Hello friends, thanks for joining me in the NC Deep Dive. I'm your host, Amanda Benbow Lunn, and we are in the thick of the 2026 primary election season. Early voting starts in less than a week on Thursday, February 12th, with election day being Tuesday, March 3rd. When you go to vote, you will be handed a ballot based on your address and your party affiliation. If you are unaffiliated, sometimes also referred here as independent, then you will have your choice of which party's ballot you would like to vote. Please note that you are only able to cast one ballot, and that there are no primary ballots for the Libertarian, Green, or No Labels parties. Moreover, candidates for the general election in November who do not have a primary challenger will not appear on your primary ballot. They get a pass directly to the general election. Due to time constraints and the plethora of candidates, and my belief that having as much information as possible is of vast importance, this primary election segment will consist of me covering one race at a time and going over each candidate's website and what I can find in a simple Google search in case it's easier for you to take the information in this way. I'll also be reading over the answers they gave if they submitted any responses to our 2026 voters' guide questionnaire. If you are short on time, you can check out our NC Deep Dive Voters' Guide for the 2026 primary election found pinned to our Facebook page or in this episode's show notes at www.ncdeepdive.com. It will be an easy way to access each candidate's website and research the candidates on your own if that is a better use of your time. Without further ado, friends, let's dive in. Now we are diving into the Democratic ballot for the U.S. House of Representatives District 13. There are three candidates running, and you will be eligible to vote for one of them. The three candidates are Paul Barringer, Frank Pierce, Alexander Nicholi. We are going to begin with Paul Barringer. His website, paulbarringer.com. It says Paul Barringer, U.S. Congress District 13. Common Sense, North Carolina Values, Paul Barringer, Democrat for Congress. I'm running for the U.S. Congress to put the people of District 13 first, ahead of any big corporations, partisan agenda, or the DC establishment. Add your name and contact information below to join the campaign and receive our updates with a link for you to sign up. There's also links for you to volunteer, to contribute. He has Facebook, X, Instagram, and Blue Sky. And then it has I'm Paul Barringer. Hello and welcome. My name is Paul Barringer, and I'm running for Congress in North Carolina's 13th Congressional District. I'm a husband, father, lawyer, Eagle Scout, Sunday school teacher, and endurance athlete. I live on a farm in Lee County. I like fried chicken and lentils. I'm running to bring common sense and constitutional values back to Washington, and to walk alongside the people of North Carolina's 13th district every step of the way. My campaign is about listening first and building support for the idea that our strength comes from the ground up, not the top down. I look forward to seeing you soon. There is a button where you can learn more. And then it says, I'm Paul, and I'm running for Congress to serve you. I'm a healthcare and public policy leader with a track record of solving tough problems, building coalitions, and delivering results without insults or drama. Throughout my career, I've worked at the intersection of healthcare, law, technology, and government to make programs work better for the people they serve by improving operations and results through smarter systems, greater accountability, and adoption of innovative technology. I've always worked to bring people together to solve problems, and that's what I'll do as your elected representative in Congress. What do I believe? I believe in practical solutions rooted in constitutional principles, fiscal responsibility, local control, and common sense health and justice reforms. I believe in caring for others, personal responsibility, and public service. I believe in the importance of an independent Congress that is willing to exercise its constitutional obligations to make laws, control the purse, and oversee the executive and judicial branches of government. And I strongly believe that we can disagree with others without being disrespectful. I will seek to develop consensus on practical solutions to address challenges in healthcare, education, and other areas. I grew up on a farm in Lee County and manage my family's tree farming operation. In addition, I work as a healthcare consultant and as a lawyer representing individuals with disabilities pro bono in seeking benefits from the Social Security Administration. He has, in parentheses, on the side, I also have developed a Made in America clothing brand called Mill and Mountain. Previously, I worked for many years in the healthcare industry as an attorney, entrepreneur, and executive, working across government and business to solve complex problems and deliver results. Throughout my career, I have managed high-performing teams, grown businesses, and built trust with clients, regulators, and communities. I'm a product of Lee County Public Schools, as well as Davidson College, UNC Law School, and the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. I'm an Eagle Scout, endurance athlete, Appalachian Trail through hiker, and father of Hugh and Hope, and husband to Marcia. I have taught Sunday school for 20 years and was a Boy Scout leader for 10 years. I really like the fried chicken at Food Lion. I'm running to bring common sense and constitutional values back to Washington and to walk alongside the people of North Carolina's 13th district every step of the way. My campaign is about listening first. I'll be walking the district literally and continuing to build support for the idea that America's strength comes from the ground up, not the top down. I hope to see you soon. There are links to volunteer and donate, a picture of his dog, and then it says vote for Paul in the Democratic primary on March 3rd. And there's a link for more info. And that takes you to the North Carolina State Board of Elections for all the voter dates and deadlines, who can vote in the primary in any FAQs you might have. He says, In Congress, here are my priorities. In the U.S. House, I'll put the needs of everyday Americans and our Constitution first. Click on any of my platform planks to learn more about what I believe. He has 12 listed here: Affordable health care, foreign policy, immigration, fiscal policy, education, police and justice, reproductive health, Second Amendment rights, agriculture and farming, veterans support, conservation and public lands, and tariffs. When you click on affordable health care, I believe every American should have access to affordable quality health care. We need practical long-term reforms that can bring down costs over time while ensuring that no one is left behind. A big part of the problem is unnecessary and duplicative treatments, along with administrative inefficiencies and wasteful spending, which we can address through smart regulation and market-driven solutions. The reason we have programs like Medicare and Medicaid in the first place is because the market fails to cover the needs of seniors, low-income families, and those with disabilities. It's our responsibility to continue supporting these vital programs to ensure these individuals can get the care they need. The goal isn't just to reduce costs, it's to improve health outcomes for everyone and ensure that no one has to choose between healthcare and other basic needs. Under foreign policy, he says strong foreign policy. I believe in strengthening our relationships with our allies and partners around the world, based on mutual respect, shared values, and free, fair trade. Our economy and security depend on strong ties with like-minded democracies. However, we must be clear, while we pursue cooperation and diplomacy with our friends, we should not compromise our principles. We should not cozy up to dictatorships or authoritarian regimes that undermine human rights, freedom, and the rule of law. America's role in the world should reflect our values of democracy and justice, and we should lead by example, not by appeasement. Fair, secure immigration. I believe in a secure border and a fair legal immigration system. We can and must do both. For too long, both parties have used immigration as a political football instead of coming together to solve real problems. Border security is a basic function of government, and we need smart, effective enforcement to stop illegal crossings, drug trafficking, and exploitation. At the same time, we need to modernize our legal immigration system to meet workforce needs, especially in agriculture, healthcare, and tech, and to ensure people who play by the rules have a clear path forward. Disciplined fiscal policy. I believe in fiscal discipline and living within our means. Our nation can't keep borrowing from the future. We need to get serious about spending restraint and work toward a balanced budget. I believe we need to be honest about how we got here. During Donald Trump's first term, the federal debt grew by nearly 40%, while under Joe Biden, the national debt increased by about 25%. That's