Democratic members of the North Carolina House of Representatives engaged with local residents and Elon University students during a town hall hosted by the NC House Democrats, Alamance County Democrats and Elon College Democrats at the Elon Community Church on Nov. 12.
Rep. Vernetta Alston, Rep. Ray Jeffers and Rep. Sarah Crawford — who represent Durham, Person and Wake counties, respectively — were in attendance. Daniel Ayers and Elon Town Council member Quinn Ray, who host The Hometown Holler podcast, moderated the town hall.
A little over 30 local residents and students were in attendance, including several local politicians like Elon Town Council member-elect Steve Exum, Burlington City Council member-elect Ian Baltutis and Alamance-Burlington School System Board of Education member Seneca Rogers.
Key points of discussion included the state budget stalemate, Medicaid funding and redistricting. As the North Carolina General Assembly enters its fourth month of not passing a state budget, Alston said that the past session of the General Assembly has been one of the most unproductive sessions in her five-and-a-half years in the legislature.
“One of our core jobs is simply to pass a budget,” Alston said. “So we've left ourselves without doing our jobs, and without a comprehensive fiscal plan for the state. It's really, really tragic and neglectful.”
The current fiscal year began July 1, but lawmakers have been unable to come to an agreement on a new budget, forcing the state to operate on the previous fiscal year’s funding levels. North Carolina is the only state that has both chambers controlled by the same party to not have a budget. North Carolina’s two GOP-controlled chambers have had different priorities in a new state budget, disagreeing on scheduled tax cuts, Medicaid funding and a plan for a state children’s hospital.
State lawmakers have indicated that they have no plans for any major votes until sometime in 2026. Crawford said that she expects her and other lawmakers to return to Raleigh in April and take up additional funding conversations then. Gov. Josh Stein recently called legislators to come back to Raleigh next week in a rare special session to address Medicaid funding but the session would just cover funding of Medicaid not a state budget.
The legislature has passed two mini-budget bills to address limited funding but they have not fully funded Medicaid, which concerns Crawford. Crawford said that many doctor’s offices are now not seeing as many Medicaid patients because they can’t afford to provide those services.
“There are people across the state that are losing services, losing access to health care, losing their therapeutic services, losing pharmacy benefits, because these Medicaid cuts have gone into effect, and that's all because the Republican controlled General Assembly cannot come to a deal,” Crawford said in an interview with Elon News Network.
Ray also mentioned how the lack of a budget is affecting local towns like Elon. Towns like Elon rely on the state to help fund expensive projects through state grants.
“We're looking at what we’re trying to do here at Elon, getting a police station, and working for some funds for that. We were earmarked, but with no budget passed, it doesn't come to us,” Ray said.
North Carolina’s recent redrawing of the congressional maps was also discussed. Alston brought up the fact that the state has had more maps in the last decade than they’ve had elections. She said that the Republican lawmakers have gone too far.
“It’s really terrifying to watch how effusive and just congratulating themselves over the violence that they've done to our democratic process,” Alston said.
Constitutionally, Stein is prohibited from vetoing a new congressional map, leaving it in the legislature’s hands.
Members of the audience were also given the chance to ask questions. The representatives were asked how North Carolina Democrats can chip away at the Republican majority in the General Assembly. They were also asked about what a typical day is like and what it’s like to try and relate to Republicans who they may disagree with.
They were also asked about political polarization. Crawford said that people are treating political parties like religions nowadays and that they need to be in conversation with each other.
Despite not representing Alamance County, Crawford said that it was important to come to Elon for the town hall.
“It's really important as representatives in our districts to come out and show people in other counties where they may not be represented by Democrats always to show what the Democrats are doing, what our priorities are, how we are holding the Republican party, who is in control of the General Assembly, how we are holding them accountable,” Crawford said in an interview with Elon News Network.
Ray said the town halls like this are important because it gives residents access to directly speak to representatives and ask questions. He also said it helps civic engagement.
“It's one of those topics that we hear that we don't talk religion, we don't talk politics, but let's talk politics,” Ray said in an interview with Elon News Network. “Let's have fun with it. Let's have community. And I hope there's a bunch of different ideas that come here, people that don't necessarily agree with these representatives, because let's have a conversation. Let's talk to each other.”