Welcome & Ballot Basics

Amanda Benbow Lunn 0:09

Hello, friends. I am your host, Amanda Benbow Lunn. I'm welcoming you back to the NC Deep Dive, and we will continue on with our candidate conversations for the 2026 general election. It looks like we'll have 18 contested races with 46 candidates in Southern Wake County, specifically in Holly Springs and Fuquay Varina. There are some races that have only one candidate running. We will not be including those in our NC Deep Dive. Of course, the races on your particular ballot will vary based on your address and the specific districts your residence falls within. You can always find your jurisdictions and eventually your sample ballot by searching NC Voter Search made available by the North Carolina State Board of Elections. When you get to the page, you'll fill out your information and it will populate with all those who share your name or the information that you provided. You will scroll until you find your information and you'll click on it, verify your name and address are correct, and then you can scroll down to see the appropriate sections for jurisdiction, sample ballot, your voting history. You can also track your mail-in ballot if you are voting that way. Since there are so many races, your ballot will likely have both a front and a back. So make sure you are aware of that. Make sure you flip it over so you can vote for as many races as you are eligible to do so. Keep in mind if your time is short, you can always search the episode's chapter titles for the particular questions that we're asking. So you can look and see which ones most interest you. And you can also go to www.ncdeepdive.com and check out each episode's transcripts if you would prefer to skim through those. For this episode, we are delving into the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor Race. There are six candidates running in this race, and you will have the opportunity to vote for two of them. Now, please note this is a nonpartisan race, meaning that these candidates will not have an R or a D or an L or any party affiliation notated on your ballot when you go to vote. If this is important to you for your voting strategy, you will want to make note before you head in to fill out your ballot when you're voting. The candidates that are running for this particular race include Samantha Krop, who is affiliated with the Democratic Party, Jim White, who is affiliated with the Republican Party, Terrence Thomas, who is not affiliated with any party, he is unaffiliated, CeCe Grant, who is affiliated with the Democratic Party, Beth Farrell, who is affiliated with the Republican Party, and Brian Lewis, who is affiliated with the Libertarian Party. Again, this is a nonpartisan race, so when you go to fill out your ballot, many races will have an R or a D or an L next to the candidate's name. For this race, those letters will not be there. So if it is important to you, take note. Otherwise, without further ado, my friends, let's dive in. On

CeCe Grant: Intro, Why, & Experience

Amanda Benbow Lunn 3:20

this episode, I am happy to be speaking with CeCe Grant, who is running for the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor Race. CeCe, thank you for joining me today. Welcome. And if you want to take a few moments, introduce yourself and let us know why you're running for this office and what experiences have prepared you to serve in this role.

CeCe Grant 3:41

Yes. Hi, thank you so much, Amanda. I really appreciate this opportunity and super happy to be here. My decision to run is very, very non-traditional. I am in real estate. So I travel all over the county, you know, open houses looking at homes. And one thing that I've noticed since I've lived here in North Carolina over the past four years is there's constantly building everywhere, housing development going on everywhere. And I was in Wake Forest, a town that is known for their beautiful mature trees. And I just drove into this one community, and a developer had clear-cut like a whole entire neighborhood of trees down to the ground, stripped the topsoil off, and it just looked like a desert. And I was appalled. I was appalled because this was the third time that I've seen this. And I decided that, you know, I feel like I can't do a lot about a lot that's going on in this world, right? Can't do anything about what's happening in the White House. I can't do anything about the war in Iran. But protecting the Wake County that we all move to because we love, um, and protecting our trees and protecting our access to clean water and protecting our communities, that's one thing that I think I can do. And that is why I decided to run for this seat. So I have been working in national public policy and political advocacy for close to 20 years. Um, I was, I worked for the campaign to pass the Affordable Care Act, let you know how old I am. I worked for three years in Congress on Capitol Hill. I was a legislative aide working on agriculture, health, and environmental issues. Worked for a year in the Obama administration. This time last year, I was a national campaign director for the Sierra Club, where we were completely, you know, shifting policies towards cleaning up our industrial pollution, mainly across the Midwest. And then the election happened, right? And then in the middle of months, I just saw everything that we had worked so hard to build for the last 30, 40 years just get dismantled one by one. And so there is no more avenues for environmental action at the federal level. Anything we need to get done, we're gonna have to get done at the local level. And so that is, you know, why I decided to run for this seat. Because even though I don't want to be a politician, I don't consider myself a politician, I still care about where I live. I still care about my neighbors who are suffering with flooding, and I still care about how this community builds and grows. Um, and that's why I'm running.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 6:31

All right, perfect.

