You are going to hear it, again and again, this year: voting matters!
At Down Home Haywood, we want to tell you why. Voting matters because the lives of ordinary folk are positively or negatively impacted depending on who is in the room at the time decisions are made.
Who is in the room matters. We feel this is especially true at the local level, and that means right here in Haywood County. That is why Down Home Haywood members have voted to endorse Leah Hampton for Haywood County’s Board of Commissioners.
Our county is at a crossroads: housing prices have become unaffordable for many families; rents continue so that the dream of homeownership has fallen far out of reach for the majority of low-income and even many middle-income families. Wages have remained stagnant; their real value has plummeted, most notably for low-wage earners in the service industry. This harsh reality creates an ever-increasing wealth gap between those who have and those who have not. People, working people, who “have not” often lack health care and folks who have fallen into addiction are often criminalized. Families, working families, who “have not” are families in need of robust, thriving schools for their children, but instead find an education system that is severely underfunded.
These, and other, related issues, are at stake in this year’s county elections. Are we going to support a healthy, vibrantly functioning community or leave our neighbors to fend for themselves? Are we going to invest in our schools, or are we willing to put our children’s future at risk? Are we going to ask that our local government work for us all, or are we willing to allow it to only work for the wealthy few?
Leah Hampton is the person we need in the room when decisions are being made. She is an ardent supporter of access to well-funded education, from early childhood and preschool education through community college. She argues for remedying the digital divide, knowing that education in rural communities is negatively impacted by our lack of reliable internet access. Affordable housing, another crisis in Haywood, Leah champions by arguing for zoning changes and rent protections.
In short, Leah gets it. If elected, she would become only the second woman ever to serve on Haywood County’s Board of Commissioners. We need her in that room!
Down Home members in Haywood County have voted to endorse Leah Hampton for Haywood County Commissioner. We are committed to telling everyone we know about Leah and why we need her in office to represent us. You can help mobilize your community to support Leah and candidates like her by volunteering for Down Home’s Relational Voter Turnout Project. We will give you everything you need to activate your community.