NC’s Party Leader: Dems “Left Behind” Rural Vote

GOLODRYGA, HOST: Well, we turn next to a young person making her mark in U.S. politics. At only 25 years old, Anderson Clayton chairs the North Carolina Democratic Party as the youngest state party leader in the country. But her age has never stopped her from being a vocal advocate for rural communities like the one where she grew up. She talks to Hari Sreenivasan about her journey into local politics.

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HARI SREENIVASAN, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, thanks. Anderson Clayton, thanks so much for joining us. People might not know that at 25 you are the youngest person to lead the North Carolina Democratic Party. And I guess first I want to ask, what do you think led to your victory? I mean, you beat not just the incumbent but a person that was supported by the governor, supported by most of the state’s party leadership. What was the message that you were able to convince people to say, it’s time for me to be there?

ANDERSON CLAYTON, CHAIR, NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Thanks for having us, Hari. I really appreciate it. I think that, you know, the North Carolina Democratic Party and the folks that are really the grassroots organizers and the folks that put in the work every single year to help get Democrats elected across the state really got organized and energized by the message of that we need to be organizing everywhere, across all 100 counties in North Carolina and also by the fact that everybody is worth investing in. And I think that that was a message that we really conveyed strongly through organizing across all of our 100 counties, but also gave the message that we can’t leave out Rural North Carolina anymore. And there’s been this, I think, perpetuation or kind of idea in our party for really a long time that, you know, demographic changes and urbanization is going to save the State of North Carolina for the Democratic Party. And for me, I think that we have to organize the state that we’re in right now versus the state that we are idealizing 10 years from now.

SREENIVASAN: So, give me an idea of what has been perhaps missing from the Democratic Party in the State of North Carolina, what have you been seeing over several cycles?

CLAYTON: I think a real message for working class folks throughout our state. You know, right now, people across Rural North Carolina are not living, they are surviving. And right now, we have federal ministration, the Biden-Harris administration that has decided to, you know, for the first time in 50 years, in my opinion, invest in places that look like where I grew up. And when we looked at what happened in 2007 and 2008 where you had a manufacturing jobs and opportunity, honestly, from the beginning of the 2000s, right, start to lead Rural North Carolina and leave behind economic prosperity for areas and opportunity for these areas that look like places where I grew up, folks in those communities really started to think that the Democratic Party had left them behind. And for me, it’s about reaching out to folks that are across our state and in these communities that we haven’t actually had an economic message for and saying, the Biden-Harris administration believes in your opportunity to live here 50 years from now, and that’s by investing in manufacturing again.

SREENIVASAN: Yes. So, how does this play out across people that you grew up or your family members? Give me an idea of whether they are part of why North Carolina is purple and why people switch back and forth?

CLAYTON: Yes. I mean, you know, I tell folks all the time, my dad actually voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and it was one of the hardest things that I had to go through and my family, honestly, was trying to have a conversation and talk to him about why that happened. And I think that Donald Trump really spoke to a generation of folks who had felt left behind by government, felt like government didn’t actually work for them anymore or speak to their needs, and they weren’t helping and they couldn’t see how they were benefiting from the systems that were in right now. And it’s really taken building that trust. It took my mom, who’s a health care professional and my sister who’s a seventh-grade science teacher and myself really, you know, working on my dad and talking to him about why we voted for the Democratic Party because that’s the party that’s going to protect our human rights at the end of the day. And it’s a party that is going to work for working people again again. And so, I — but it was hard, right, and it’s hard for anybody, I think, to have these conversations with their family, but it takes a lot and it takes that you have the message to give them. So, I think that it’s — we saw that trajectory, my dad voted for Joe Biden in 2020, he’s going to be a strong Joe Biden supporter again in 2024, but we had — it took a long time for us to get there, honestly.

SREENIVASAN: So, how did you get back in to kind of rural politics in North Carolina? I mean, looking at your sort of political history, you kind of went from the city and state levels to the national level and then, now, all of a sudden, kind of focus back down.

