by Gale Melcher and Sayaka Matsuoka
Featured photo: Panelist Alex Mitchell speaks during the Greensboro reverse town hall on Oct. 7. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)
On Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, Triad City Beat hosted its first reverse town-halls in an effort to center voters over candidates. The model, which was inspired by events hosted by the Current, an independent news outlet in Louisiana, is meant to allow voters to share their thoughts on issues that are most important to them.
For these events, TCB identified a panel of four voters for each event, one in Winston-Salem and one in Greensboro. Then, the newsroom invited candidates in all races in those cities to come and listen. An added bonus was the use of an interactive polling activity in which members of the audience, as well as candidates, were able to answer questions along with the panelists on topics ranging from the economy, healthcare, housing and education.
The result was an engaging, interactive event in which voters felt like they had a voice and candidates came away learning something new.
To watch the recording of our Winston-Salem/Forsyth town hall, click here. For Greensboro/Guilford, click here.
THE VOTERS
Greensboro/Guilford:
Sel Mpang, community engagement director at NC Asian Americans Together, Montagnard activist.
Terri Jones, mother of three and educator at Peck, Gillespie and Washington elementary schools, Willow Oaks resident.
Alex Mitchell, works with Rally NC and owns a bookstore.
Nathan Rowe, resides in Glenwood with his wife and child, independent voter
Winston-Salem/Forsyth:
Cynthia Herson, housing activist with Housing Justice Now.
Evelyn Allen, transgender activist, works with Housing Justice Now.
Brajan Funes, investment manager at Wells Fargo, founder of Winston-Salem pickup association, student at Forsyth Tech.
Jason Heyman, works for a local government agency helping people qualify for food and medical assistance.
THE CANDIDATES
Guilford/Greensboro
David Coates – Guilford Board of Education (District 3) (D)
Bill Goebel – Guilford Board of Education (District 3) (U)
Michael Logan – Guilford Board of Education (District 3) (R)
Tracy Clark – NC House 57 (D)
Margie Benbow – NC House 62 (D)
Tanneishia Dukes – NC House 59 (D)
Bettye Jenkins – Guilford County Board of Education District 7 (D)
Cara Townsend Dohner – Guilford Board of Education (District 5) (R)
Ed Eldred – NC Court of Appeals (D)
Natasha Marcus – Insurance Commissioner (D)
Carly Cooke – Guilford Commission (District 5) (D)
Mary Beth Murphy – Guilford County Commission (District 4) (D)
Pricey Harrison – NC House District 61 (D)
Forsyth/Winston-Salem
Erin Brock – NC District Court Judge Seat 10 (R)
Valerie Brockenbrough – Forsyth County Commissioner District B (D)
Curtis Fentress – Forsyth County Commissioner District B (D)
Vivian Fulk – NC House District 91 (D)
Regina Ford Hall – Winston-Salem Northwest Ward city council seat (D)
Marsie West – Forsyth County Commissioner District B (D)
Caroline Warren – NC House District 75 (D)
Bob Drach – NC Auditor (L)
Scott Andree Bowen – Winston-Salem Southwest Ward city council seat (D)
Ronda Mays – NC Senate District 31 (D)
Vinny Smith – Governor (C)
ECONOMY
According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation is falling from the post-pandemic surge of 9.1 percent in June 2022. In August, the inflation rate was 2.2 percent. But the price of goods has also skyrocketed in the last four years, increasing by about 19 percent. And a Pew Research Center poll from May showed that less than a quarter of Americans saw the country’s economic conditions as excellent or good.
Based on our election survey results, readers were most interested in the following topics when it came to voting for a candidate: reproductive rights and healthcare, access to housing, income inequality and the economy, and schools.
But what affects them the most in their day-to-day lives?
According to the live polling done at the event, 15 audience members in Greensboro said economic challenges, 5 said access to healthcare, another 5 said affordable housing and 7 said education.
In Winston-Salem, 9 attendees said economic challenges, 6said access to healthcare, 6 said affordable housing and eight said education. When asked if their economic conditions were better or worse since 2020, 16 audience members in Greensboro responded that it was worse, 10 said it was better and 6said nothing had changed. In Winston-Salem, 17 people said it had gotten better, four said it was worse and eight said unchanged.
For the panel: How has the economy changed for you?
Greensboro
Sel: “I can remember buying a substantial amount of groceries [in college] and now if I were to buy that same amount, it would be double the price. It impacts me every single day, when I buy my gas, when I buy my food…It’s very evident to myself and every person who is my age right now.”
Terri: “I’m here because of my daughter. This is going to be my first time voting in a presidential election; I’m one of those people who used to believe my vote doesn’t matter. To see my daughter so interested and excited and telling me how much I do matter, my vote does matter.” Her family has grown over the last four years. “Being a teacher, I’m living paycheck to paycheck, with the cost of housing, groceries, gas… Sometimes I have to think about what’s not going to get paid.”
Alex: He had one job at the start of the pandemic, now he has three. “You have to find multiple jobs to sustain. I thought job stacking was a Gen Z thing. No, job stacking is almost for the average American now.”
Nathan: “It’s gotten better just because I’m working in a better paying job, I’ve been able to work remotely since 2020… but I definitely feel a sticker shock going into the grocery store.”
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: “I make less money now than I did when I was younger. The wage down here is horrible, it’s not liveable.”
Evelyn: Even though she lives with her parents, she often finds that she’s “running out of money.”
Brajan: At work he sees “things in the market doing well, but I don’t think the people in everyday families are feeling that.”