not sustainable, and it's neither conservative nor progressive. It's just irresponsible. If we want to secure our economy for the next generation, we need to stop the finger pointing and start making tough, responsible choices, no matter who's in office. Quality education. I'm a proud supporter of our public schools and the teachers who show up every day to give our kids the best shot at a strong future. But I also believe parents should have a real seat at the table when it comes to what's being taught in the classroom. Families deserve to know what their children are learning and to be part of the conversation. Our schools work best when there's trust and teamwork between parents, teachers, and local school boards. When we listen to each other and put kids first. That's how we build an education system that reflects our values and prepares the next generation to thrive. I also support service programs for older youth that combine education, vocational training, and community service. I believe programs like this offer an ability to build skills and resiliency while strengthening responsibility and national unity. Criminal justice and policing. I strongly support law enforcement and the vital role police officers play in keeping our communities safe. I believe in ensuring officers have the resources and respect they need to do their jobs. At the same time, I believe in second chances and compassion. Supporting the police and supporting rehabilitation are not opposing values. They're both essential to a just and safe society. Many people who have broken the law are capable of turning their lives around, and we should support efforts to help them re-enter society, find work, and contribute in a positive way. That's why I worked for years in the prison system, teaching literacy, helping inmates find employment after release, and doing Bible study. Reproductive health and freedom. We must approach reproductive health care by creating policies that bring people together and supports them, not drive them apart. I believe that we should be doing all that we can to support women, families, and children before and after birth. That means investing in maternal health, expanding family planning and access to contraception, enhancing adoption in foster care systems, and making sure no woman feels like abortion is her only option. However, the law should not be an impediment to a woman making the health care choices she needs to make with her doctor. Second Amendment rights. As a responsible gun owner, I believe in the Second Amendment and the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms, and I also believe we can do more to keep our community safe. My family taught me about responsible gun ownership, including the importance of safety and respect for firearms. We need to enforce the laws already on the books while also working together across party lines to find common sense solutions that reduce gun violence, keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals, and protect both our rights and our communities. Agriculture and farming. I grew up on a farm, and we're still trying to keep the farm going. Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and our communities, and I support policies that protect family farms, promote fair markets, and reduce unnecessary federal red tape. I believe in standing up for our farmers, not just in good times, but when disaster strikes, and keeping agriculture strong as a cornerstone of American strength and independence. That includes fighting for fair trade policies that open, not close foreign markets to our agricultural products, and opposing unnecessary tariffs that hurt our farmers' ability to export what they produce. We should also invest in rural infrastructure, preserve farmland for future generations, and ensure farmers have access to the tools and technologies they need to succeed. Veterans Support. I believe our country has a duty to honor its commitments to veterans through strong, efficient support systems that prioritize both fiscal responsibility and moral obligation. Supporting veterans is both about benefits and about upholding the values our veterans serve to protect, including personal responsibility, community support, and a government that works effectively for those who earned it. I support fully funding the VA while streamlining bureaucracy to ensure timely access to quality health care, mental health services, and job training. I'm fully committed to protecting the expanded benefits granted to veterans with the passage of the PACT Act. Where possible, we should also expand public-private partnerships to reduce wait times and bring care closer to home. I am particularly committed to supporting and enhancing those VA facilities that serve vets in the communities in our district. Conservation and public lands, from national forests and wildlife refuges to community trails and state parks. Public lands provide space to hike, hunt, fish, camp, climb, and connect with nature. They also play a vital role in preserving clean water, healthy ecosystems, and local economies. I believe in protecting and managing our public lands through common sense conservation as part of our responsibility to future generations. That means preventing the sale or privatization of federal lands, supporting science-based stewardship, and investing in maintenance and access so these lands remain open and safe for all. We should also work in partnership with local stakeholders to manage lands responsibly, including through active forest management to prevent wildfires, sustainable grazing and timber practices, and supporting voluntary conservation easements on private land. I support full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, expanded access to trails and public land for underserved communities, and policies that protect biodiversity and clean water while respecting the needs of local residents. Tariffs. I believe in fighting for American producers and workers through smart long-term strategies, not short-term fixes like blanket tariffs that can backfire on the very people they're meant to help. While targeted trade enforcement has a role in addressing unfair practices, broad tariffs function like a tax on consumers, especially hurting farmers, small manufacturers, and rural communities who rely on affordable materials and access to international markets. Instead of doubling down on punitive tariffs, we should be investing in American competitiveness, revitalizing domestic industry, rebuilding supply chains, enforcing fair trade rules through diplomacy and multilateral pressure, and ensuring our workers can compete on a level playing field. Again, there is a button to volunteer with Team Barringer. Interested in helping us make it across the finish line? Fill out your contact information and interests below, and we'll be sure to let you know about volunteer opportunities as we have them. Some of those opportunities are listed as knocking on voters' doors, calling voters on the phone, greeting voters at the polls, and staffing a campaign event. There's a tab for events. It says upcoming events, sign up to do virtual phone banking. And there's one for Meet Paul in Wake Forest, North Carolina. And that is the totality of his website. Doing a general Google search, I did find Paul's ballot pedia page. It says Paul Barringer of the Democratic Party is running for election to the U.S. to represent North Carolina's 13th Congressional District. He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2026. Under his biography, it says Paul Barringer earned a high school diploma from Episcopal High School. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Davidson College, a law degree from the University of North Carolina, and a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University. Barringer's career experience includes working as a healthcare consultant. He has also managed his family's tree farming operation, served as a lawyer, and developed a clothing brand called Mill and Mountain. He did fill out a few of Ballotpedia's survey responses. The first question is, Who are you? Tell us about yourself. He says, I'm an attorney and healthcare consultant with more than 20 years of experience working with state governments to improve Medicaid and other public programs. My work has focused on accountability, cost control, and access to care. I also manage Family Timberland and provide pro bono legal services. I'm running for Congress to bring independent judgment, constitutional accountability, and practical problem solving to Washington. Please list below three key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? 1. Independent representation for the district I'm running to represent the people of this district. Not Donald Trump, party leadership, or billionaire donors. Congress works best when members are willing to stand up to any president who abuses power and a wealthy interest that try to buy influence. I will defend the rule of law, democratic norms, and the Constitution, even when it's politically inconvenient. Two, fiscal responsibility and cost of living. Families are struggling with rising costs while federal debt continues to grow. Fiscal responsibility means reducing waste, improving oversight, and focusing spending on what actually works. I support practical reforms that lower healthcare and education costs while respecting taxpayers. Government should be efficient, transparent, and fair to both current and future generations. 