Letter: Smith says he’s a progressive Democrat for state Senate

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Since kicking off my campaign for state Senate in November, I’ve knocked on many thousands of doors across our district. It’s been a pleasure to meet so many wonderful people, many of whom are shocked that a state candidate is taking the effort to knock on their door! In this process, there have also been a countless number of excited dogs that wonder why I’m knocking on their door. I’ve learned that our district is full of smart, progressive Democrats with big hearts who are desperately eager for change in Raleigh.

Of all the people I talked to, it was agreed that public schools are the foundation of our society and need better funding. We need to expand Medicaid in North Carolina. We need to force Duke Energy to take action on climate change, and we need to raise our minimum wage. No one should be working a full-time job and still be in poverty.

More than any other issue, people strongly agreed that we need more funding for infrastructure, services and affordable housing. Our occupancy tax in Buncombe County should be doing more to help us, but it’s not. We have an old state law from the 1980s that’s forcing us to spend 75% of our tax revenue on more advertising for tourism. Almost no other county in North Carolina has to do this, and it’s one of the main reasons I’m running to be our next state senator. Everyone I talked to agreed that our city and county should be in control of our occupancy tax, not Raleigh.

My name is Travis Smith, and I’m a progressive Democrat running to be our next state senator. I kindly ask for your vote in the Democratic primary. Thank you.

— Travis Smith
Candidate for N.C. Senate District 49
Asheville

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