Katie Dean: Candidate for US House NC District 11
Vote for Democratic women in the May 17 Democratic Primary
It’s exciting to have two women in the Democratic primary for US House NC District 11. The two key words for me are “Democratic” and “ Women”. Democratic because that’s the party now defending democracy, and Women because our viewpoint needs to be represented more strongly in leadership.
You can vote for just one candidate in this race on the Transylvania County Democratic Primary ballot. As a voter I want to be informed about my party’s candidates. So I asked each of the two women running for this office to respond to the same four questions.
One of them is Katie Dean. She lives in Swannanoa, NC. By way of introduction, the tagline on her Facebook page says,
Candidate for U.S. House, NC-11 / B.S. Environmental Engineering UGA || Small Business Owner
Deda: Katie, I’m pleased to introduce you to Postcards readers! Thank you for responding during this busy primary time. We Democrats are thrilled that women are running in this race. As one of two women in the Primary, how do you differ from the other?
Katie: I bring to the table a lived experience and authenticity the D.C. elites can't buy. I lived working-class poor before my husband and I went back to school. I earned my B.S. in Environmental Engineering, which was a meaningful achievement given I started my adult life with a GED. I've navigated the red tape as a consulting engineer in infrastructure design for rural communities where we removed lead pipes from the ground. Having worked with countless county commissioners, city council members, and regulatory agents, I bring a pragmatic and detailed understanding of where the rubber meets the pavement on how our taxpayer dollars are spent and an ability to communicate that delivers results.
Deda: In the General Election, what would be your strengths, no matter who your Republican opponent turns out to be?
Katie: I bring a unique capacity to speak directly to the issues we face as working and middle-class Americans while we navigate what can only be described as a broken economy. I've worked multiple jobs that make under $10/hr. I also went on to build a career in engineering and environmental remediation, and my husband and I built our auto repair shop from nothing. We know the working and middle-class are the backbone of our economy, but our voice is not being heard in Washington. Winning this seat is going to take a lot of hard work. The wealthy elites will never give us a seat at the table, we have to take it with the same hard work and grit that defines our lives. Defeating Cawthorn's branded extremism is a full-time job. I am dedicated and determined to meet this moment. No one will outwork me.
Deda: How would your campaign issues appeal to women of our area? Many are rural, and struggle with things like housing, affordable healthcare and public schools in need of attention.
Katie: Our top campaign priority is to address an economy that is only working for the wealthy. In western North Carolina, our critical needs are rural broadband, affordable healthcare and housing, education, and constituent services. Send me to Congress and I will fight tooth and nail to bring our taxpayer dollars back into our district. I'll bring the corporate giants and private equity firms in front of Congress and hold them accountable for putting us in a race to the bottom. We need to send someone to Congress who will stand up and say western North Carolina is not for sale.
Deda: Finally, how could the women Democrats of Transylvania County help you in your campaign in the General Election?
Katie: Defeating Madison Cawthorn's branded extremism will require a lot of work. But I’ve been working hard my whole life. Our goal is to build rural campaign infrastructure that moves the needle for Democrats up and down the ballot including Justice Beasley and her run for U.S. Senate, the state Supreme Court seats, and our state legislature candidates. We win by running an energetic, full-time, top-tiered candidate who's completely committed to the task at hand. We win by hitting it out of the park in all of these categories: under 35 vote, rural unaffiliated, fair-weathered Dems who don't typically vote in midterms, and for the first time in a long time, we stand the opportunity to earn the vote of moderate republicans who may be willing to vote across the ticket. We will need phone bankers, postcard writers, event coordinators, and much more. We can't do this without you. https://www.electkatiedean.com/
Deda: Thank you, Katie, for running for office and for personally sharing your ideas and your goals with us. I celebrate the leadership emerging from the next generation of American women.
I voted for Katie Dean on the first day of early voting. I agree she had a poor showing in the debate. However, Jasmine is a more experienced politician and I believe Katie will be a quick study get up to speed in a short period of time.
I like Jasmine but I think Democrats have a tendency to vote in the primaries for the candidate we like but not for the one that can win. I believe Jasmine will be far more polarizing than Katie. I can assure you Jasmine will galvanize the religious right and they will come out from under every rock to vote for Madison Cawthorn. We are going to need a lot of Unaffiliated voters to vote with us and I believe Katie can pull those voters into the Democrats camp. The Fire Madison Cawthorn group has endorsed Katie Dean.
I voted for her on Saturday, during early voting in Polk County. Katie came to a Polk County Democratic Party Candidate Forum. She was awesome. I really liked the other candidates (Dem Party) and will very happily vote for any of them if Katie does not win, however, Katie is impressive on every issue and she has really done the work of knowing the issues and her (possible) constituents. It will break my heart if this really smart, capable woman loses to any of the Republican candidates.