3. Fixing health care the practical way. Healthcare costs affect families, employers, and states alike. I've worked inside Medicaid and public health systems and believe meaningful reform will come from better incentives, simplified administration, and collaboration across the system. My focus is on lowering cost, improving access, and giving providers flexibility to deliver care more effectively. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? I am passionate about independent constitutional governance, reducing the influence of money in politics, and practical healthcare reform. My policy priorities include lowering healthcare costs, strengthening Medicaid oversight, supporting public education, empowering state and local solutions, and advancing re-entry programs that reduce recidivism. Government should work for people, not powerful interest. It has some information that I read from his website and then goes into the campaign finance summary for the year of 2026, noting that data from this year may not be complete. He has raised $614,549, and he has spent $166,242. Paul Barringer did complete our 2026 voter's guide. Question number one, experience in preparation. What experience best prepares you to represent Southern Wake County specifically? He said, I've spent decades working at the intersection of law, public policy, and healthcare, helping state agencies and communities address real problems with limited resources. I also run a small business and manage land, so I understand growth pressures, taxes, and infrastructure from a local practical perspective. That combination prepares me to represent Southern Wake County as it grows while still protecting what makes it livable. I'm willing to stand up to any administration or powerful interests when their priorities don't match ours. Number two, top priority. What is the top issue you would prioritize in your first term, and how would it directly impact your constituents? He responded, restoring Congress's role in governing, starting with oversight and budgets. When Congress fails to do its job, costs rise, services break down, and families pay the price. That also enables power to shift to the executive branch and a well-connected interest with the loudest voices and deepest pockets. A functioning Congress directly affects healthcare affordability, transportation funding, and economic stability here at home. Number three, decision making. When district priorities and party priorities don't fully align, how do you decide which comes first? He said, Our district will always come first. Parties exist to support voters, not replace them. If party priorities conflict with what Southern Wake County needs, I'll side with my constituents and explain my vote clearly and publicly. Number four, issue awareness. What is one issue where Democrats have not paid enough attention to local or practical impacts? He said Democrats have not paid enough attention to how well intended federal programs work on the ground. Sometimes mandates without operational or workforce reality can reduce access instead of improving it, particularly in fast growing or semi rural communities like ours. Number five, Redline Nonnegotiable Principle. What principle or policy position? Would you refuse to compromise on even under political pressure? He said, the Constitution and separation of powers. I will not support concentrating authority in the executive branch, whether it's Donald, Trump, or anyone else. Congress must debate, vote, and be accountable. Number six, concrete example. Can you describe a real issue in your district and explain how your approach would improve or change what is currently being done? He said, Southern Wake County is growing faster than its infrastructure, including roads, schools, and healthcare access. Too often, Washington sends money without flexibility. I would push for federal funding that allows local and state leaders to decide how to relieve congestion, expand services, and plan responsibly instead of forcing one size fits all solutions. 7. Accountability. How should voters hold you accountable if they feel you are not representing their district's interests? He said voters should hold me accountable through transparency and access. I will publish explanations of major votes, hold regular in-district meetings, and welcome disagreement. If I stop listening, voters should call me out and vote me out. He adds in parentheses, they won't have to wait long, since terms are only two years. Number eight, learn more. How can voters learn more about you, your values, and how you approach decision making? He said, Voters can learn more through my campaign website, public forums, and on social media. You can also learn more by walking with me, literally, across the district. In parentheses, he says, back in the fall, I biked the entire district over a weekend, 182 miles from my house in Lee County to Yanceyville and Caswell County. I'm hoping to do it again with some running and walking too when we win the primary. My approach is simple. Listen first, explain decisions early, and stay rooted in the community I represent. Next we'll be moving on to Frank Pierce. His website is Frank Pierce the number four congress.com. It says, We can do better, I will do better. Small business owner, father, husband. My name is Frank Pierce. I am a North Carolina native who grew up in a working class family in Southeast Raleigh. As the oldest of five boys, I started working full-time at the age of 12 years to help my family make ends meet. I paid my way through college, working 60 hours a week over a year at restaurants in order to afford tuition. I made the Dean's List three times and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in general studies from the University of Mount Olive in Mount Olive, North Carolina. I continued to run restaurants after graduation and in 2014 I started my own landscaping business. At times I took on a second job to ensure the success of my business and to take care of my family. I currently reside in Raleigh with my wife Christy, a Wake County public school teacher, along with my three kids. I take pride in serving the community. I work with the NCFPSC, Coach Youth Baseball, and I'm extremely proud of the Holiday Firefighters Meal, an organization I started with my wife. Through the organization, we fed all 28 fire stations in Raleigh on Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you click the link for issues, he lists 10 of them. Jobs in the economy, border security, immigration, education, housing, foreign policy, access to affordable health care, and gun violence, reproductive freedom, protect democracy, and climate change. Clicking on the first. Jobs in the economy. As a small businessman, I am acutely aware of how government can help my business or hurt my business. A reasonable tax rate to assure a lean and efficient government is the beginning. A debt ceiling that is manageable must be a priority. Keeping jobs in our shores is a no-brainer. Consumer confidence is the determining factor that cannot be undermined by poor government decisions. Innovation, research, and startup funding are drivers that cannot be ignored. I will fight every day to attain the most dynamic economy in the world that generates high-paying, respectful jobs for all who seek them. Border security immigration. We have suffered long enough from the failure of Congress to do their job. It is obvious that the American dream is a magnet for every person suffering from oppression, poverty, and authoritarian governments. We now have chaos where we need laws. America is a nation of immigrants, but we only have so much capacity. Let's invest in a system that allows the origin of immigration to begin only in the person's home country. Let's create solidarity among nations for processing refugees. Let's have the infrastructure at the border and determine refugee status and move refugees quickly to a welcoming community. Let's move immediately to have a law for DACA immigrants already in America that creates a pathway for citizenship. Let's stop demonizing immigrants and understand that immigrants play a critical role in our economy, especially in the area of agriculture, hospitality, and service jobs. Also, let's be wise enough to keep the immigrants our universities prepare in America for innovation and cultural excellence. Education. As a husband of a career teacher and a person who stepped up to teach middle schoolers during COVID and the teacher shortage, I know firsthand what the federal government can do to help our schools. Anyone who says money does not matter did not witness how successful the infusion of federal funds to counter the devastating impact on learning turned out to be. It is now stopping. In all fairness, the federal government needs to keep its promise to fully fund Title I for disadvantaged kids and to fully fund its promise to special needs students. Until the federal government is funding one-third of the education costs, including teacher salaries, America is underperforming. We need to trust teachers and parents more, and we need more of our tax dollars to be returned to strengthen rural and high