Look at the recent Daily Bits on the website. Kids in Custody, Deval.
Cal Cunningham US Senate North Carolina
2020 General Election
Cal Cunningham https://www.calfornc.com is not movie-star handsome enough to be a perfect candidate for the US Senate. He has had some setbacks in his career, but made something of them. He is only slightly imperfect.
In the South (the Midwest, too), the starting point for the politically ambitious is president of the student body at the state university. Cal Cunningham did it the hard way. He became president of the University of North Carolina student body after transferring from Vanderbilt. As student body president, he made connections as ex officio member of the UNC Board of Trustees. He graduated in 1996
Cal Cunningham went to the University of North Carolina Law School. At Law School he served as the Chief Justice of the Student Supreme Court. He served for two terms, making this a serious role by publishing, for the first time, a report of the court’s proceedings. He graduated in 1999.
In 2000, Cal Cunningham was elected to the North Carolina State Senate – North Carolina’s youngest state senator. He overcame a lawsuit challenging his residency and was seated. He didn’t stay for long. The Republicans gerrymandered his district into three parts – all overwhelmingly Republican. He declined to run in any of them.
Cal Cunningham went back to school. After law school, he got a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the London School of Economics. He studied government at the Thune School in Switzerland, business at the Carolina Business Institute which is part of UNC’s business school, and international law, through a Duke University program at the Asian American Transnational Law Institute in Hong Kong.
Useful as those experiences may have been, Cal Cunningham’s next step was not exactly political. Call it public service. Post 9/11, he joined the army, the Judge Advocate General’s Corp of the reserves. Deployed to Iraq, he prosecuted contractors’ fraud, eventually serving as the lead counsel in what was described as the first court martial of a civilian contractor. For his work, he was awarded a Bronze Star and the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. Afterwards, he was assigned to US Airborne. He had to complete Airborne or Jump School, first. By 2011, he was working with a special operations task force in Afghanistan.
While in the reserves, Cal Cunningham got some civilian appointments. He was named to the Board of the Davidson County Community College, to the North Carolina Banking Commission, to the State Democratic Party’s Executive Committee, and to the Governor’s Crime Commission, of which he is Vice Chair. Honored and active, in 2010, he ran for the US Senate and had his second political setback. He did not get past the primary run off. He lost to North Carolina’s Secretary of State Elaine Marshall who subsequently lost the general.
Again, he made something of a setback. After practicing law for a couple of years, Cal Cunningham joined WasteZero as Vice President and General Counsel. Call this a kind of public service. Making some money while doing good. This Class B Corporation says its mission is “to cut the trash in half across the United States.” They consult with cities and states so they can protect the environment, reduce trash and save money.
Cal Cunningham was not abandoning his ambitions. He was targeting 2020 – initially thinking about running for Lt. Governor, but now committed to running for the US Senate. There are primary opponents. Cal Cunningham has established himself as the probable winner. He is likely to be the Democratic candidate to run against the relatively unpopular Thom Tillis. Tillis also has a primary challenge on his right.
Cal Cunningham has joined the brigade of Democratic candidates who have declined funds from corporate PACs. Even without corporate money, he has outraised the incumbent.
Is he too progressive for North Carolina? Cal Cunningham would not position himself that way. He is for lower cost health care and preventing reductions in Medicare. That should be OK. He is for Protecting jobs, improving education. Both seem good. He has established a position on the environment through his work.
Social issues? Cal Cunningham says he’ll protect choice. He promises “common sense’ steps regarding gut safety. He supports DREAMers and immigration reform. And he will end corruption in Washington. Will Thom Tillis or his right wing primary opponent portray Cal Cunningham as a socialist? Probably. Along with whoever the Democratic Presidential nominee is. The Republicans’ position is that Democrats are socialists. And they are members of the elite?
Is Cal Cunningham is a member of the elite? He is one kind of elite – a double UNC, time in the military – that is equally likely to be a Democrat or a Republican. He should be fine. North Carolina is one of three states pundits describe as the most likely for Democrats to flip a Republican seat, Along with Colorado and Arizona.
If there is to be a Democratic Senate, Democrats need North Carolina (Not that there aren’t other possibilities like Iowa or Maine or even Alaska). There is already a Democratic Governor and Attorney General in North Carolina. Both are running for reelection in 2020. Democrats have overwhelming control of the state supreme court. They will probably end the gerrymanders of both congressional seats and state legislative seats. North Carolina may be the next Virginia. Move it further along in that direction by electing Cal Cunningham https://www.calfornc.com to the US Senate. Send some money. Find a way to volunteer.
Democrats and the Senate (Look for my Notes about them on the website)
The most vulnerable Democrat
Alabama Reelect Doug Jones
Potentially vulnerable Democrats
Michigan Reelect Gary Peters
Minnesota Reelect Tina Smith
New Hampshire Reelect Jeanne Shaheen
Democrats running against the most vulnerable Republicans*
Arizona Elect Astronaut Mark Kelly
North Carolina Elect Environmentalist businessman Cal Cunninghaom
Democrats running against other vulnerable Republicans
Alaska Elect Physician, Fisherman Al Gross
Iowa Elect Businesswoman Theresa Greenfield
Maine Elect Maine House Majority Leader Sara Gideon
Mississippi Elect former Congressman and Ag Secy Mike Espy
South Carolina Elect former Party Chair Jaime Harrison
*Colorado is the third in this group. Will former governor and presidential candidate John Hickenlooper get far enough ahead of the rest of the Democratic primary field tp be a certainty?
