NENC Progressives is proud to announce our full endorsement of D. Cole Phelps' candidacy for NC Senate District One! We hosted Phelps at our most recent meeting and were happy to find that he is going to represent the best interests of Northeastern North Carolina and our own Progressive values in Raleigh. The membership voted enthusiastically to give our organization's full support and endorsement to his candidacy. His platform gives priority to education, green energy and environmental responsibility, and making life better for the citizens of Northeast North Carolina and their families through better healthcare and improved employment. This is a platform and these are goals that we wholeheartedly support. This region has long been ignored at the state level, and it is time that that changed.
Phelps is a County Commissioner and practicing attorney in Washington County, NC. He grew up in this region and understands the needs of its citizens. Phelps says, "Too often, North Carolina taxpayers east of I-95 are forgotten by the General Assembly. Northeastern North Carolina deserves a representative who is personally familiar with the needs and characteristics of our communities and who will fight for their interests in Raleigh. Our current state legislature has abandoned its rural residents, and I am determined to be a strong advocate for the interests of northeastern North Carolinians. I understand how to champion agriculture, tourism, commercial fishing, small businesses, and families. I understand the difficulty that our taxpayers face in obtaining adequate health care, affordable housing, and sustaining steady employment. I understand the difficulties of meeting a payroll, paying business taxes, and building a successful business in a shrinking economy. It is frustrating seeing the great potential of Northeastern North Carolina held back by a General Assembly uninterested in helping to build a vital rural economy. We cannot continue to sustain a world-class university system when the General Assembly continues to target the budgets of the UNC system, the community college system and our traditional public school systems. This sends a destructive ripple effect throughout every rural community in North Carolina."