poverty communities. Housing. The homeless problem is a stain on America's promise. It is everywhere, but most assuredly out of control in many of our great cities. We need to invest in innovative models that are working. We need to renovate federal property and land to create more housing. We need lower interest rates for more first-time homeowners to free up rentals. We need incentives for developers to build more affordable housing. We need to partner with local governments to support more temporary housing and opportunities to match those without housing to jobs that provide livable wages. Finally, we need to attend to the mental health of too many homeless on our streets. Foreign policy. America is the leader of the free world, and that gives us the responsibility to assist others whose freedom is threatened by dictators and authoritarian despots who kill for power and property. The success of Ukraine to protect itself from Russia's invasion affects all democracies who may be next. I support Ukraine and I support all democracies united and paying their fair share to match Russia's resources. A much older conflict can be seen in the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel. Today the occupation has turned into an ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. We must secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, a hostage deal, and an end to the occupation. The United States is better served by an arms embargo on Israel. Access to affordable health care. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Reduce racial health disparities and seek solutions for high drug prices. End gun violence. The majority of North Carolinians, like other Americans, want to prevent gun violence through effective policies and laws. Reproductive freedom. Ensure access to high-quality, affordable, reproductive health care, access to safe and legal abortion, and the ability to access medically accurate sex education. Protect democracy. Defend voting rights, fair representation, with an end to gerrymandering. Teach all of American history and stop book bans and climate change. Protect North Carolina's food supply, jobs, and physical safety of our people by reducing dependence on volatile energy sources. Under the tab Community Service, he lists firefighters' holiday meals, book bag drives, and food drives with various pictures from those events. There is a volunteer tab and an events tab. He has a hundred days out 5K Walk to Save Democracy on Saturday, July 27th, 2024. There's one for dogs and pops, and then canvassing North Carolina District 13, where you can click to learn more. He has links to Vote Owl, which has everything you need to be an informed voter. It's a free Vote Owl mobile app that helps you decide who to vote for by generating sample ballots using information sources you trust. It also helps you know where and when to vote by automatically providing voting locations, directions, and reminders. Lastly, he has links to Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok. Doing a Google search, nothing out of the ordinary popped up. I did find him on Ballotpedia. Says Frank Pierce, Democratic Party, also known as Jeremiah, is running for election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 13th Congressional District. He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 3rd, 2026. Frank Pierce was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. Pierce earned a B.S. in general studies from the University of Mount Olive in 2009. His career experience includes owning his own landscaping business. As of 2024, Pierce was affiliated with Holiday Firefighters Meal and the North Carolina Foundation for Public School Children. He did run for the same seat in 2024. He lost in the general election with 41.4% of the vote. In 2022, he ran in the general election for Raleigh City Council for District B. He lost that election with 15.3% of the vote. Also for it looks like a 2022 election. He ran in the Democratic primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 66, and he lost that primary with 7.6% of the vote. There's information for campaign finance for the 2022 election. So this was January 1st, 2021 through December 31st, 2022. He raised $1,600 in contributions and he spent $2,079 in expenditures. He just had one contributor for that campaign for the full $1,600. In 2020, he ran in the Democratic primary for Wake County Board of Commissioners for District 1. He lost that race to Sig Hutchinson with 44.4% of the vote. In 2018, he also ran in the Democratic primary for Wake County Board of Commissioners for District 1. That time he lost with 37.8% of the vote. He did not fill out this year's Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey, but he did fill it out in 2024. I will read through some of those as well. Who are you? Tell us about yourself. He says, I am the proud father of three amazing children, husband to an amazing teacher, and mother, former restaurant manager for 11 years, small business owner of a landscaping company, volunteer coach with local leagues, started an organization that feeds the Raleigh fire stations on Thanksgiving and Christmas, help lead book bag drives for local charity NCFPSC. Please list three key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Number one, true healthcare policy. We need to help our veterans that have come back from overseas and give them the care they deserve. We need to protect a woman's right to choose that goes along with the health care she needs for her decision. We need to protect the health care of our elders. They help shape our nation through hard work and determination. We need to stop cutting Medicare and Medicaid for them and actually take care of them. Two, write policy to protect our farms and our farmers. Many farms in North Carolina are in floodplains and we need to and we need to start working to protect them for our communities and the future of local food. We need to have our local school systems partner with farmers for local produce to keep money in those communities. Three, we need to invest in the future. One, by bringing back trade schools for the kids that do not want to go to college. We are extremely shorthanded on trained professionals in multiple areas of trades. To go along with the trade schools, we need to invest in paid internships for high school students to learn a trade if that is the area they want to be in. We need to invest in early childhood education. The evidence is overwhelming on the differences it makes. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Education, healthcare, infrastructure, small business, and farmers, living wage. What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official? The ability to compromise when it's not against your core beliefs. Ability to communicate and work with others. Caring and compassionate. Continue to learn and grow knowledge of things you know and don't know. Ability to admit when wrong. We are human and can make mistakes. Being able to put your constituents first and listening to them. Trust and friendship, fight for what is right, and knowing how to write policy. Don't be afraid to fail. What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder? Policy writing, grant writing, ability to compromise, ability to work with others, not afraid to admit when wrong, hardworking character. What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office? To improve the livelihood of the American people, to go to your communities and work with your constituents, write policy to better the lives of all and not a select few, protect our nation. What legacy would you like to leave? That I left things better tomorrow than they are today. What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time? My dad kept me in touch with what was happening globally at a young age. A lot happened when I was five from Germany, reunification, to Margaret Thatcher leaving. But what I remember most is Nelson Mandela being released from prison. What was your very first job and how long did you have it? Soccer referee, I still referee to this day. What is your favorite book and why? To Kill a Mockingbird. My father had me and my brothers read it every summer. The book teaches so much about us as a nation and as a society. What was the last song that got stuck in your head? Amazing Grace. What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution? This is where all the money to support our programs originates from. Do you believe it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics? He said no. Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives? He said, believe it needs to be four-year terms with rotating elections, half of the House on the ballot every two years. What are your thoughts on term limits? I believe this would be better solved by having an age limit. I am not against term limits, but to govern properly, we do need some seasoned veterans in Congress. Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you've heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful? While on the campaign trail, I've heard many stories that move you. There is not one that is more important than others, but what does stick out is how so many people just want to be heard. Even sitting in a house just with one voter and listening to them makes all the difference to them. They feel like they matter. Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking? Yes. We have to stop saying I am right, you are wrong. We need more conversation and more work together if we want to be a great nation. The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected? I have many issues in my eight counties that need to be addressed, and being a member of the House where all revenue bills start matters. It's one of the big reasons this election matters for my area. We can start to improve issues and make difference for my constituents. What committees interest you? Farmers, education, border security, healthcare. What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability? We need to be fully transparent to our constituents. We also need to be held accountable for what we do. No one should be above the law. Under campaign finance summary for the year of 2026, again, there's an asterisk saying data from this year may not be complete. It lists zero contributions and that he's spent $497 in expenditures. In 2024, he was able to raise $37,168, and he spent $35,724. In 2022, he was able to raise $3,050, and he spent $2,932. He did fill out our North Carolina Deep Dive Voter's Guide. Question number one: experience and preparation. What experience best prepares you to represent Southern Wake County specifically? He said, I have lived in North Carolina my entire life, grew up playing baseball and garner in Fuquay. I own a landscape company and I have properties in Southern Wake. I've also spent time there working in the community with book bag drives and food drives. I'm also the only candidate who spends time policy writing and understanding to improve communities have to bring policy to do so. Number two, top priority. What is the top issue you would prioritize in your first term and how would it directly impact your constituents? He said, My district is so diverse, I have six million dollar homes to go with $20,000 trailers. My top issue is writing policy to improve living for everyone. There are big issues like affordability, healthcare, immigration, but it does not stop there. I have areas with no cell phone or internet service areas that are quite large, having multiple counties that have water issues and only getting worse. I need to bring policy not just for the big ones, but things people don't know about with surrounding counties. Number three, decision making. When district priorities and party priorities don't fully align, how do you decide which comes first? He said, I will always do what is best for the people. It is always the right time to do the right thing. Staying silent is never an option for me. Number four, issue awareness. What is one issue where Democrats have not paid enough attention to local or practical impacts? He said, Genocide happening in multiple countries around the world. Number five, red line, non-negotiable principle. What principle or policy position would you refuse to compromise on even under political pressure? He said, Palestine. He said, also any issue that we stay silent to the mistreatment of people. Similar issues, ice killing people, Sudan crises, and many more. Number six, concrete example. Can you describe a real issue in your district and explain how your approach would improve or change what is currently being done? He said, internet infrastructure hurting students and families in my district, expanding accessibility for them as well as cell phone service. This is done by policy writing. Nothing is currently being done. Number seven, accounting. How should voters hold you accountable if they feel you are not representing their district's interests? He said, I should always be held accountable. I want constituent services to be one of my top priorities, if not my top priority. Number eight, learn more. How can voters learn more about you, your values, and how you approach decision making? He said to reach out to me on my website. The number comes straight to me. I will always answer questions and be there to listen and answer any questions. Email my campaign, Pierce, the number four, Congress at Outlook.com. I visit every county once a week to knock doors and will gladly swing by and talk. That brings us next to Alexander Nicholi. His website is nicoliftw.com. It says Alexander Nicholi for Congress in the 13th Congressional District of North Carolina. Our country is in deep trouble. Partisan gerrymandering from both sides is disenfranchising the voting public. Aging politicians would rather elect a new public than confront their electoral fragility, and this is ripe exploited by well-known billionaire wannabe autocrats like Elon Musk and quote unquote Scam Altman. The result? The simple material degradation of your quality of life. They're playing cowboy with your money down in Texas, building data centers for useless software that they still keep ownership of. Nobody asked for this. When it came time to vote his conscience, Brad Knott failed all of you by falling in line and voting for the $500 billion big beautiful check that helped fund this through a combination of cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and massive deficit spending in your name. Failed promise, inflation, and wasteful spending. Joe Biden has walloped the poor and the middle class with devastating inflation. His torrent of wasteful spending has given us $2 trillion deficits, undercut the value of the dollar, and brought on high interest rates. It makes no sense for Washington politicians to print money to pay for their wasteful spending. It's time to cut spending, put an end to omnibus spending bills, and carefully scrutinize every spending bill to make cuts. I support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Even Republican Senator Tom Tillis couldn't vote for this legalized robbery of the American people, specifically citing funding concerns. Quote, I did my homework on behalf of North Carolinians, and I cannot support this bill in its current form, unquote. Did Brad not do his homework on this? His campaign website said he wanted to stop wasteful spending. When will the lying stop? Unfortunately, broken promises and hypocrisy are not the worst coming out of today's GOP. The tech mafia has hijacked the party and seeks to destroy the American way of life. The GOP is betting down with the benefactors of the world's most oppressive and delusional colonialist regimes, whitewashing them as fake Americans that you should pledge your support and patriotism to. These are just some of the real players co-opting the American identity for power, pleasure, and profit. Pathological lying and brazen corruption are the names of the game for them, and they have picked a tantalizing poster boy to get the job done. The Manchurian candidate J.D. Vance. Handpicked by the Tech Mafia, J.D. was given a book deal out of Yale and sent on his merry way, doing the bidding of his handlers and service of some of the most notorious international gangsters in human history. J. D. claims to be so. Salt of the earth, but if he ever was, he does not act like it anymore. I'm from Appalachia too. I would know. The only thing about this mess that's clear to me is this their future doesn't include you. JD and I both might be from the same neck of the woods or thereabouts, but I'm not writing any elegy anytime soon. Quite the opposite. He has a picture with a homestead visit with my cousin Tony Eugene Whitlow. Tony spent a cumulative 24 years in the West Virginia legislature and was once good friends with former Senator Joe Manchin. Having been on this earth for about 10,000 days gave me the maturity to recognize the moral value in Tony's service to the people when I reconnected with him in the spring of 2025. Those on our side of the family have been lifelong Democrats, and it was there and then that I began to understand why. More importantly, it helped me to realize how so many of the problems I faced down as a young man had answers that could only come from an older kind of Democratic heart. That is what I intend to bring to the people of District 13. Sadly, the Democratic Party of latter days has been a confused, anxious, muddled, and unpopular mess. There's a picture with the heading of Lori Lightfoot Concedes Mayor's Race in Chicago, with the caption Lori Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election. While it may not be clear what the right path is to some Democratic Party functionaries, it sure is clear to me. No more lawlessness. North Carolinians value a strong sense of private property along with prompt and professional enforcements of those rights. No Democrat should seek to undermine those rights. The ethos of protect and serve shouldn't be a suggestion either. Instead of ending qualified immunity and putting police in harm's way, we should instead give them a positive mandate to public duty, ending selective and arbitrary enforcement of the law. Finally, it's long since past time we implement dignified border controls. Masked ICE agents spiriting away law-abiding citizens is just as insane as Biden's de facto open border policy. Neither of these are acceptable to the American people. No more corruption. Hunter Biden's dealings in Ukraine massively eroded public trust and democratic governance. The big bet for the GOP and the tech mafia is simple. They plan on being