What Soil And Water Actually Does

Amanda Benbow Lunn 6:33

What does the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District actually do? And why should voters care about it?

CeCe Grant 6:39

Yes. So, soil and water conservation. I am a communicator and I believe in talking in common everyday language. Partially you tell people soil and water conservation, and they're like, what is this? And I tell them food and water. The soil is what produces our food. You can't have food without soil to grow it in, right? And also, you know, the water is clean, water is access to water. So this is the body that is elected to protect our land systems, which is primarily our agricultural land, but it's also our urban and suburban land, and it's also protect our access to clean water, which is basically protecting our lakes, our streams, our groundwater systems. So that is what they're supposed to do. I have researched this board and seen a lot of the good work that they've done over the years. What I have seen is this board has almost exclusively focused on the rural community, which is why I believe the people in the city and the suburbs don't understand what they're doing because they've been largely invisible. I am running to represent all of Wake County. I am running to represent the communities in Southeast Raleigh that floods every time it rains. I'm running to represent the communities in Nightdale and Wendale that is literally bearing the worst of the burden in terms of overdevelopment. I'm running to represent Wake Forest that the people there are just so upset at what they're doing to their community. And they feel like they don't have anywhere to turn. They don't have anyone listening to their concerns, they don't have anyone fighting for them. So I am, yes, our farmers need help, especially in this critical time with the tariffs and the rising property values and now the ridiculous price of diesel. Our farmers are struggling, but we're all struggling. And I'm fighting represent all of Wade County.

Biggest Issue for Wake County

Amanda Benbow Lunn 8:36

What do you believe is the most important issue or challenge facing the people you would represent?

CeCe Grant 8:41

I believe there are two major problems that major, major problems that are facing Wake County that I don't think people are talking a lot about. Number one, our water supply, because of the rapid pace of growth in Wake County, our water supply is going to be unsustainable. We do not have enough water to provide the infrastructure to make sure that everyone who lives here and everyone who's moving here will have access to clean water. Right now in Wake County, people are surprised to know this, but 40,000 of our residents are on whale water. Wake County, this is not, you know, rural Western North Carolina. This is right here, right outside of Raleigh. There's no access to fresh water. They're on whale water. Um, so that is so the access to water infrastructure is one main problem. And then the second main problem is we are losing our farmland at a dangerous pace. In just the past 10 years, we have lost enough farmland that equals the city of Wendell and the city of Fuquay Varina combined. That's how much, as big as those two cities are, that's how much farmland we've lost in the last 10 years. And that rate of loss is supposed to increase double in the next 10 years. And so some people say, well, CC, we need housing for the people who live here. And yes, that is true. It's not that we don't need to build houses. It's when and where we build these houses that matter. We need to be building density. We need infield development. We don't need to be clear-cutting our forests. We don't need to be ransacking agricultural land to build houses, you know, for more and more people in more and more far-flung suburban areas. So having a master plan of when and how we grow over the next 10 years is something that I think is mission critical. And I would love to help our county and municipal leaders come up with that master plan as to when and how we grow.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 10:47

Okay. Now, would this seat be creating that structure, or are you more of like advisory to the people who could be creating?

CeCe Grant 10:57

Yes, the Wake County Soil and Water Board is a policy advisory board. We do not legislate, we do not pass regulations. The Wake County just released a report a few months ago called Wake County Farmland Preservation Plan. It's an amazing plan that was put out by the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District. Very, very thorough in identifying what our problems are, identifying what we need to do to conserve farmland preservation. So the Wake County Farmland Preservation Plan was just released by the Soil and Water Conservation District just a few months ago. Excellent plan. Very detailed, very thorough, identifying what our problems are and what the proposed solutions are. But since that plan has come out, I have not heard a single word in terms of implementation. I think the worst thing we can do is identify the problem and do absolutely nothing in terms of making sure that there's momentum and persistence in implementing that plan. I believe that the Soil and Water Conservation District can have a leading role in making sure that that plan gets implemented. And that is what I want to do if I'm elected supervisor.

