Mayco Bigelow Community Center in Burlington opened its doors Friday, June 12, for a speech given by U.S. House of Representatives candidate Richard Ojeda. He and his team are making a series of visits throughout the district this summer called the Congressional Town Hall Tour.

Starting an hour and a half before the town hall meeting, Ojeda was joined by about a dozen of his supporters who stood behind him with signs as he delivered his address to them and an online livestream audience.

Speaking alongside him were fellow members of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Burlington Mayor Beth Kennett and North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton.

Ojeda’s speech addressed the effects that the heightened cost of living, including tariffs on manufactured goods and gas prices, have had on District 9 citizens, highlighting small business owners and education workers.

The press conference also welcomed three guest speakers to share their own firsthand experiences navigating the modern economy. The first was Tabitha Boswell, an Alamance County resident, fourth grade teacher at North Graham Elementary School in the Alamance-Burlington School System and vice president of the Alamance-Burlington Association of Educators.

“I’ve seen a lot disappear from the classrooms this year,” Boswell said in her speech. "I've also seen a lot disappear from my own personal life this year as well.”

She addressed the damages that federal cuts have done to her Title I school, primarily the lack of healthy food options for students who rely on school-provided meals. She also acknowledged the harsh budget impacts following education funding that was withheld from the state earlier this year.

Boswell continued by sharing that she has picked up three jobs.

“I choose between eating and putting gas in my car,” she said. “Those are the choices that teachers are making.”

She said she hoped the representatives and nominees in the room heard her story and would work to improve opportunities and livelihoods for teachers in the district.

Following her speech was part-time Food Lion employee, guidance secretary from Southeast Alamance High School and former bus driver and cafeteria worker for the district, Tasha Miles.

“I am not about what party you are affiliated with, I am about what you are doing for us,” Miles said during her time at the podium.

Miles said she originally connected with Ojeda’s campaign through her role as the public relations coordinator at Stoney Creek AME Church, where she reached out to the nominee and invited him to worship. She said that, for her, having him attend a service helped her feel a deeper connection to him as a potential elected official.

“It was an honor because most times when people do that, they only come in just to get the vote,” Miles said. “But he came out and he actually tried to learn, talk to people, get to know people."

She said that she kept that connection in mind when preparing what to say in her speech.

“People feel like they aren't being heard, so what's the point of voting?” she said. “But you have to show that you care about your home, so that's my thing right now. Vote!”

The third guest featured in the press conference was Eric Henry, CEO of local Burlington company TS Designs, an apparel manufacturer specializing in U.S. cotton. Henry said he has lived in Alamance County for 65 years and has owned a business there for 48 years.

Henry said he was raised Republican and spent many years voting in that direction. However, after the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed in 1994, he began to change his political affiliations.

He said that he runs his business with a “triple bottom line”: people, planet, profit. Under the current administration, he said owning his small business is the hardest it has ever been because he wants to continue running a business that values those three things.

Throughout his speech, Henry discussed what he called a K-shaped economy and the challenges it presents for small business owners.

“Picture a k,” Henry said in his speech. “The upslope is Wall Street, the billionaires, the wealthy. The downstroke is Main Street. Main Street is struggling.”

Ojeda closed out the conference by acknowledging his guests and thanking them for coming, as well as echoing their messages to reduce costs of living and help support struggling communities. 

He ended his speech by saying that if elected, “the people of this district would never have to wonder what side I'm on.”

In response to a question regarding his plans if he were to be voted into office, Ojeda said he would fight to have the first $45,000 of workers’ salaries be tax-free. He said he would campaign to have minimum wages rise to meet inflated costs of living.

Ojeda said he hopes to connect with other lawmakers to meet these aspirations, saying, “I will work with anyone who wants to work to elevate people.”

In an interview with Anderson Clayton following the conference, Clayton reflected on how the Democratic Party hopes to utilize social media to engage a wider audience. Both the town hall meeting and the press conference were livestreamed to Ojeda’s Facebook.

“I think we limit the internet to young people sometimes, but Facebook is still the most utilized platform for anybody in any age right now,” Clayton said. “ So even just putting out Facebook videos would be something that would help educate those who couldn’t show up.”

Clayton said that connecting to voters is one of Ojeda’s main goals for hosting the congressional town halls throughout the summer months and hopes that by having him make both online and in-person appearances, they will be able to build a stronger foundation with voters in the district.