Dear North Carolina Team Joe,
I recently read The Wall Street Journal article about Joe Biden’s big “investment” in North Carolina. As a retiring legislator from the other party, I want to offer you a warm Tar Heel welcome. I also want to encourage you to ask for a big raise.
In 2020, I was on the wrong side of a big “investment” by Democrats. Your bosses poured millions and millions of out-of-state dollars into the state Senate district I represent. They convinced a “woke” true believer to uproot, move into a town, into a district in which she had never lived and spend a lot of time courting conservative voters. It was a big waste of their time and money. I still feel a little sick when I think about it.
Why was a North Carolina Senate seat worth so much to donors in New York and California? What did they tell my opponent to convince her to upend her life for this? And why in the world did anybody ever think that Davie County was going to vote for “woke”?
Most of you are fresh college graduates. You know what it looks like when somebody drinks too much punch. North Carolina is the sweetest punch for political consultants in Washington, D.C.
They know that trouble is brewing in former blue states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and that they need to hedge their bets. That is why they have already hired 60 of you across 16 offices.
Every morning, you can hear them take drink after drink on conference calls. They talk about Democrats’ “registration advantage.” They brag about the growth in blue cities like Charlotte and Raleigh. They do not mention (and probably do not even know) that the party has lost a population the size of Asheville since the day Joe Biden took office. Facts like that would kill the buzz.
You are the ones knocking on doors and talking to actual voters. Deep down, you know that the next morning is coming.
You hear from people who are angry that their electric bills are way up and people who say they will never be able to afford to own a home. You are listening to heart-breaking stories about people who work two jobs but are worried about being able to put food on the table because the price of everything has doubled. You even hear from longtime Democrat voters who say they are voting for President Trump.
I’d be happy to play a voicemail that I received last week — a lifelong Democrat who has worked for presidential candidates and other Democrat candidates for many years. While crying on the phone, she said, “I finally realize that I have been voting for the unprotection of my children. I will work for Republicans, and I will never vote for another Democrat.” This is a well-informed, articulate, deeply involved former Democrat.
Your bosses never prepared you for that. They do not have a word to say about it. What can they say?
Political campaigning is one of the most challenging jobs there is. It is mostly unstable, low-paid manual labor. You spend most of your time knocking on doors and begging people to knock on doors. Occasionally, you put together signs and attend local events and fundraisers. Dinner is usually cold pizza, eaten while making calls to people who do not want to talk to you. The hours are brutal, and the pay adds up to pennies per hour. Then, in mid-November, you are unceremoniously let go.
You are compassionate and very hard-working young people. You are working for pennies per hour for an effort that appears to be increasingly doomed. No big White House job will likely materialize from your work this summer and fall. Do not let yourself get taken advantage of.
Please put away the punch bowl. Too many at the party have had way too much to drink.
Get together and ask for a big raise.
Yours Truly,
Joyce
Sen. Joyce Krawiec has represented Forsyth County and the 31st District in the North Carolina Senate since 2014. She lives in Kernersville.