Priorities & Hopes for Accomplishment

CeCe Grant 12:14

Okay.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 12:14

If elected, what would you prioritize and what specifically would you hope to accomplish during your term?

CeCe Grant 12:20

I have three priorities for this role. Number one is farmland preservation. And the reason why we need to preserve farmland, yes, here in Wake County, is number one, because how and where we grow our food is really, really important. Especially this year when there are all these recalls all across the country. I don't know what they're doing to our food system. I don't know what is going on with FDA. I know that, you know, a lot of their people were laid off. But I want to know where my food is coming from. I want to know my food is safe. And the best way to do that is to make sure that we have the ability to grow it right here at home. So farmland conservation is one end of that stick. The other end of that stick is promoting more urban agriculture. We can promote here in Wake County more community gardens, more backyard gardening. We can promote more ways of growing food here locally. There is also a serious matter with food insecurity. Too many of our neighbors are going hungry. And if we have the capacity to grow our food right here, locally at home, we can mitigate some of that food insecurity that our residents are facing. So I think protecting our farmland, protecting our ability to farm, and increasing our ability to farm is really key, both in protecting our local food system and also making sure that people don't go hungry here in Wake County. Number two is water conservation. There are a lot of different groups that are working on water conservation, but there's no central coordinated body. I would love to work with our Wake County Board of Commissioners to make sure that all 12 of our municipalities are working together as one to advance the one water plan that Wake County has come up. Once again, amazing plan. Where is the implementation? And then the third is kind of like conservation in your backyard. There are a lot of people in urban communities and suburban communities that are interested in conservation, that is concerned about what they see is happening to our water and our trees and our land, but they don't know what to do about it. I think we can be a resource for education to teach people how they can do conservation right there in their backyard. You know, we don't need the government to do everything. But if you don't give people the education, the tools and the resources on how they can help themselves right there in their backyard, I think we're leaving a lot of people out of our plan in terms of solving these problems.

Balancing Development with Protecting Resources

Amanda Benbow Lunn 14:58

How should Wake County balance rapid development with protecting water quality, watersheds, farmland, and natural resources?

CeCe Grant 15:05

I have a controversial opinion about that. We have residential zoning, we have industrial zoning, we have commercial zoning, we do not have agricultural zoning. And the reason why I would like to at least start a discussion about that is we know we can't protect every acre of agricultural land everywhere. What we need to do is prioritize our most critical, our most environmentally sensitive lands and protect those. And what we have traditionally have done is created conservation easements. Conservation easements is too small and it's too slow to meet the urgency of the moment. I think we need to, in this plan for how we're going to grow as a Wake County, just like we have a plan for where we're going to build our housing, we need a plan for what agricultural land is going to be protected for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Trying to do that, trying to protect our agricultural land without a plan, without guardrails in place, is just ridiculous. I don't see how it can work unless we have a zoning district for agriculture.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 16:20

Okay. Talk to me a little bit more about zoning districts and what does that look like? What are different zoning districts that might be in play?

CeCe Grant 16:31

So when I say our most sensitive environmental lands, what I do not want to do is tell a farm owner what they can and cannot do with their private land. Like that's a bridge too far. I'm not um I'm not advocating for that. But let's just say we decided that Falls Lake is mission critical for Wade County because it is. You know, if we lose Falls Lake, if we pollute Falls Lake to the point where we can't get fresh water out of there, we're all in trouble, right? So can we take an area around Falls Lake, which everyone agrees is mission critical, and say you can't do development around there? That is what I meant about agricultural zoning. The same thing with Jordan Lake. These are bodies that supply water to 1.2 million people. That's mission critical. We should absolutely prioritize protecting these environmentally sensitive areas and ensuring that there is not hundreds and thousands of houses being built right next to our water supply.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 17:33

Okay. And as of like this moment, are those protections not in place? Are developments getting close to those water supplies?