CLAYTON: Yes. I mean, I became really disillusioned with national politics after I worked in Kentucky in 2020. I worked for Amy McGrath’s campaign when she was running against Mitch McConnell, and I really got to be in a part of Eastern Kentucky. I was based out of (INAUDIBLE). It was one of most beautiful places I’d ever seen, but folks kept asking me, you know, what was it like to spend 2020 in the heart of Trump country? And I told folks, I didn’t spend 2020 in the heart of Trump country. I spent it in the place where people felt like government had failed them because they couldn’t figure it how government reaches them or impacts them. And I knew that I had to go home. I knew that that’s where that was leading me because I know that, you know, when you organize folks and when you care about your own community you can show that in the places that you grew up.

And so, I got led back to Rural North Carolina, I think, by the fact that I knew I wanted to change it to be a place for someone like me could grow up there and not have to be forced to leave it, honestly, one day.

SREENIVASAN: What’s at stake when it comes to 2024 in North Carolina considering — and we can talk some — about some of the issues that are already facing the state and what’s happened in recent politics, but what are you focused on as the party chair, either to revert or, you know, change those things or to try to focus on something coming towards a national campaign?

CLAYTON: Yes. I mean, the number one issue, I think, that I’m really focused on is trying to, honestly, promote economic opportunity for folks across our state. It is particularly in Rural North Carolina. We are obviously going to run very strong on abortion rights and being able to maintain bodily autonomy in our state. Also, housing for me is a huge issue, particularly when you’re thinking about young people and being able to adequately afford housing right now.

And particularly in Rural North Carolina too, we see that every single day with how housing has become more and more expensive. And what’s happening, you know, urban gentrification is also happening and, you know, promoting, honestly, rural gentrification, particularly in our rural areas that we have outside of our major metropolitan areas. North Carolina has the second highest population of rural folks in — besides Texas, honestly, because we have so many dense rural populations throughout our state. And so, when we look at what the cost-of-living raise is doing in some of our urban areas, it’s also having that effect and that is still down, honestly, in outdoor urban — or rural communities as well.

SREENIVASAN: How much do the kind of culture wars play into what happens in North Carolina? Because when you mentioned reproductive rights, the polling in the state shows that the majority of people prefer that a woman have a right to choose and have that autonomy. Yet, recently, you know, the legislature rolled back abortion or reproductive rights protections in the state.

CLAYTON: Yes. I mean, I think that we obviously seen an overwhelming amount of North Carolinians who are supportive of bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom. And we know that Republicans right now are going against what the majority of our state believes in, and they had to do it in the way that they did it, right?

You know, Republicans push through a bill within 48 hours because the Representative Tricia Cotham switching parties and becoming a Republican, gave the Republican Party a supermajority, right? And Democrats and, honestly, voters, right, in North Carolina didn’t give them that a supermajority, that power. They elected a representative that was going to fight on behalf of reproductive autonomy and she didn’t that. And so, for us, it’s really seeing the fact that voters are going to have something to say in 2024 at the ballot box because, right now, that is our only option to fight back against the regression in North Carolina, unfortunately. That’s the only option Republicans have given us right now. Because it’s not just enough to go to the General Assembly right now and advocate and fight on behalf and try to get to your legislatures to uphold what they ran on, right, we also have to fight back even harder this year and next year.

SREENIVASAN: So, tell me a little bit about what’s happening with public education in North Carolina and is that similar to what you’ve seen in other states when you’ve been working there?

CLAYTON: I mean, Republicans over the last decade in our state have slowly but surely been defunding public education throughout North Carolina. We’ve seen it with a proposed budget that they have come up with out of the General Assembly this year when we are trying to give, you know, voucher programs to charter schools into private schools that are really enforcing indoctrination in some way when you think about the religious component to them.

