tillis in ‘20, because he’s the father of three very young children including one, at that time, who was still in diapers.
He’s been dropping hints for a little while that he might be ready to run for Senate in 2022.
We knew something had changed the other day when this news appeared on the Jeff Jackson timeline:
And today came the official announcement:
Jeff Jackson announcement video
Having been a constituent for years, I think Jeff Jackson is the candidate that can win NC in 2022, and I encourage everyone to get behind him early, and often. I’ve gotten so used to budgeting for political donations that I just jumped right back in.
Donate on Actblue