Chris Humphrey: 50+ North Carolinians Could Decide Who Controls Congress. Budd and Beasley Should Take Note
Representative Chris Humphrey. NC House District 12. Lenoir, Pitt.
It’s fall in North Carolina, which means the leaves are changing, the Tobacco Road Rivalry is revving up, and we’re finally getting a reprieve from muggy late-summer heat – but it also means campaign season has kicked into high gear. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and Congressman Ted Budd are headlining the 2022 midterms, and they’re battling for one of the few competitive Senate seats up for grabs this year in a race that could determine which party controls Congress’ upper chamber. Currently the contest is a dead heat, however, over a million North Carolinians haven’t decided which candidate they’ll support, and so far neither Chief Justice Beasley nor Congressman Budd have made significant inroads with the Tar Heel State’s most influential demographic – older voters.
That means between now and Election Day, the race is on for Chief Justice Beasley and Congressman Budd to earn the support of older North Carolinians, a critical voting bloc that has historically had an outsized impact on Election Day. In 2020 for example, North Carolinians over the age of 40 made up 60% of the electorate, and this year there are already signs this powerful group of voters is eager to make its voice heard. In primary races over the summer, voters over the age of 40 shattered turnout records – the average age of the North Carolina primary voter was 64, and 90% of voters were over the age of 40.
But right now, almost a quarter of North Carolina’s over four million older voters are undecided. However, just because these voters aren’t sure which candidate they’ll vote for on Election Day doesn’t mean they aren’t engaged in the campaign or don’t know what issues they care about. And while the North Carolina midterms have been positively sleepy compared to other Senate races that have been shaped by explosive scandals and jarring gaffes, that just means voters here are laser-focused on important issues. According to recent polling – which showed Chief Justice Beasley and Congressman Budd running neck-in-neck – North Carolinians made it clear that they have kitchen table issues on their minds, and older voters stated they are most concerned about problems like inflation, the economy, and health care costs.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise – today, North Carolinians are paying some of the highest health care costs in the country, and in rural parts of the state some folks are paying over ten thousand dollars per year for basic health care. To make matters worse, areas like Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, are seeing some of the steepest rent increases in the country, all while some politicians are threatening to take away the fixed income many older North Carolinians rely on to afford housing and health care. For Chief Justice Beasley and Congressman Budd, that means now is the time to hone in on a campaign platform focused on kitchen table issues.
Older voters want candidates who are willing to run on the issues that affect millions of North Carolinians everyday. They want politicians to take on out-of-control prescription drug prices and protect access to health care, and as costs rise, politicians have to have a plan to tackle inflation. Kitchen table issues are going to decide which candidate represents the Tar Heel State in Washington – and Chief Justice Beasley and Congressman Budd need to center their campaigns on those problems while they still have time.
Representative Chris Humphrey
NC House District 12. Lenoir, Pitt
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