more brazen about their share of corruption, hiding it in audacity, while daring you to do anything about it. We can't tolerate that. Whether it's $500 billion data centers for chatbot spam, massive structural bailouts for silly con valley funny money banks, or just the classic double standard of socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. It all needs to end today. We're paying for it with our lives. No more scab labor. That this ever became a point of the right is a testament to how thoroughly we the people have been gaslit by billionaire oligarchs who are trying to rob us. Labor is the backbone of democratic governance, and I will always stand up for and defend the livelihoods of working Americans wherever and however they may be threatened. To the chagrin of the tech mafia, the H-1B program will end. Criminal penalties for employers of illegal workers must be imposed. And above all, we will stop tolerating the gaslighting that the problem of immigration is about race. For the biggest stakeholders, immigration is always and only about the money for them. Never forget that. Stable and harmonious coexistence in America doesn't result from people's genetics. It results from equal opportunity before the law. No more cheat codes for plutocrats, and no more disinforming the public about what they're really after here. No more fiscal looting. The United States government has been binging itself on unprecedented amounts of sovereign debt, spending us into a nightmare that we may never be able to pay our way out of. Far and away, the biggest benefactors of this are billionaire-run government contractors, now including CIA darlings such as Palantir. The lobbyists engineering the spending spree showed no signs of stopping, and the only things your GOP seems to be concerned about is making sure that they're the ones on the receiving end of those government checks. There's a picture with a caption, Deficit Spending and Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid helped fund the Stargate Data Center for the profit of companies like Oracle and OpenAI. Meanwhile, income inequality in America has absolutely soared, and the stock market is increasingly decoupled from the real economy as laborers, both blue-collar and white-collar, languish in dire straits, unable to afford any mobility or surprise expense. There's a picture with the headline, America's top 10% controls 60% of the wealth. The bottom half holds 6% that was published on October 24th, 2024. He has the caption, What are you going to do when you have no money to do it with? Regardless of what curveballs may come our way or what difficulties I may face as a legislator in voting morally on the bills that shape your lives, at the absolute bare minimum, I promise you this. I will never play along with a congressional game of deficit spending. Let me be precise. Upon election, I will create and furnish a website that contains a breakdown of how I voted and why regarding my votes on every single bill or resolution that comes to my desk, if and when it affects any of these three things. One, changes to the United States Code. Two, appropriations with dollar amounts attached to them. Three, constitutional and quasi-constitutional changes, in parentheses, example, agency guidelines and mandates. Furthermore, I also pledge to decompose every so-called omnibus bill, itemizing it the same as described above, with singular bills. For each item, I will state how I would have voted on it as a standalone bill, along with how much weight it carries in my ultimate vote relative to the other items on the list. I will not be parried around by the groupthink of lawmakers and roped into their machinations of rationalizing the legalized robbery of the American people. I will be both morally principled and fiercely pragmatic in how I vote for you. It's the least that you should expect out of your congressman. Protect the public wealth we paid for in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It is unconscionable that lawmakers ever deliberate cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security for the simple reason that it is one large tax that every American sees on their pay stubs without fail for the entirety of their working lives. These things are paid for, so leave them alone. This is one issue that is painfully simple. Uphold the Constitution in its entirety. Foreign radicals, both left and right, often balk at the American constitutionalism, seeing it not as a sacred tradition we treat it as, but more like a negotiable contract that can be changed to the whims of its custodians. This sort of approach to the law is intolerable. In Congress I will defend and uphold the Constitution, the whole Constitution, and nothing but the Constitution, so help me God. This I promise you. He has a picture with a sign that says one of many homeless veterans. Protect the rights and dignities of the most vulnerable among us. This is another hollowed American tradition of liberalism that traces its roots back to the philosophy and policies of the founding fathers. Inclusivity is what we value and strive to achieve. Efforts like the Equal Rights Amendment to me are plain common sense. At the end of the day, we do these things not to privilege already well-fed leisurely classes of people, but rather the poor Americans among us who may not be able to afford the standing needed to fully exercise their human and civic rights. It's simply morally pragmatic to bolster the means of those without so that they too can square up fairly with their actions and the actions of others before the law. Americans always come first in foreign and public policy. Though still amorphous, divided and multifaceted, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a specter undermining American sovereignty both inside and out of this country. Everyone from North Korean hackers to economic migrants and their cartel coyotes, and from billion stakeholders to phony political hacks and their capitoline media fixers, all stand together, however uneasy, when it comes to one thing, undermining the sovereignty of the American people for personal gain. The more that time goes on, the more that all sincere issues of politics will continue to collapse into this one overwhelming issue that its instigators are hoping we don't wake up to realize. They want to put themselves first in our names. I will adamantly oppose this regardless of whatever form it takes to present itself in Congress. The sacrifices of our forefathers and putting an end to genocidal fascist regimes around the world and the resultant economic boom and treasure trove of American benevolence and magnanimity we freely opened up to the better nations of the world was not made so that we could be stabbed in the back by the rejects and losers of those countries eighty odd years later. People like Elon Musk should never have come here, and we need to stop kidding ourselves that immigration is a humanitarian solution to suffering. This isn't working, and we're losing untold sums of money going along with it. We have to stand up for ourselves as Americans, and when I say Americans, I unapologetically mean all of us, and boldly defy the pathological lying, gaslighting, undermining, and manipulation being deployed against us by long-toothed liars pretending to be our friends. All that most of these people hope to do is profit from our ignorance while they mock us for it behind our backs. This has to stop. I know that the people of District 13 are a reasonable and peaceable bunch that would love nothing more than to cherish and exalt what we all know of from our forefathers as the American dream and our very way of life. I also know that they are aware to a great extent of the manipulations and undermining that has been done so far to destroy that thing we share and love. No doubt that you actually care about these issues more than almost anything because you're living through them right now. I don't think people will find it to be the end of the world to vote for somebody who happens to be a Democrat because they are intelligent enough to see past labels and choose the candidate with the strongest and most credible understanding of the suffering that plagues them. I would love nothing more than to serve you in Congress to help alleviate that pain. So I ask to all voting residents of District 13, will you vote for me in 2026 so that I may do everything in my power to bring America back into your hands? There's a button to join me. There's a tab for history. The better strands of my family have been Democrats for generations. The reason was simple. Unions. I've heard a plethora of reasons people give me for supporting one party or another over the years, some better than others, yet it doesn't get any more basic for us. Without the efforts of unions, I may very well not exist. It's pretty hard to argue with that. Nonetheless, a democratic heritage doesn't imply that we're out of touch or aimlessly centrist. Although my late friend and cousin Tony worked with the famously centrist Joe Manchin, Tony himself and my family by extension are not so similarly inclined. Tony lamented to me that he will likely never get the chance to vote for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to be president of the United States. That's probably not something you'd hear