Harris the right leader for NC farmers, rural residents

Growing up on a family farm in Lucama, I learned about hard work, resilience and caring for my neighbors. Just recently, my hometown was devastated by a tornado, and we are starting the journey to rebuild. This storm — and others like it — deeply affect the livelihoods and well-being of Lucama’s farmers and our friends, neighbors and kids.

Today, I lead a grassroots organization dedicated to advocating for Black and other marginalized small family farmers. Because of my upbringing and my current work, I know we need leaders at every level of government who are invested in helping our rural communities and farmers thrive — especially when hard times hit. I am proud to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz because they are the right leaders for farmers and rural North Carolina.

As vice president, Kamala Harris has been instrumental in making historic investments in farmers and rural communities. The Biden-Harris administration invested hundreds of millions of dollars into helping North Carolina farmers adopt climate-resilient practices that preserve and boost our businesses. As a result of her leadership, hundreds of thousands of rural North Carolinians now have expanded access to affordable high-speed internet.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has shown us time and again that he does not care about supporting rural America. As president, Trump turned “infrastructure week” into a running joke and opposed the bipartisan infrastructure law — which has brought millions of dollars into rural North Carolina —just because it would be seen as a “victory” for Democrats. Trump also exacerbated rural racial inequities. Under his policies, just 0.1% of pandemic relief funding for farmers went to Black farmers.

He has not been a champion for us, and that’s why I’ll be voting for Vice President Harris in November.

When we elect her, VP Harris will continue to build on her work to protect rural health care. She helped the administration shore up the Affordable Care Act and enabled Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, helping tens of thousands of rural residents get coverage and lowering the risk of rural hospital closure. She took on Big Pharma to cap insulin for seniors at $35 a month and is lowering premiums.

Donald Trump, however, has doubled down on his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, endangering health care coverage for more than 1.3 million North Carolinians. Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda would also result in devastating cuts to Medicare and reverse initiatives that lower drug costs.

Vice President Harris knows that prices are still too high, including in our rural communities. That is why she has unveiled new plans for the first-ever ban on corporate price gouging. She actually has a plan for how to support working and middle-class families like mine. Donald Trump has plans that only benefit the wealthy and raise costs on everyday items for the rest of us.

Vice President Harris also showed she cares about rural North Carolina in her selection of Governor Walz as her running mate. Tim Walz has firsthand experience living and working on a family farm and has fought for our farmers throughout his career: when he was in Congress, Governor Walz was a member of the Agricultural Committee and worked across the aisle to do right by farmers and our food system.

If elected, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will take on big corporations jacking up food and grocery prices and undermining the competition that allows our businesses and families to thrive — protecting the economy that makes our country so great and ensuring we can put food on the table and grow our businesses in a healthy way.

This November, we have a choice between Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, who will fight to make life better for North Carolina’s farmers and rural residents and for all of us who rely on them, and Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, who will side with big corporations at working families’ — and North Carolina farmers’ — expense.

Make the right choice for you, your community and future generations. Choose Harris and Walz.

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