Chelsea White announces candidacy for NC-11

Press release from Chelsea White:

WAYNESVILLE, NC–At an anti-Madison Cawthorn rally for relief, climate, and economic action on Sunday, September 19, community organizer Chelsea White announced her bid for the Democratic seat for NC Congressional District 11. White, speaking about recent flood recovery efforts in Cruso following Tropical Storm Fred, shared her announcement to a crowd of 100 people who had gathered to demand Congress pass a historic investment in working families not seen since the 1930s that could lift people out of poverty. She described a campaign dedicated to accessible and quality healthcare for all, good-paying union jobs, and sustainable infrastructure for Appalachia.

“Our people in these mountains know what it takes to work hard and love one another. I want to raise up the village who raised me and lift up the resilience of mountain working people,” says White. “Politicians like Cawthorn try to divide us for personal gain, backed by corporations and the wealthy few, pitting us against one another for profit. I know that our people-powered movement has the energy, force, and organizing grit that it will take to unseat Cawthorn and join the growing momentum building across the South.”

For the past decade White has devoted her life’s work to organizing in rural communities across NC-11 from Murphy to Marshall around issues like healthcare and jobs that impact poor and working people in their everyday lives. Currently she is the Western Regional Organizer and Communications Coordinator for Transform NC, a labor and climate statewide coalition. Since August, she has also been involved in the We Are WNC community group dedicated to flood recovery in Cruso and Canton, with plans to expand climate disaster relief across the district.

“Whoever is going to defeat Cawthorn needs to already have deep relationships across the rural parts of this district, which are the parts of this district that I’ve grown up in my whole life and spent the last decade organizing. We need a campaign that can bridge the urban-rural divide.”

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Chelsea White is an organizer, mother, Western NC native, and tireless advocate for Appalachia. At 27 years old she has been a full-time community organizer across NC-11 for a decade. She graduated from Western Carolina University with a Masters in Social Work with a focus in rural community advocacy. She still lives paycheck to paycheck, struggling with student debt and dreaming of the day that she can afford to buy a home in her hometown. She lives in Haywood County with her husband, baby, and three dogs. Join the movement at chelseaforwnc.com.