CeCe Grant 17:42

Yes, absolutely. Right now, I believe this the development is small scale. So you don't have the big giant, you know, multi-hundred housing developments happening there yet. But if we don't put a barrier around that area, who said it can't happen next year or five years from now? And so having that zoning for what everyone can broadly agree is our most environmentally sensitive areas to me is it's just a no-brainer, in my opinion. But you know, what I want to be careful to do is, you know, respect our other electeds because these are their towns, these are their communities. So I don't want to stand up and say, hey, this is a mandate. What I would like to do is facilitate the conversation.

District Role Managing Stormwater Erosion & Water Quality

CeCe Grant 18:30

Okay.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 18:30

What role should the district play in helping farmers, landowners, developers, and communities manage stormwater erosion and water quality?

CeCe Grant 18:39

So that is a two-edged sword because a lot of the pollution in our rivers and lakes comes from agricultural farming, specifically pesticides and fertilizers. The other end of that sword, however, is a lot of our firms are the victim of housing overdevelopment. They don't want to sell their farms, but their neighbors have, and they're building houses and the construction and the debris and a stormwater runoff for the housing development, you know, one property over is running off into their firm. And now they have to manage all of the downriver, downstream drama for what their neighbor has done. And so it's a really, really difficult, sensitive position. You know, I think once again, we cannot make these decisions. We can't solve this problem in isolation. We need to bring everybody to the table to kind of like come up with a set of best practices, how to balance respecting people's individual property rights and also respecting what's going to happen to your neighbor when you exercise your property rights. Just last week, for instance, um, I saw a notice that the city of Raleigh was buying up a couple of houses in a neighborhood where the houses were being destroyed by constant flooding. So they're being flooded because of the development going around them. It's not their fault, but they are basically losing their home because of how people build around them, right? And as unfair as that seems, what is outrageous to me is the developers created the problem. They bought the land, they developed the land, they sold the houses, they made all the money. And the city of Raleigh is on the hook for going back and fixing the problem that they created. Which means if the city of Raleigh is cleaning up the problem of overdevelopment, that means us taxpayers are paying to fix the problem. And I just don't believe that developers should be allowed to build however they want, wherever they want, create the problem, and leave us taxpayers on the hook to clean it up. That to me is just morally wrong. And to be clear, the city of Raleigh has to buy that homeowner out of their homes, right? Because it's being condemned. So they have to pay these homeowners the market price of their house in order to condemn it. So that is why I'm saying that we're on the hook for both the cost of buying them out of their home and also the remedial damage they have to do to repair the flooding once these people have left their home. So we're talking about millions of dollars.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 21:25

Wow.

Approach to the Responsibilities and Decision-Making Authority of this Office

Amanda Benbow Lunn 21:26

How would you approach the responsibilities and decision-making authority of this particular office?

CeCe Grant 21:31

I looked at the North Carolina law that established the districts. And in North Carolina law, the language is really clear that the conservation districts are supposed to prioritize the conservation needs of their county. So the priority needs of an urban county like Wake County is not going to be the same as the conservation needs of a more rural. County in Western North Carolina, right? That makes sense to everyone. However, what I have seen that this district is doing is continuously focusing on the rural community, even though it's such a small part of Wake, and not really exercising their authority to say, hey, what's our pressing problem countywide? And that is a data gathering. You know, maybe the priority is the rural areas, but if we're not bringing our urban and suburban community to the table and evaluating their concerns in addition to our farmers' concerns, then we're not, we're only doing half of our job. And so I will take very seriously the mandate from the North Carolina state to say we are to prioritize the conservation needs of this county, because I think that we can be doing a lot more than what we're doing. We can do a lot more in terms of well water testing for 40,000 residents or on well water. We can do a lot more on soil testing. Right now, people have to pay to test their own soil, even though the damage to the soil is being done by outside forces. And, you know, once again, we probably won't have the budget to make everything free for everybody. But, you know, can we make these testings free for people who are being overburdened and who don't have the resources to do their testing to make sure that the water they're drinking, the water they're feeding their family is safe? Can we do a cost share? I think we could do more for homeowners and residents if we actually prioritize them in our day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month work. And those are kind of the ideas that I would champion. The same thing in terms of promoting urban agriculture. You don't need to pass a bill or to craft a regulation to promote and support more people who want to get into urban gardenings or more people who want to build community farms. All you need is

Adapting Conservation Efforts for Growth

CeCe Grant 24:03

leadership.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 24:03

How should conservation efforts adapt to Wake County's continued population growth?

