Smith spoke to the Associated Press about her new campaign, which she formally filed for last week. She will try and compete with Representative James Gailliard and Senator Don Davis to replace current Representative G.K. Butterfield, who will not seek reelection.
The new candidate has failed to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate twice. However, due to a new congressional map, she could have a chance at representing her community. She hopes this will give her the edge she needs to secure the spot.
“I am more centered in the community, having represented more counties, grown up solely in this eastern district, and Don Davis does not currently live in the congressional district,” she explained. During her time in the Senate, Smith represented half of the 18 counties at least partially included in North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District, which was recently redrawn. On the contrary, Davis represents only two: Pitt and Greene Counties.
There is a chance that the new congressional map could get struck down in court, but that will not deter Smith from running. She will be campaigning on a platform that emphasizes how current high prices and inaccessible health care can affect local families, even if they have health insurance. She disclosed her own personal struggles paying for medical equipment for her late son.
Smith said her late child weighed 1.5 pounds (.68 kilograms) at birth and spent six months in neonatal intensive care. When he came home, he weighed 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) and needed equipment to help him breathe. She said she had to get a second job to help pay for her son’s medical equipment.
“We have a health insurance program,” Smith said. “We don’t have a health care program. That’s why we really fight so hard.”
For more reporting from The Associated Press, see below.
Davis has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run.
Kevin Holst, an adviser to Davis, said the lawmaker now lives within the congressional district.
“I’ve filed the necessary paperwork and will have more to share on my future plans after I take time to reflect and have further discussions with my family over the Thanksgiving holiday,” Davis wrote in an emailed statement.
Gailliard, a Nash County Democrat who lives in the new congressional district, declared his candidacy Monday. He told the AP he plans to carve out a moderate lane and present himself as the likeliest Democrat to win a general election in what will likely be the closest U.S. House race in the state.
“I’m not a far-left liberal Dem, and this is not a far-left, liberal-drawn district, so we’re going to need a moderate candidate to get us across the finish line and I feel like I’m that candidate,” Gailliard said.
Butterfield cited the shifting makeup of his district as the driving force behind his decision not to seek reelection. His district went from Democratic-leaning to a toss-up, as the share of Black voters dropped.
