There are three Democrats hoping to win the nomination for North Carolina House District 20 and face incumbent Republican Holly Grange in November: Leslie Cohen, John Bauer and Gary Shipman. This is Leslie Cohen’s first go at public office.
She entered the race early, she says, because she didn’t want Holly Grange to run unopposed this fall. Leslie Cohen’s priorities include clean water, improved public education, film incentives, protecting the coast from offshore drilling, and fair elections.
Cohen says all her priorities are doable, but the first step in solving these challenges is solving the maps.
"All of them would be easier to do if we were working with fairer election maps. Right now with the way the maps are drawn, so that the legislators are picking their voters instead of the voters picking the leaders, each of the legislators is really radicalized because they are running to their base. Either to the left or to the right. And as long as we have this radicalized legislature, the real work of governing can’t get done because no one is really communicating across the aisle. No one is willing to negotiate, to compromise, it’s all posturing and political games.”
Early voting in New Hanover County begins April 19.
Extended interview with Leslie Cohen