CeCe Grant 24:08

You know, we talk so much about the danger that our farmland is under. Once again, you know, we've lost 36,000 acres in Wake County just over the past 10 years. So that is a matter that needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency if we're going to have any type of ability to grow our own food. However, I believe the bigger problem right now is actually our water quality. It is the amount of stormwater runoff that is going not into our just our lakes, but our streams and our riverbeds. You know, it's it's, you know, it's killing our fish, it's killing our biodiversity, um, it's endangering our water quality. Um, and so, you know, preserving our farmland is probably a five, 10-year plan, but preserving our water quality, you know, this is a right now issue. And we need to make sure that we're gonna have enough water for our residents now and to come. And we need to start working on that like in 2027.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 25:10

And would this board be responsible for like monitoring PFAFs and those types of things in the water?

CeCe Grant 25:17

Oh God, no. You know, and I, you know, DNR, you know, the alphabet soup of state agencies, they're responsible for that. You know, and the other thing, the reason why I am so happy that I think it's important that you actually have an environmentalist on this board is even things that we can't control directly, we can influence. You know, we can use our seat, our office, our relationships to bring things to our elected's attention to fight and champion for our residents who are facing these issues. We can use the power of the microphone to elevate these issues and make sure that they're being appropriately addressed. I have met with most of our county commissioners and most of our city counselors here in Raleigh. These people are good. They're smart, they're hardworking, they care. However, they're dealing with on a daily basis 10 different issues, all of them important, all of them critical, right? It's the Wake Man merger, it's, you know, it's the shootings, it's the teen takeovers, it's the schools. Like they have 10 different fires they have to put out. So they don't have the leisure of just focusing on environmental issues. I believe as a supervisor, I have one job. You only have one job. And so I really, you know, believe that having an environmentalist on this board will allow there to be, you know, more of an environmental leadership and focus on this job where I can support our other electeds and making the right decision and making sure that our PAR residents are taken care of.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 27:03

And in as far as that you're an advisory board with data centers, would that be something that you would be advising on?

CeCe Grant 27:12

So once again, the influence power, right? It's so funny because I'm online and I'm looking at these debates going on online between pros and cons data centers. Oh, it's jobs. Well, first of all, it's not jobs, but that's outside of my wheelhouse. You know, they're bad, they're dangerous, oh, they're good. No, we don't want them. The one clarion call that we can do as supervisors is say, if we build this data center, where's the water gonna come from? Where is the water gonna be discharged to? Because that's our job, right? Our job is to protect our water supply. So, data center, if you want to permit where you're gonna get your water from, because you're not taking it from the residents. You're not taking it from us to be, you know, a computer monster, right? And you're not gonna discharge your runoff into our streams. We already have enough problem with stormwater runoff and pollutants going to our rivers. You're not gonna add. So, really just having the bully pulpit, the authority, and the policy expertise so that it doesn't get overlooked and doesn't get whitewashed by our other elected officials who aren't environmental scientists. Yeah. So, you know, I where's the word coming from? That's gonna be my contribution to the conversation.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 28:33

Okay.

Deciding What Takes Precedence

Amanda Benbow Lunn 28:34

When priorities compete or resources are limited, how would you decide what takes precedence?

