Elections 2020: Democratic party & candidates for the primary

Ruth Dahl, Nate Hadley, Hannah Fink & Sara Stanley contributed to the profiles.

Democratic Party Platform  
The Jackson County Democratic party’s mission is electing Democratic candidates to local, state and national offices that reflect the party’s values. Jackson county’s Democratic candidates reflect the national Democratic values with emphasis on certain issues such as living wages, the reality and importance of climate change and free high-quality public schools through community college. Joe Sam Queen, the incumbent running for District 119, for example emphasizes accessible, affordable health care as one of his key running points. Additionally, most of the Democratic candidates support the legalization of cannabis, including all five of the candidates for District 11. For more information about the Jackson County Democratic Party, visit their website.

Candidates for U.S. Congress from North Carolina’s 11-th District

Steve Woodsmall

Information from Woodsmall For Congress.

Woodsmall is a retired US Air Force major with work history in government contracting and teaching. He has taught graduate and undergraduate school most recently at Brevard college. He also served as a NCAA basketball official.

Woodsmall’s Positions:

He believes corporate funding should not be used for political campaigns. Woodsmall says he is committed to not accepting PAC money for his campaign.

Woodsmall supports the federal legalization of cannabis and the expungement of anyone convicted for cannabis-related crimes.

He wants to redraw districts to create fair elections and stop gerrymandering. 

Woodsmall supports healthcare for all and wants to lower the price of pharmaceuticals.

He wants to protect social security, medicare and unemployment.

On his website he vows to protect the rights of the LGBTQIA community as well as women’s rights.

Woodsmall supports a ban on assault weapons on the grounds of public safety. He supports local agriculture and affordable, sustainable farming.

He wants to protect and maintain WNCs natural resources, stop fracking and implement wind and solar alternatives to fossil fuel. 

Woodsmall wants to provide legal protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.

As stated on his campaign website, he feels women should make their own healthcare choices.

He wants additional funding for the Asheville Veteran’s Affairs.

Phillip Price  

Information from Philip Price for the Congress.

Phillip Price’s campaign slogan is the “working man for the people.” Price attended Western Carolina University, but left to become a touring musician. He has a criminal record, including possession of marijuana in 1997 and driving while impaired in 2007. Price does not have any charges since then and he remains a proponent for the legalization of cannabis. Price ran against Mark Meadows in 2018 elections.

Price’s Positions:

Price supports raising the minimum wage to $15. He believes his plans to reform healthcare, move towards green energy and improve infrastructure will bring jobs to the region.

Price believes healthcare should not be a business and supports medicare for all.

He supports free education from Pre-K through college. His plans include educated professionals paying more in taxes, which will fund free education for the generations to come after them. He also supports lowering interest rates on student loans and investing in early education and childcare programs.

Price supports a switch to renewable energy sources. He wants to protect the farming of hemp for use in making plastics. 

He wants to improve infrastructure by rebuilding roads and bridges and bring high speed

internet and phone services to rural areas. 

Price wants to return to net neutrality.

He supports a constitutional amendment making unlimited campaign donations illegal. He does not believe super PACs should fund politician’s campaigns.

Price wants to protect and expand social security.

He supports equal pay for women as well as family planning options such as planned parenthood. He supports the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, which provides 12 weeks of partial paid leave for men and women to care for newborns, sick children and dependents.

Price’s stance on civil rights includes incorporating LGBTQ questions in the 2020 census and supporting the equality act, which amends the civil rights act of 1964 to include sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in prohibited categories of discrimination.

He wants to protect the rights of immigrants by protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans. He feels that immigrants contribute to the economy, and their economic and social interests should be protected.

One of Price’s main campaign positions is legalizing medical and recreational marijuana and hemp farming. He also wants to remove it from the schedule 1 substance list.

Price wants tighter gun restrictions and to get rid of semi-automatic weapons.

Price believes in ending for profit prisons. He sees a need to rebuild trust between law enforcement and society. He also wants to improve after school programs and end the cash bail system and the death penalty.

Micheal O’Shea
Information from Michael O’Shea for Congress.

