Independence Daze

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those doing it.

I made the paper. The story is about helping get Shelane Etchison on the ballot as an independent candidate for Congress, though the important article is the one about her. The process was cumbersome and, as the paper said, “ill-defined.” I don’t think it worked as the legislature intended, but I don’t think too many of those legislators care, either. Still, we got it done. As Western Carolina professor Chris Cooper told the reporter, “It is a Herculean feat to get on the ballot in the first place, if you’re an unaffiliated candidate and and that’s why it’s not an accident she’s the first.”

Etchison is no ordinary candidate. She’s impressive, determined, and driven. She can win this election and she’s blazing a trail that others, Democrats in particular, should follow. Ending gerrymandering is going to require breaking the two-party system because neither is going to give up power. Electing independents is the first step.

Democrats in North Carolina are stuck in either a defeatist or a fantastical mindset. One group believes there’s not much the party can do about its predicament and should focus on statewide races while largely ignoring district contests. The other group thinks that if they just make a strong enough argument, they can break the stranglehold of gerrymandering. Both groups leave the party consigned to minority status.

Etchison sees a new way to offer voters a choice and maybe begin to restore faith in a political system that has lost the trust of too many people. She believes that both parties have become too beholden to base voters who are out of touch with mainstream values. Gerrymandering has strengthened their hold on legislative and Congressional seats and empowered the most extreme elements of both parties. The result is a dangerously divided country and legislative bodies without the checks and balances that the Founding Fathers intended.

Courts aren’t going to stop gerrymandering and neither are political parties. Giving voters a choice to reject a system designed to elect candidates beholden to special interests and party bosses is the way to fix the system. Etchison provides that alternative.

Etchison’s path to victory is tough but not impossible. She certainly has a better chance than the Democrat who has no path to victory. Her job is to consolidate the independent vote. In 2020, unaffiliated voters broke evenly between the Democrats and Republicans and were likely holding their noses for whichever candidate they chose. Etchison gives them something to vote for and not against. She needs about 75% of them this year. She also needs to take a small number of votes from Republicans, probably around 15%. Finally, she’ll need around 35% or so of Democrats to reach victory. None of that seems unrealistic if she has the resources.

Etchison’s Democratic opponent lives in Richmond County, outside the district, and works in Anson County, also outside of the district. He moved to North Carolina from New York less than a decade ago and has no notable ties to the Ninth Congressional District. There’s no evidence that he will raise the money to communicate with voters. Centrist Democrats should be ripe for the picking.

Incumbent Richard Hudson is part of the problem. He spent the past 20 years working in Washington with few ties to the district. He’s relying on gerrymandering, not his legislative acumen, to stay in power. He’s alienated the veteran community by claiming to be “Fort Bragg’s Congressman” despite never having served in the military. He’s beholden to PAC dollars and Republican Party bosses, not the people he’s supposed to serve.

Etchison is putting together a real campaign that will have resources and organization. She fits the district better than either of her opponents. She’s already defied the odds by getting on the ballot. Her Democratic opponent won’t have the resources to make his case. Her Republican opponent is the embodiment of voters’ complaints about the system. With enough money she can surprise people again.

As the saying goes, “Those who say it can’t be done should get out of the way of those doing it.”