CeCe Grant 28:39

Yes, I love this question because I'm a policy nerd. Like I said, I've talked to a lot of our electeds because I know that I have been a coalition builder, you know, throughout all of my career. Most of the time, I'm building a coalition with, you know, other advocacy groups and citizens. With this role, I need to build a coalition of electeds, right? We all have to do this together. So one of the things that I'm hearing over and over again from our state legislators and our county commissioners is they're under so much financial pressure because the needs are great. The money that we're getting from the state is paltry. You know, we're facing budget cuts because the state legislature won't properly fund they're supposed to be funding, which they would be funding if we had a representative government. And so Wake County is stretching their dollars, filling in the gap for the things that the state isn't funding, mostly our schools. And so, and now there are, you know, constitutional amendments on the ballot to restrict funding even more. So I realize that I have all these great ideas on things that we can do. Almost all of them cost money. And where's the money gonna come from, right? So I really put a lot of thought to this. And there are three or four things that I would use to prioritize where we allocate our resources. Number one, where is the need greatest? Where are we having the most problems, i.e. with flooding, or where are we most in danger of losing sensitive agricultural firms and target that first? Like that's job one. Number two is where can we have the greatest impact? And this could be a community that let's just take Southeast Raleigh and they're having a lot of flooding issues for a while. Maybe we only need a little bit of money to add to what the city is already doing to combine our resources so we can have kind of like a double impact for limited dollars, right? Um, and it's kind of like more bang for your buck. Number three, one of the other things about me is I'm a fundraiser. Um, I've done fundraising, I've done lobbying. I am not above begging for money. So, you know, one of the things that I've done when I was at the federal government is I know the importance of a local match when you're requesting federal dollars. Hey, federal government, if we give a 30% local match, can you give us the other 70% we need in order to implement this project? So leveraging the existing resources we have in order to attract more funding. And that could be either by the federal government, the state government, or philanthropy. And then the last thing is who is being reached out to and who's being left out. It's really important that conservation resources are accessible to every part of Wade County, including communities that have historically been overlooked. You know, I really want to make sure that once again, we're not catering all of the district's resources to just 700 of the in-crowd, our friends, the people we know, and we're ignoring the rest of the 1.2 million people who live in Way County. I want to make sure that we're being inclusive in our outreach and inclusive into where we're implementing solutions.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 32:09

Okay. And you've talked about flooding a bit. What can we do? Because I know here in Fuquay Varina, we have some neighbors with the same issues. What are things that could be implemented for those that are experiencing this?

CeCe Grant 32:23

As much as I say I don't like using big words, I'm gonna do it this one time, and it's called green infrastructure. And this is why green infrastructure is so brilliant. We can either leave the trees alone or plant more trees and plant more native plants that naturally soak in water, that naturally prevent stormwater runoff. We can either leave nature alone or do regenerative agriculture to restore the nature that was removed by development, um, because natural solutions costs a whole lot less money than engineered projects. You know, and I'll give an overly exaggerated example. Uh of there's, you know, you could build a dam, a concrete dam made of concrete and steel, and pay tens of millions of dollars, right? Or you can pay a fraction of that to plant native trees and plant native plants, or just leave the native trees alone in the first place. Leaving things alone is free. So rain gardens, trees, native plants, swales, all of that is free. It's natural. We need to either leave it alone or restore it, especially in communities that are being flooded. I notice in the new downtown that they're building, South Raleigh, once again, a region that has been subject to flooding for years. Now that they're building, you know, higher-end houses and bringing in gentrification. Now all of a sudden they have money mysteriously to build all this green infrastructure. They are building swells, they're building berms, they're building rain gardens, like, oh, you know, while the existing community was suffering, there was nothing they can do. But as soon as money started coming in, then all of a sudden they had all these resources to give to other people. And so we can do it if there is a will, and we can do it if we're prioritizing everyone, not just the moneyed few. We need to take care of every citizen in Wake County.

Accountability: What & How

Amanda Benbow Lunn 34:43

Okay. What should voters hold you accountable for if you are elected and how?

CeCe Grant 34:48

Results. Leadership. Once again, I was blown away when I saw how comprehensive and well thought out the reports were that came out of Wake County in terms of our farmland conservation plan and our one water plan. Reports are not results. And so can we take the recommendations in that report and begin to put them into action? How many of the recommendations were put in action over the next four years? I think you judge us by that. And not just me, because once again, I'm a policy and advisory body, right? But judge us on that. You know, we're asking for your vote. We're telling you we want to solve this problem in four years or three and a half years. Did we do it or did we not? And then, you know, leadership. Are we showing up in your community? Are we talking to your residents? Are we lifting up your concerns instead of just ignoring them or letting them slide? You know, are we being accountable to the voters? I think those are results and leadership and responsibility are really, really easy things to measure. One of the reasons why people don't want to be a politician or people don't like politicians is we promise a bunch of stuff and we don't deliver. That is not me. I have always been a person that worked 50, 60 hours a week to make sure that I'm hitting my deliverables. I did that on my job. I did that in Congress. I will do this in this office, you know, doing what needs to be done, doing the hard thing, ensuring that I hit my deliverables for the voters who I ask for their vote. And if I don't, don't vote for me again.