And, you know, there’s a separation of church and state for a reason in the United States and that exists. And right now, North Carolina is releasing the, I think, defunding and the strangling of our public schools. And not just the sense of defunding and underfunding, you know, public teacher pay but also in the sense of how we’re trading our classrooms.

You know, there used to be — I’ve talked to a lot of teachers about this, and they say, Anderson, you know, there used to be a respect of — that came with being a public-school teacher, and that’s just not the case anymore in North Carolina. And I think that we have a long way to go when it comes to supporting public education and really putting back the money that it needs to have into it, to be honest with you.

SREENIVASAN: But Republicans will say, look, this is not an attempt to defund public education but to try to give parents more choice. What’s wrong with that argument?

CLAYTON: The fact that not everybody has that choice, right? I mean, you know, private schools don’t exist in so many places in Rural North Carolina right now. You’re not giving everyone the opportunity that you think you are. And also, folks that can already afford those schools are not going to be able to afford them even with the voucher program, right? It might make them more affordable for the students and the parents that are already able to, but you’re looking at some of the wealthiest kids throughout the North Carolina who shouldn’t be able to just have a free education because that’s the school that they want to go to, and it’s not a public education — or it’s not a public education system. I just don’t believe that that’s the way that we are trying to enforce an equitable public education system that’s guaranteed by our state constitution.

SREENIVASAN: You know, when people think of politics, oftentimes we have this tendency to look at the national races because it seems that all politics has been nationalized. How do you convince people in Rural North Carolina that — especially if they are disenfranchised with the idea of government that they should take part, that they should work on the city council level that — you know, forget about the feds say, here’s something you can do and should do?

CLAYTON: I mean, I think about it through what we did in Person County. So, I was a Person County Democratic Party chair before I became the state party chair. And in 2021, we flipped the Roxboro city council from red to blue, and it’s something that — Roxboro the city within Person County and it’s something that I never thought was possible there growing up, to see Democrats elected at the local level. And I didn’t realize though that 51 percent of the City of Roxboro was black, and they had never had their doors knocked, they had never had their phones called, they’ve never seen candidates run that looked like them, that, you know, talked about the issues that were important to them. And so, in 2021, we had three really amazing black Democrats run for city council, Shaina Outlaw, Cynthia Petty and Peter Baker And they were all representative of the community and they had been involved for 20 years or they have been activist and organizers who had helped somebody get their first job or, you know, they help this person pay their bill one month. And its folks that have just touched people’s lives, if they know that person is not representative of just politics and be — trying to be a politician but they are somebody that really wants to help me, they want to be a public servant again, which is something that I feel like we have to get back to. And so, I really tell — or try to tell people, you know, that story to inspire them of you can get involved in your backyard. And the one vote you have in your own local community, your city council race, your county commission race, sometimes means a lot more than it does at the national level or the statewide level, depending on kind of what that race can look like for you. But I say, we need to put on amazing candidates who have visions for their communities.

SREENIVASAN: So, what do you tell these folks, these young folks, these kind of energize new folks, especially in rural parts of North Carolina because the Republicans have been as successful as they had, is it because they have a better message, is it a branding problem? What are the hurdles that the Democratic Party has to overcome to try to do in the rest of the state what you might even able to do in Person County?

CLAYTON: I think we definitely have a branding problem, right? I think that that is the — but that also comes from showing up. I think that we have a branding problem because we’ve allowed Fox News and we’ve allowed these Republican silos in rural areas to really dictate a message for us, and they’ve been giving that message for us for so long and we actually haven’t had the fighters on the ground that we’ve needed in all of these communities to fight back against disinformation and also try to help folks understand, here’s what the Democratic Party really stands for right now. You know, I don’t have — I tell folks all the time, they asked me, they go, Anderson, how do you talk to rural voters? And I’m like, I’m not trying to talk to rural voters, I’m trying to talk to rural Democrats again because we don’t do — we need to do that first before we try to do the other side of this. And I think we’ve just got a call back our own people into our party because we have the numbers that we need here. It’s the fact that Democrats are consistently not showing up to vote because they don’t either feel inspired by the folks that we have running or they’re not feeling like the campaigns are actually reaching out to them or they don’t feel like governments are actually working for them, or they might just be disenfranchised, right, because North Carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country thanks to my Republican state legislature, right? Like it’s hard to know where your — like who are you voting for, what district lines do you have right now?

