56 Days to Go: Lisa Grafstein and Beth Helfrich
Tuesday Twofer
Who: Lisa Grafstein and Beth Helfrich
Where: NC State Senate District 13 (Grafstein) and NC State House District 98 (Helfrich)
(Map of new NC State House District 98 is not available.)
Why: Republicans in the North Carolina legislature have supermajorities in both chambers, meaning that they can override vetoes by current Democratic governor Roy Cooper (who is retiring) or Josh Stein (the Democratic candidate for governor who is leading the controversial Republican candidate, Mark Robinson, in the polls). However, if Democrats can hold onto to all of their current seats and gain just one seat in either chamber, they can break the grip of the supermajority.
That’s still a tall order. Redistricting in the state was heavily gerrymandered by Republicans to weaken Black representation, and while the contested maps are still being challenged in court, those maps are in place for this November.
The new maps selectively moved State Senator Lisa Grafstein's home in northern Wake County into the same district as fellow incumbent Dem and Minority Whip Sen. Jay Chaudhuri—a practice called “double-bunking.” So rather than run against her colleague in the primary, Sen. Grafstein moved across town to run in an open seat in a southern Wake district.
Since 1995, Sen. Grafstein has practiced civil rights law, particularly on behalf of persons with disabilities, and she is the only openly-gay member of the upper chamber. She supports higher wages for state government workers, Medicaid expansion, more resources for mental health and substance abuse services, and, not surprisingly, voting rights. “Voters should choose their representatives—not the other way around,” she says.
Scott Lassiter, Sen. Grafstein’s opponent, has been embroiled in a salacious scandal over the past year. He sued state house Speaker Tim Moore for having an extramarital affair with Lassiter’s wife under the “alienation of affection” statute in North Carolina state law.
Beth Helfrich is running for an open state House seat representing the Davidson, N.C. community where she grew up. A daughter of two teachers, she was herself a teacher for 20 years. She and her husband own a family business and have five children.
Helfrich is advocating for good governance—the antithesis of gerrymandering and voter suppression—increased funding for public education, and measures to ensure safe and healthy families, such as access to quality healthcare, childcare, and reproductive care; cleaner air and water; and common sense gun safety legislation.
Helfrich’s opponent, Huntersville mayor Melinda Bales, has avoided stating her position on the state’s newest restrictions to abortion, which will likely continue to be a major priority of the state legislature.
Wins by Sen. Grafstein and Helfrich will help pave the path to giving Josh Stein back the power of the veto.
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