What's Working Well & What Needs Changed

Amanda Benbow Lunn 36:31

What do you think this office is doing right? And what would you like to see changed?

CeCe Grant 36:35

I think we have done an amazing job on the limited funds we have and implementing conservation easements. But we have really helped a lot of farmers who want to protect their farms for their next generation from being overdeveloped. I think we did a really good job with that. There is the big sweep that we support at the district level where nonprofit leaders and government workers go out and we clean up the waterways with our bare hands just to mitigate some of the damage that we're doing with pollution and dumping and making sure that our waterways stay clean and free-flowing. I think we're doing a good job with that. I think we can do more. I think the more will require more funding. So I think we're gonna have to be really creative and really innovative to get the funding we need to do more. A couple of things I would like to do. I'm hearing over and over again about how hard it is for new farmers, people who want to get started in farming, to actually get a startup is very costly and you have to put all this money in on a front end. I noticed in Durham County they had equipment rentals that farmers who may need a till or, you know, they need other very, very expensive farming equipment. Instead of buying it, they can rent it from the district to take off a lot of that financial pressure they have of buying the equipment themselves. Once again, these are things that you can do that doesn't cost a lot of money that alleviates some of the pressure on the farmers, the ones who want to start. I think there was a report out that said the age of the average farmer is 60. And so if we don't recruit more farmers, if we don't make it easier for people to get into farming, we're gonna do more than lose the land. We're gonna lose the people who work on the land, right? So, what can we do to make it easier for farmers to get started and build and grow their business? The other thing I want to do is I want to remove some of the red tape that they're experiencing when they want to develop like agribusiness and agritourism. Because if you're struggling producing enough food because costs have spiraled and you're trying to figure out what other ways I can bring money in to my household because I'm not selling as many potatoes as I used to, right? And they want to, you know, do a goat petting firm or berry picking on their land, well, there's a lot of red tape that they need to go through in order to even get that business permitted. I think we need to dedicate staff to streamline that process to make it easier for them. We shouldn't make it hurt for people to feed their families. And so if it is just another, you know, staff or two to expedite the paperwork to get things going smoothly, if it's, you know, legal or accounting experts that can help them set up their business, either free or low cost, we need to be doing whatever we can to help, you know, our farmer neighbors because they're really, really struggling right now.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 39:48

Okay.

Last Thoughts

Amanda Benbow Lunn 39:49

As we wrap up, is there anything we haven't discussed that you would like voters to know or anything from our conversation that you'd like to expand upon or clarify?

CeCe Grant 39:58

You know, so once again, this district conservation touches everybody's lives. It is food, it's water, it's trees. And it's so simple that everybody doesn't think about it. But when you stop and think about it, yeah, the attacks on our voting rights is horrible. Yes, the attacks on women's reproductive health is horrible. But how long do you think you're gonna live without clean water? Um, and so what I really want to do, and this might be the environmental advocate in me, is I really want folks to understand how important the things this office does is to their everyday life. And they don't think about it because we've been doing a fairly good job. And it's great when you don't have to think about, you know, flushing your toilet and the toilet actually flushes, right? I would really want to make sure that more regular people understand conservation, its importance in their lives, give them more resources so they can do conservation in their community, they can build community gardens, give them education on how to build backyard gardens. People care. They just don't, if they don't have an avenue to express that caring, then I don't think I think we can do a better job of that. And once again, this office, although it's small and kind of like invisible, it really is about protecting our quality of life. Almost everyone who I meet who has moved to North Carolina says the same thing. It's so beautiful down here. We have so many trees, we have so many green spaces, the access to the lakes. I live in the city of Raleigh, and there is a horse farm five minutes from me. That's insane! Like, no, you're not gonna get that in Manhattan.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 41:44

You know my favorite was it was Halloween, like still in the day.

CeCe Grant 41:49

Yeah.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 41:50

And some piglets got loose and were like roaming down a sidewalk in Holly Springs. I love it.