very many West Virginian politicians, current or retired, say out loud, regardless of party. But Tony admired competency and charisma, and he was plenty accomplished enough in life to have no reason to lie about his two cents on that. Overall, it's accurate to say that I am a labor Democrat. While my views also overlap considerably with today's progressives, I am much more fervently a fan of the descriptor radical liberal in Hamiltonian font. The two greatest founding fathers are the ones on your money who are not presidents, and you can take that to the bank, literally. As a child, I grew up quite poor by American standards. My grandfather was a truck stop worker for his entire life, trying to feed a family of four without welfare or crime on a sixth grade education. My mother didn't finish school and has worked a variety of jobs after leaving the U.S. Army, a disabled veteran. Some of the most poverty periods of my childhood happened right here in North Carolina. Driving northbound on NC Highway 50, our 1980s Ford Thunderbird finally quit on us, leaving my mother, my sister, and I to futilely push it forward in the autumn rain until a family in a minivan stopped to take us home. Things started to shape up for me when I got married, but I still had a lot to learn, and for much of my marriage, thus far, it has been a lonely team effort between my husband and I to stay above water in an economy that is rapidly dissolving any pretenses of sanity it still has. I have a variety of skill sets that in an ordinary economy would have completely absolved me of poverty and perhaps even bought me an upper middle class lifestyle if I could steward the money responsibly. Mainly, this is being a self-taught informatician and software developer, which at one point in 2022 allowed me to land a job at a Silicon Valley startup funded in part by the luminary Sequoia Capital. Had this happened even 10 years earlier, I would be set quite nicely, but alas it was not meant to be. The economy has been continuously ripped apart as the seams in a way that obscures the blight from both wealthy elites and established participants in the labor force. Think of it like a system that wants to maximize the amount of money siphoned away from others while minimizing its exposure to ways that the exploit might be uncovered beyond any reasonable doubt. The economy has thrown young people like myself overboard because older people are content to lie to themselves and blame young people for not getting hired without any hard evidence demonstrating it's their own fault. In lieu of this delusion that is manifesting everywhere, there are only two things then that people can still count on in order to have a career nonetheless. Engaging in various kinds of corruption, as we have seen all around us, or having a skill set that is both genuinely needed and understood as needed by stakeholders, that is also hard enough to hire for, that they will cut the crap about college degrees and other artificial and increasingly meaningless hurdles to being considered. A good example of this are quantitative trading firms making a few million dollars on your own in an app like Charles Swab, and you will probably get a call from one of them with a job offer. This is not a reasonable floor of engagement for the entire economy. Being an informatician, the place I belong is in the tech industry. As you are likely already aware, this industry has become notoriously corrupt and sleazy to an extent only rivaled in politics itself. What's more, the stakeholders that ruined my industry have been inviting themselves into politics proper, bringing all their terrible habits and delusional frames of thinking to new arenas, and so I have no choice but to give chase. I have spent my entire adult life so far trying to earnestly engage with productive society, and I continually run headlong into the sleazy, poorly documented underbelly of the rotten incentive structures that have been siphoning wealth away from the public for over 40 years. It's enough to make basically anyone just give up entirely on life. Many of these struggles have been chronicled exhaustively on my stack, but suffice to say that it's time to solve my problems by solving it for everyone. I'm absolutely not the only one being screwed over by the consolidated empire of stolen American wealth. This campaign website is built to explain why I'm running, but I still need you to go out and vote. The only way these problems can begin getting solved is if the people decide to start putting folks with intelligence, integrity, credibility, and morality into the positions to do it. Bradn Knott doesn't care to stand up against the tech mob asking for a $500 billion blank check, but I do. Under the issues tab, he says, let's take a look at the anatomy of the political problems facing Americans today. There is a graphic with basically three lines. The top line says nootropics and opioids, human trafficking, petty corruption, corporate welfare, with arrows leading down to the next line that has undermining of the Constitution, social media manipulation, high-profile assassinations, which then have arrows pointing down to the third line, to institutional credibility loss, with an arrow to the left saying siphoning away American wealth. The notation to the graphic says the bottom line, it all goes back to money. You probably wouldn't know it though if you spend any serious amount of time on social media. At this point, all of it is completely captured by the same interest. He has a picture from an article with the headline, TikTok Buyers Revealed Oracle, Andreessen, Silver Lake to acquire TikTok's $40 billion U.S. operations that was posted on September 17th, 2025, with the caption, Here they are telling you point blank where the buck truly stops with this. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the likes of the Oracle and Silver Lake aren't in the business of securing the interest of the American people. The White House deal is just another escalation of its shameless decadence and corruption. One of the biggest ailments afflicting the public is how controlled all of their most accessible sources of information are. Reaganomic policies heralding the rise of CNN and Rush Limbaugh are a sunny walk in the park compared to the corrosive psychological horror being manifested by tech mafia stakeholders today. You have heard the stories before, but did you know they were also paying for it all too? There's another graphic with an article with the headline, Sam Altman's AI Empire will devour as much power as New York City and San Diego combined. Experts say it's scary, that was written on September 24th, 2025, with the caption Scam Altman wants to own everyone's energy supplies for reasons even complete crackpots can scarcely imagine. Over and over, the Fortune expose refers to expert anticipations of plugging this phantom of insatiable demand for AI that is in fact nowhere to be found. Critical journalists like Edward Zitron have thoroughly documented how totally AI has been a failure with enterprises in spite of the fact that they believe the hype and want it to work. The lies can only grow grander as reality continues to walk. Zitron's divulgence of the reality of the scam, that is AI, so intensely chafes the behinds of the industry goons running it that they have even endeavored to hit back with yellow journalism, showcasing the classic hallmark of Russian disinformation, relativistic gaslighting to buttress moral nihilism. There's another picture with the headline, Ed Zitron gets paid to love AI. He also gets paid to hate AI. He's one of the loudest voices of the AI haters, even as he does PR for AI companies. Either way, Ed Zitron has your attention. The caption for this is nothing is real actually, or well, this guy isn't morally infallible, so we're all equally bad anyway, and you have no right to judge us, so stop asking probing questions about the AI mania, suggesting it might be a load of hot air, like every previous bubble was. Sincerely, journalist scumbags bankrolled by the very same people profiting from this ripoff of the American taxpayer. But if it all sounds too far out for you to care, here's the wake-up call. You are paying for it. Your AI pioneer Scam Altman just inked a deal with Samsung and SK Heinex to buy a staggering 40% of the world's supply of memory without an ounce of notice or concern to how badly that is going to hurt basically everyone except him and his friends. There's another picture of a headline that says OpenAI Stargate project to consume up to 40% of global DRAM output. Inc.'s deal with Samsung and SK Heinex to the tune of up to 900,000 wafers per month, published on October 1st of 2025, with a caption Since all computers need DRAM in order to function, expect to pay significantly more for all of it to make up for the non-existent production this requires. First come, first serve. You should have inked the deal with them before scam did if you really wanted a better deal than scraps. There's another article with the headline, Trump highlights partnership investing $500 billion in AI, with the caption vague and sincere gestures about communist China were all it took for Trump to throw his mob another $500 billion of debt in your name. The issue of all issues facing down Americans today is simple and singular. The