MY MOTIVATION TO RUN

I am a mother, wife, friend, and business woman. I am not a politician. Or shall we say, I wasn’t until I felt the need to get off the sidelines and implement solutions to all of the problems I was witnessing.

Last year I watched my daughter’s public elementary school go through significant budget cuts as federal COVID funding ran out. There were not enough bus drivers so schools had to stagger start times and go days without bus coverage. Cafeteria workers went on strike due to low pay. Our teachers are significantly underpaid. 

Why are we underinvesting in our children’s future? 

77% of NC families choose public schools for their families and public school systems are the number one employer in almost half of our counties. I watched as our NC General Assembly voted to expand school choice vouchers. Due to this, public school districts across the state are projected to lose 26,522 students, $203,791,206 in state funding, and an average 2% total decrease in state dollars. The same amount of state funding could double teacher salaries across our state or double the number of teacher assistants. Or we could add thousands more school nurses, psychologists, counselors, and social workers to address our youth mental health crisis. Or we could expand NC Pre-K programs; Smart Start; etc. 

And the private school voucher system is, simply put, a scam. As the least regulated private school voucher program in the country, North Carolina doesn’t even regulate the number of hours or days that instruction is offered by a voucher-receiving private school. Teachers in private schools aren’t required to have any teaching training or credentials. Private schools are exempt from state testing requirements imposed on public schools and there is minimal to no requirements for private schools to help students with special needs. Last year there were 43 times (7%) where a school received more vouchers than they had self-reported students.

• Read more about public education and what I advocate doing about it ...

Over the past five years, I have been an active advocate for gun violence prevention through Moms Demand Action after the horrors of Sandy Hook, Vegas, Parkland, (the list of mass shootings horrifically goes on and on) and I have personally lost three people I knew to gun violence - one suicide and two homicide. All three were young and vivacious who should all still be with us here today. Gun violence is very triggering to me as it has caused trauma that I will always personally struggle with.

Uvalde broke me. 

I passionately spoke at my city council meeting about gun violence while clinging to my youngest. Soon thereafter, I listened to “We Can Do Hard Things: How We’ll Save Our Kids From the Gun Lobby’s Greed with Shannon Watts.” I distinctly recall Glennon Doyle quoting Desmond Tutu:

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” 

Philanthropy plays a large role in my life as president of Women 2 Women Greensboro, a $5 million member-run, grant-making endowment at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. Up until now I have focused on “pulling people out of the river.” Yet I realized that I must also lean into my advocacy and pursue political office in order to “find out why they’re falling in.” 

I knew deep down in my heart I had to do more. I could do hard things in memory of those who could not.

Shortly thereafter I watched the NC Assembly remove the local pistol permit requirement. I was furious. 73% of North Carolina voters say it is too easy to get a gun. This sentiment is shared among North Carolinians who are Republicans, self-described conservatives, and gun owners. So why on earth when gun violence is the #1 cause of death of our children are our legislators making it EASIER for people to get quick access to a handgun? This mama bear was angry. I emailed and called every single legislator who voted for that legislation. This was not the time to be silent!

• Read more about gun violence and what I advocate doing about it ...

Months later, I watched the livestream as our "leaders" voted to restrict abortion to 12 weeks, a mere six weeks after most women actually learn they missed their period and are pregnant. I was watching it while bathing my daughters with the painful realization that I was watching mostly men take away my daughters’ reproductive freedom that I had frankly taken for granted. 

I know loved ones who have had abortions. Some were painfully trying to get pregnant and start a family yet they struggled with medical issues that prevented the healthy development of the fetus and put their own life at risk. Others were in high school and not ready to become loving mothers and no, they shouldn’t be forced to go through pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum because of an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy. 

And I know the facts that in the U.S. 1 in 6 women are raped or victims of attempted rape and 63% go unreported. So no - rape/incest exclusions in an abortion ban bill are woefully insufficient. 

We CANNOT allow abortion to be a decision for anyone other than the woman, her partner, and their doctor. It is personal and it is emotional. And it is deeply private. 

• Read more about reproductive choice and what I advocate doing about it ...

So as I continually watched our NC politicians a) make my community unsafe by loosening gun restrictions, b) restrict my daughters’ and other women’s access to reproductive choice, and c) divert public tax-payer dollars to unregulated, scam-ridden private school usage, I knew that I had to get off the sidelines. 

I’m done watching. I’m ready to be part of the discussion, have a seat at the table, and have a vote. A loud, passion-packed, mama-bear vote. A desperately needed vote for my family, friends, community, and constituents – you. 

We can do hard things. We can do it for our children and their futures. Thank you for your vote of confidence and (if you are in my district) voting for me for NC House 57 this November!

Sincerely,

Tracy Clark