Jeff Jackson, Welcome to Our County!
Popular young NC Congressman will speak to local Democrats this week on Zoom
They’re young. Champions of social justice. Completely at home with social media. They’re our bold new leaders in North Carolina. And they’re exciting.
One of our rising political stars is 41-year-old U. S. Congressman Jeff Jackson — and he will be our guest this Tuesday at our county’s monthly Democratic meeting on Zoom.
This matters, because North Carolina Democrats of all ages have put their hopes in the future he represents.
Last January, Rep. Jackson was asked on C-SPAN how he views his new job in Congress. He said,
I’m learning that Representatives are a good gauge of what the people back home think and believe. I treat that very seriously, and I believe the first step in my job is understanding, not persuasion.
Sam and I first met Jeff Jackson in Asheville in 2017. Jackson was there to debate Carl Mumpower, the Buncombe County Republican Party Chair. Mumpower argued that teachers aren’t in the profession for money; he said they do it out of love for the kids.
In opposition, Jackson spoke passionately for adequate state funding for teachers and the public schools.
In our view, and in the view of the many teachers in the audience, Jackson won the debate. We congratulated him afterwards.
The following April, in 2018, Sam was running for the NC House and I took his picture with Jeff again.
Then in July, 2021, Jeff ran for the U. S. Senate. His whistlestop tour of all 100 North Carolina counties brought him to The Depot, the old train station in Brevard.
Five months later, Jeff suspended his campaign and endorsed Cheri Beasley, another Democrat.
Then, in 2022, Jackson went on to win a seat in the U. S. House. On C-SPAN, he said,
What I really want to use this job for is to show people what I think the next chapter in politics could look like. We’re in a dark chapter right now, but I think this country is going to change rapidly in the next 20 years because of technology.
We need to exit this very dark chapter of politics as soon as possible, so we can go through this change in a way that doesn’t pull us apart.
And how to manage that change? He explains,
I think the two foundational values for our country are liberty and equality. Our historic documents show this theme. For example, the Gettysburg Address.
But you can never have 100% of both liberty and equality. So, whether it’s health care or housing or something else, we’re always looking at where to put the fulcrum between liberty and equality, to find the balance that works.
My political philosophy is, these are both indispensable values. Let’s have an honest conversation around that.
How is conversation possible in divided times like these? He says,
I served in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2006, and at military installations across America. The military is about learning to work in small teams. You have to work together.
So you get good at being in a situation with relative strangers, where you figure out how to use each others’ strengths to accomplish a mission.
In the U. S. House, Jackson serves on two committees, on Armed Services, and on Science, Space and Technology. The C-SPAN interviewer asked him how he handles so much work. He answered,
You can’t be too judgmental about not getting to the end of your to-do list in this job. That’s an uncomfortable feeling for someone like me.
But you can’t beat yourself up for not doing everything. You have to breathe in deep, and you have to exhale.
I said earlier that Jeff Jackson’s energy for a better world excites people of any age. He especially has the attention of young people who care about their communities, and there are many.
He’s famous for his social media presence. It’s personal. He’s our eyes and ears, reporting from the heart of our government. He’s honest and outspoken. He speaks and writes with clarity, and his videos are state-of-the-art.
It doesn’t feel like I’m leaving you with an ending to this post, because Jeff himself will continue it anywhere you look to find him — his weekly blog (see the notes below; I recommend it!), any social media, the national news.
And this week, he’ll be at our county’s monthly meeting through Zoom, where you can ask him what’s going on in Washington, or in North Carolina.
Most of all, look for Jeff Jackson in the future. He knows how to run a campaign. And now it’s for all the American people.
THANK YOU FOR THIS POSTCARD, DEDA!!
JEFF JACKSON IS THE BEST EVER...HE IS THE EPITOME OF A FINE REPRESENTATIVE AND NC IS FORTUNATE TO HAVE HIM SERVING IN CONGRESS.
Great piece, Deda. Thank you for highlighting our guest speaker this month. I strongly urge others to get involved. Be on the side for positive change - TransCoDems.com