And it’s hard to feel connected, I think, when you had such a chaotic, right, political system. And so, I think it’s really trying to galvanize people around a center message, which is that the state party is trying to make sure 100 counties have strong Democratic voices and messengers in them and that you need to get involved right now with that county party to make it stronger. And that’s where you’re going to find your people. That’s where you’re going to find your community. And I think that’s one of the biggest things that we’re trying to do this year too, is bring community to Rural North Carolina for folks that have felt like their voices have been silenced for far too long.

SREENIVASAN: When you officially got the job, is their resistance of a different story, saying, yes, you know what, these people need to kind to wait their turn?

CLAYTON: I mean, I think that a lot of folks looked at me when I got this job, and honestly, still to this day, right, when I walk in a room, no one thinks that I am the state party chair. When I start speaking though, people do know that I am the state party chair. And I think that that’s an important point of reflection for me in this job too to take on is that I have really, I think, tried to surprise people with what I have to offer in the sense of the ideas that I have but also the way that I see the strategy forward for our state.And I think that young people are so capable, and I think that we are just as able and intelligent and honestly, like-minded as anybody else that would have gotten into a job like this.

SREENIVASAN: So, how much does the top of the ticket matter? So, say, for example, you are successful in tapping into this interest in this generational change and people feel like, OK, maybe, you know what, it is time to let Gen Z come in. Because at the same time, at the top of the ticket is President Biden and there are polls that show a number of people, a high percentage are concerned about his age and when he barnstorms through North Carolina, is he going to be an asset or a liability for some of these younger, newer, fresher faces that are trying to get into North Carolina party politics?

CLAYTON: Well, I hope if he comes through North Carolina, he’s bringing Dark Brandon with him because if so, absolutely. I think that he’s going to definitely rile up young folks throughout the state that are just excited to see a message that’s not what the Republican Party is giving right now, which I think is trying to take our state backwards, right?

You know, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party offers a lot of hope right now. They offer a party that’s thinking about the future, not thinking about the past and trying to take us back there. And for young people, I mean, we don’t want less rights, we want more. And that’s what this Democratic Party is fighting for. And so, I tell any young person right now, if you’re confused about which direction you’re going to vote in in 2023, in our municipal races in 2024, in our next year. You know, you want to vote for the party that’s going to have your back and that’s going to be fighting for your rights. And that’s on the Republican Party right now.

And so, the party that, you know, is inspiring change and wants to see more young people involved with it, that has a young Democratic Party chair that wants to see you take on a position of power within it is the Democratic Party. And that’s the party that you need to be a part of right now, I think.

So, that’s going to be my message. But I definitely consider Joe Biden an asset coming through North Carolina. And I would love the opportunity to have some great young surrogates get up there and campaign with him too and provide that other supportive energy and excitement that young folks need to see right now.

SREENIVASAN: So, at the end of your term, what do you think success looks like? How are you going to measure your time?

CLAYTON: Yes. I want to win an election in 2024. I want to keep a Democratic governor in 2024. But I really want to make sure that I have municipal races in 2023, that folks start to see Democratic flips in and folks that they knew and that they supported get elected at a local level. If I can look back after two years in this job and say that we have 100 strong county parties that are vocalized and getting out in their communities and trying to make good things happen in their own backyards, I’m going to have done my job. And if I see more young people involved with this party, then I have, over the last eight years on it, I’ve done my job, I think.

SREENIVASAN: Anderson Clayton, chair the North Carolina Democratic Party, Thanks so much for joining us.

CLAYTON: Thank you, Hari. I appreciate it.