Micheal O’Shea is a Western North Carolina native with ancestry dating back before the revolutionary war. He is an alumni of the WCU Honors College where he graduated with a degree in philosophy. Over the last decade O’Shea has worked in the Music industry and has lived in Atlanta and Los Angeles. He came back to North Carolina in 2018 to pursue a career in public service after being frustrated with the state of American politics. 

O’Shea’s Positions 

O’Shea describes himself as the progressive candidate for Western North Carolina, and he believes the core “mountain values” he grew up with are the best values that align with his progressive policies. 

He stands for medicare for all, and he would want to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He supports the Green New Deal and is an advocate for fighting climate change. He supports the Universal Basic Income plan, which would give every adult American $1000 a month. 

O’Shea wants to invest in education. He is pro-choice and supports an Equal Rights Amendment as well as LGBTQ rights. He wants to end student loan debt and make public colleges free. He also wants to protect social security. 

He wants to legalize cannabis as well as end the war on drugs, for profit prisons and the death penalty. 

He wants to enact common sense gun regulation. Invest in affordable housing and infrastructure, and he wants to strengthen labor unions. 

He supports expanding the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts, and he wants to tax the rich and corporations.  

O’Shea wants to combat voter suppression and gerrymandering. He wants to get money out of politics, and abolish paid political ads on social media.

He wants to defend net neutrality and make broadband a right. He would support the renegotiation of  trade deals that have hurt the working class.

He would support veterans and end unnecessary war. He is an advocate for police reform, immigration reform and he wants to abolish ICE. 

Moe Davis 

Information from Moe Davis for Congress.

Davis is a highly-decorated, former Air Force Colonel and former Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. 

Born and raised in Shelby, NC and graduate of Appalachian State University, Davis is no stranger to the needs of western North Carolina. 

Davis’ Positions

Davis recognizes affordable and accessible health care as a basic human right. He plans on fighting for single-payer healthcare to reduce the drastic cost of current plans.

Education is very important to Davis, especially in rural counties that tend to fall behind in growth. Davis also plans on fighting for a plan to transfer all student loans to the Department of Education, dropping the loan interest rates to 0 percent. 

He also plans on pushing for a $15 living wage, adding jobs to rural counties in western North Carolina, and creating sustainable industry in the mountains. 

Davis is a strong advocate for the Green New Deal, and he believes that western North Carolina’s tourism industry, economy, and landscape depends on environmental protection and sustainability. 

He also believes that Social Security should be protected. He plans on fighting to exclude Social Security benefits from inflation to preserve the standard of living for eligible citizens. 

Davis strongly believes that access to abortion is a basic human right. However, he also believes that governments should work to reduce the need for abortions by increasing access to free and affordable birth control and female health care. 

Border security is a strong point in Davis’ campaign. He believes that border security should be increased while simultaneously creating a clear path to citizenship for people who are already in the country. He also firmly believes in supporting DACA and cracking down on the employers who hire immigrants for cheap labor. 

Davis believes in legalizing marijuana and increasing research funds for medicinal use of the drug. He also believes in expunging all criminal marijuana charges. 

Davis refers to himself as a “multi-gun owner,” explaining that guns should not be banned, just regulated. He supports mandatory background checks and red flag laws, along with regulations on purchases of military assault weapons. 

He supports the LGBTQ community and backs the H.R. 5 Equality Act that works to stop discrimination of the community. 

A 25-year veteran himself, Davis is very passionate about protecting veteran’s rights. He strongly believes in increasing V.A. funding and in protecting the G.I. Bill and all of the rights that come with it. 

Gina Collias

Information from Gina Collias for Congress.

Collias: wife, mother, attorney, businesswomen and politician. Plus this isn’t Collias’ first time running. In 2018, she ran as a Republican and did not win a seat in the U.S. House. Now, Collias is running for a seat in the Congressional district as a democrat. Collias worried about the direction the nation is going in and wanted to help remedy that by running.

Collias’ website states that her motto is: “I will build bridges, get things done and represent the values of WNC- integrity, civility and helping our neighbors to succeed and thrive in this greatest democracy on earth.”