means of your lives is being continually stolen from you. There are thousands of examples of this. I can count if I have the time. The reason why life is no longer affordable is because all of the wealth that was once there to furnish it has been taken away. Americans who value the dynamics of open markets and free trade in the truest sense of the term need to wake up to the fact that we do not meaningfully have a functioning market for our goods, services, and money anymore. The very premises of business itself have been hijacked and are rapidly being devolved by a cabal of delusional international gangsters who have only known the dog eat dog worlds of third world politics. Every notion of democracy and republicanism is pure theater to them, and they show us this thinking of theirs every chance they get. We have to put a stop to it because if we don't, no one will. Ronald Reagan once famously said, government is not the solution to your problems. Government is the problem. Fancy as that may have sounded in the comparably stable times of the 1980s, the reality is much more mundane. Government is a hierarchy, situated somewhere between the general public and the modern world of business and finance. It is a major aquifer of the loss of institutional credibility you see all around you. In 2023, I got a part-time job at United Parcel Service. I made $21 per hour and averaged about four hours per day, trying to get overtime. I enjoyed the job so much I even wrote about it later on. I bought this flame-resistant work shirt in the hopes that UPS would later train me as a welder for them. It cost me $62.80. UPS would fire me at the end of the season despite two levels of supervisors desiring to keep me because of my demonstrably strong worth ethic. As far as I could tell, it was coterminous with the 12,000 layoffs the company did to make up every single lost dollar of a shortfall in earnings projections. They were only $1 billion or so shy of their $95.6 billion target, so they made us pay the difference by firing us. In 2025, I managed to get rehired at UPS again, doing the same job at the same facility for the same pay rate, and even for many of the same bosses. The new contract moved the overtime threshold. For part-timers like me from four hours to five hours, basically annihilating any realistic chance I had at getting any like I did two years ago. I looked on Amazon to the order I placed for that Wrangler FR shirt. I found that it now cost an entire Benjamin. The shirt didn't change. It's the same fabric from the same company, made by the same people in the same ways and the same size and manner in every relevant way, shipped from just as far away as it was before. My work didn't change. I made the same wage, doing the same job for the same amount of time, more or less, for the same people at the same place. The cost of the shirt nonetheless rose by over 62%. There's only one variable not accounted for here, the money itself. This is what I mean when I say we're bearing the costs of Congress's never-ending deficit spending spree. Organized crime basically takes it for granted at this point that fiscal responsibility is never coming. So it's been priced into every monetary policy and investment strategy for decades now. I just showed you beyond any reasonable doubt that this is no longer a talking point. I am of the children pundits of decades past warned would be footing the bill for this. This is a simple matter of actions and consequences. Bankers taking a realistic outlook on the need to pay for abominations like the data center in Abilene account for it by shifting the balance in the areas of the economy that can't resist it, consumer spending. I am asking the American people of District 13 to send me to Congress as a bulwark against the existential threat to our ways of life. Increasingly, you are all aware by now how much the fiscal issues of your pale in comparison to the specter haunting our nation. How can we even begin to have an honest conversation about medical care or trade balance while our coffers are being brazenly looted by gilded autocrats? We can't, and that's why my pledge to you is to study the ship for the sake of what we still have while we still strive to chart a nobler course back to American sovereignty. This is a unique and unprecedented challenge that no nation has yet faced in history. The values of American liberalism are as worthless as the paper they are printed on if we haven't the means to implement our will about them. If we wish to do right by ourselves, we can't tolerate the state of affairs any longer. This is not a game of cards. This is your life and mine. I will not be bear-hugged by the Cretans ruining things if I am elected. I wholeheartedly promise you that when my hour of truth comes, I will have that iron in me, just as my cousin Tony did when he was pressed to vote by the coal lobby in West Virginia. I suffered plenty on my own, being a young man growing up into a country that has increasingly thrown people like me overboard. I know very well what it's like. I won't stand to allow any more honest, modest American people like me to be put out of their human potential before they are even born. I still need you to answer the call to send me there. Brad Knott and his ilk are scarcely going to appreciate the nature of our problems on any timeframe soon enough to stop it. We must vote deliberately and passionately to put our interest over the interest of unelected tech finance racketeers and their phony pay-to-win lackeys in office. There is a button to follow. Currently, there are two ways to follow the campaign on social media, Facebook and X.com, but it's probably most impactful if you follow the Nickstack, my primary newsletter. This is where all of the campaign news and events will appear first with a link to his substack. If you can, donating to the campaign will help keep my printers inked as well as building towards the purchase of business cards and signage. This is how we get the voters to turn out, and you can help make it happen with a donate button. There are two ways to donate to the campaign, the old-fashioned way and act blue. While we recommend the latter for obvious reasons, the former is an option for completeness sake. Just fill out and mail this form to the following address in Raleigh. In general, though, you probably want to use Act Blue. Click the button below to go there, and that is the totality of his website. Looking at the Google search, I did find his ballotpedia. It says Alexander Nicholi Democratic Party is running for the election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 13th Congressional District. Nicholi is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 3rd, 2026. He did not fill out Ballotpedia's survey responses, nor did he fill out our 2026 North Carolina Deep Dive Voter's Guide questionnaire. His campaign finance summary for the year of 2026, noting that the data from this year may not be complete. He has raised zero dollars in contributions and it says not applicable underneath expenditures. You can look under his substack, his label there is Alexander Nicholi, an American informatician, game designer, and writer. It looks like the latest article that he posted yesterday was the Fake Stein Files. He has one from a few days ago that says GroverComp number six debuting the Xeon Phi. And you can log on to see more. Again, this race will show up on the Democratic ballot for the United States House of Representatives for District 13. It includes the candidates Paul Barringer, Frank Pierce, and Alexander Nicholi. You'll be eligible to choose one of these candidates when you go vote. And that brings this episode of the NC Deep Dive to a close. Make sure you check out all the other relevant episodes for the 2026 primary election at www.ncdeepdive.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or wherever you currently listen to your podcast. I will be including helpful links for each candidate and voting in general on our website show notes, including our NC Deep Dives Voters Guide for the 2026 primary election. We were blessed to have many candidates that took the time to share their thoughts and speak to voters within Southern Wake County. The Voter's Guide is arranged by party affiliation and organized in such a way to make it relatively easy to find the races or the candidates you might be interested in. All candidates' websites are linked if I was able to find one. I also consciously chose to arrange the voters' guide starting at the end of the ballot. So often we are aware of the larger races, yet don't hear about or take the time to learn about the smaller ones. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or topics you'd like to share, you may contact us via social media or by emailing ncdeepdive at gmail.com. If you found value in this episode, we'd love for you to subscribe, review, and share it to help us in our mission to help voters make their most informed choices. Thank you for engaging with this episode and becoming a more informed citizen. Democracy is a team sport. Together we make democracy work and our communities a better place to work, play, and live. Your vote matters, your voice matters, you matter. Until next time, my friends, Namaste. The love and light in me sees and honors the love and light in you.