CeCe Grant 41:56

Love, love, and I'm a city girl, and I started seeing this and I just fell in love. And, you know, so balancing the nature with the development and you know, the amenities, that is gonna take a really delicate balancing act. But I think if we all got together and really focused on planning how we grow and where we grow and what we protect, I think that's mission critical and I think that's job number one. The last thing I want to say in terms of why I am asking people for their vote and their trust is I know this stuff sounds complicated, but I understand policy and how government works. I have spent five, six years of my life working in government from the local to the federal level. I know how to build coalitions to get things done. I am a grassroots organizer, old-fashioned, kiss babies, visit churches. You know, I have been to every part of Wake County from Wake Forest to Fuquay Varina and Wendell. I was in Wendell this morning, and Cary. I am running to represent all of Wake County. I want to make sure that every part of Wake County feels heard, feels valued, and feels represented on this board and in this district. And that is going back to your question: what people can hold me to.

Where To Learn More

Amanda Benbow Lunn 43:20

For voters who want to learn more about you, your platform, your campaign, endorsements, and priorities, where can they go to find that information?

CeCe Grant 43:27

Yes, my website is CeCe4Wake, and it's the number four. So C E C E 4 Wake.com. I wanted to make sure this was as easy to type as possible. I am on Facebook and Instagram constantly. My Facebook and Instagram handle is also CeCe4Wake. And I am literally everywhere in this county. Reach out to me, message me if you want me to come in and talk to your group. your church or your organization. I'm happy to come and talk. I'm also happy to come and listen. You know, we don't have to talk all the time. I get some of my best ideas from listening to what people are struggling with. So please feel free to reach out to me um through my website or any of my social medias. I'd love to talk to you.

Amanda Benbow Lunn 44:21

Well thank you so much, CeCe, for joining me today. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to voters and just to participate to get your platform out there. So thank you and I wish you the best of luck with your campaign.

CeCe Grant 44:31

Thank you so much, Amanda. I appreciate it.

Closing Reflections & Voting Info

Amanda Benbow Lunn 44:35

Democracy is built on participation. Politics can sometimes feel distant or abstract, but the decisions made by our elected officials at the county, state and federal levels have a profound effect on the communities we call home and the way we live our lives. From the roads we drive on and the schools our children attend to public safety, parks and recreation, housing, healthcare, taxes, the economy, and the many other services and amenities that make up our communities, government plays a role in shaping both our everyday experience and our future. That makes taking the time to understand the choices on your ballot and the people asking for your vote an important part of being an engaged member of your community. Early voting for the 2026 midterm election begins October 15th and runs through October 31st. In southern Wake County there will be early voting locations at the Hunt Center in Holly Springs, the Hilltop Needmore Town Park Clubhouse in Fuquave Arena, Beach Bluff County Park, and Southern Wake Tech Campus close by. Election Day is November 3rd. A general reminder that you will need a valid photo ID to vote, the regular voter registration deadline is October 9th, although you may still register when you vote during the early voting period. Please note that you cannot register to vote on Election Day itself and that that day you will absolutely have to vote at your designated precinct location to have access to your full ballot. And because there are so many races and ballot measures this year, your ballot will likely be double-sided. It can be helpful to start on the back so that you don't accidentally overlook anything. You'll vote for the races that apply to your jurisdiction along with statewide amendments and for Southern Wake County voters local Wake County bond referenda. Voting is one of the ways we take part in the communities we share. You don't have to agree with your neighbors or even with the candidates you've heard here to recognize that our communities are shaped by the people who show up, ask questions, learn about the choices before them, and cast their ballots. So please take the time to get informed, make your voice heard, and encourage the people around you to do the same. Your vote matters, your voice matters and you absolutely matter, my friend. And with that, this episode of the NC Deep Dive has come to an end. Please feel free to check out this episode's show notes at ncdeepdive.com for further information and relevant links for this candidate along with general election information. As always if you have any topics or thoughts you'd like to share you can find us on social media or email us at ncdeepdive at gmail.com. If you found value in this episode, I'd love for you to subscribe, rate and share it so that others may more easily be informed. Please make sure to stay tuned for all the relevant candidate amendment and referenda episodes for the 2026 midterm election by visiting ncdeepdive.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible or wherever you currently listen to your podcast. Until next time my friends, Namaste the Love and Light in Me sees and honors the love and light in you