Collias Positions:

Collias believes the nation is built on immigrants. Her views include, a need of increasing the funding for immigration judges and attorneys so that those seeking asylum can be processed more swiftly.  Most importantly, she believes we need to keep families together. She also supports bills that help Dreamers such as the American Dream and Promise Act.

Collias supports universal healthcare. While Collias believes that Medicaid should be expanded and universal healthcare should be an option for all, she also believes that those who want to, can keep their private insurance.

When it comes to education, Collias wants to enforce a re-training program for teachers to improve technical education while funding teachers and schools more. For the college students and those graduates, Collias wants to work on legislation to create more loan forgiveness programs.

Collias supports stricter gun control. This means she would advocate for universal background checks, both state and federal and robust mental health checks. She also would raise the age requirement for purchasing a gun while closing the gun show loophole. Collias’ campaign will take no money from gun lobbyists and Collias will find funding for CDC to research the cause of gun violence.

Collias’ stance on voting includes a system of automatic voter registration at 18 years old and the ability to register the same day of voting. She also proposes making voting day a federal holiday, even moving Presidents Day to the day of voting.

In terms of environment, Collias is firmly against efforts to weaken protection of our land and water.

And for veterans, Collias wants more support for military families and veterans. This includes increasing funding for programs that provide aid for wounded veterans and creating support programs for veterans finding jobs.

Candidates for North Carolina Senate District 50

Victoria Fox

Victoria Fox is a Canton resident running as the Democratic candidate for N.C. State Senate District 50, which includes Haywood, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain. She’s an 11-year resident of Western North Carolina and a mother of three school-aged children. 

Little information about Fox exists on the internet—there is no informational website about, and there are no photos of her. However, she did do an interview at The Mountaineer, where she briefly outlined her positions and background. 

While Fox currently works part-time at an Asheville CBD manufacturer, she has spent the last decade devoting her time to raising her family. With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why her focus is on affordable food, healthcare, and energy for the families of District 50. 

According to an interview in the Mountaineer, Fox says “I hear stories all the time from parents how it’s a struggle for them to pay for their kids’ lunch. It’s awful how the income divide in this area is, where you see all these children whose families just can’t afford the groceries that they need, or pay for school lunch and breakfast at school.”

The economic divide within District 50 is also an important issue to Fox. She says she hears stories from fellow parents about the struggle to pay for school lunches and weekly groceries, and notes that it is a struggle for her herself to affordably take care of her family. 

“I know my family is not alone. We have insurance, but every time I take my children to the dentist, our bill is $1,000 to $2,000, even with dental insurance,” Fox said within the same Mountaineer interview. “It’s a struggle.”

Broadband access in schools (meaning expanding instruction beyond the physical classroom and traditional school day, including more customized learning opportunities for students and access high-quality, low-cost and personally relevant educational material) is another part of her platform. 

 Fox claims she isn’t an “average politician” because she is someone “everyone can relate to.” She believes she is a “new type of candidate” who will “really work for the people in this area.” 

Incumbent running for North Carolina House District 119

Joe Sam Queen 

Information from Joe Sam Queen NC House.

Joe Sam Queen is a western North Carolina native and a proud, active member of the community. He was first elected to the 119th seat of the NC House of Representatives in 2018. Republican candidates Ron Mau and Mike Clampitt are running against Queen. He is unopposed by the Democrats. Queen is set on creating a stronger economy and better lives for all people in western North Carolina. 

Queen’s Positions

Joe Sam Queen is a strong supporter of regional manufacturing, encouraging small business and tourism growth in the region. As an architect, he also believes in responsible growth that focuses on protecting the environment. 

Queen believes that education is the key to creating a great economy. He has secured thousands of dollars to support dropout prevention programs in high schools, as well as working to make Western Carolina University a leader in the field of health and aging with the new Health and Human Sciences Building. Queen also had a hand in passing the recent bond to support the building of the new Apodaca Science Building on WCU’s campus. 

Queen is also passionate about supporting and promoting preventative healthcare and lifelong wellness. He firmly believes that healthcare should be affordable and accessible to everyone.