Brajan is also on the student government council at Forsyth Tech. He said, “I think now, more than ever, our students are relying on emergency financial assistance. We see that in the services that they’re offering students… It’s the high cost of food, gas, textbooks even.” And those hits to their bank accounts are further exacerbated if they’re DACA or refugees paying out of state tuition, “despite them living here, working here and paying taxes here for decades.”
Jason: It’s pretty simple for me; my income stayed flat and the price of goods and services went up…I’m fortunate enough to have a spouse who also has an income. Without her, I would probably have to rely on public assistance.”
Are you optimistic about your ability to participate in the economy in the future?
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: “I try not to think about the future because it’s scary…I can’t even shop at Publix or Whole Foods because the prices are extremely high.”
Evelyn: “I am somewhat optimistic because I’m trying to get a law degree.” But she’s also thinking realistically, “especially with the way private equity has overtaken the housing market.”
Brajan: Feels indifferent because he feels like he sees “two worlds” between the students he knows and his clients. “It seems like there’s a disparity in who’s benefiting.”
“I’m seeing students live longer and longer with their parents…It’s tough out there to find your own footing.”
Jason: Jason said that he feels “very optimistic” because of the way he grew up: In a single parent household where “we didn’t have a whole lot to begin with.”
“We’ve learned to live with a little and we’ve learned to live with a lot so either way we’ll be good.”
In both Greensboro and Winston-Salem, most attendees responded that they were somewhat optimistic
HOUSING
Since 2019, rent prices have increased nationally by about 19 percent. According to reporting by the Washington Post, rent prices in Guilford County specifically have risen by more than 35 percent in that time. In the last 10 years, median house prices have doubled according to data analyzed by NBC News. In 2023, a record-high of 653,104 people experienced homelessness in January 2023. That’s a 12 percent increase over 2022.
In Greensboro, 20 people said they owned a home, 12 said they rented and one person said they were unhoused. In Winston-Salem, 21 said they owned, five said they rented and one said they were unhoused.
Do you rent? Or own?
Greensboro
Sel: “I’m renting a home right now,” she said. She’s rented apartments her whole life. “For the last four months I was living with my brother.” And that really helped her. “I needed to take a break from paying for rent…Even though I wasn’t paying rent, I was still struggling.”
“In this economy…you really can’t take a break.”
Terri: She’s lived in multiple income-restricted apartments, but she’s owned her own home for one year.
Alex: He’s a renter.
Nathan: He and his wife have owned their house since 2015. “We live in a fairly affordable neighborhood…I’ve seen house prices going 2-3x what we paid for it.”
What are your worries about housing?
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: “What people call affordability, they need to look up the definition…There’s nothing affordable about $1,200 rent when you are low-income and on a fixed income.”
Evelyn: As a housing activist, Evelyn has noticed that property is becoming a commodity for landlords to buy up and charge high prices for. “For me, I feel like the only way I’ll be able to have stable housing is if we try to de-commodify housing in some way.”
Brajan: “We have people in their 20s with no hope of buying property.”
Jason: “We were fortunate enough to get our house before things went nuts, and we have a reasonable mortgage. For my children, my daughter is 26, my son is 21, I worry about them. That would be my concern, for our children.”
Do you feel like you could move within the city? Do you feel like there is mobility? Are you looking to move out of the city?
Greensboro
Sel: “I’m gonna be in Greensboro for a while, but even just thinking about what neighborhood I can even be in, that really felt challenging.”
Terri: “I would not be able to move, especially if I had to rent.”
Alex: He’s not looking to move. But “everything here is just as expensive as Atlanta.” And where you live factors into where your kids go to school.
Nathan: They had some strife with their next door neighbors and were considering moving. “We’re fortunate enough economically, we could’ve moved, but we were looking at it as a trade-off where we would’ve been paying 2-3x to stay in the same neighborhood.”
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: “I’m originally from Memphis, TN, and I’ve been here for six years.” She said she’d like to stay, but might have to move to Greensboro or Charlotte.
Evelyn: She wants to move away from the city “not necessarily because of cost reasons, but for college reasons.”
Brajan: “I’m a renter, and I’m pretty blessed to be where I am. But no, I definitely could not move anywhere else.”
Jason: “For me, it’s not a consideration. It’s simply not affordable at this time. We could probably sell our house and make a lick, but then where are we gonna go? If you move out of the city into the county somewhere you might have slightly lower taxes, but then you’re going to be offset by the fuel expense driving back and forth if you work in the city like I do.”
HEALTHCARE
Polling by KFF found that half of US adults say it is difficult to afford health care costs and one in four say they or a family member had problems paying for health in the past 12 months. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported in April that 15 million Americans still have unpaid medical bills. And Axios reported that North Carolina was one of the states that had the highest shares of adults with medical debt between 2019-2021.
There are increasing restrictions on certain kinds of care including reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming healthcare for transgender individuals. As of this year, 13 states have a total abortion ban in the US. 28 states have bans based on the gestational duration. In NC, abortions are illegal after 12 weeks of pregnancy. KFF found that more than 15,000 patients traveled from out of state to NC to receive abortion care between 2020 and 2023. And then there’s the issue of gender-affirming care. According to the Human Rights Campaign, almost 40 percent of trans youth live in a state that has passed bans on gender-affirming care. In 2023, NC lawmakers overrode a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper to pass a bill that bans gender-affirming care in NC for people under the age of 18.
What are your healthcare worries? Do you feel like you have access to the healthcare you need? Do you have medical debt?
In Greensboro, 14 attendees responded that they had medical debt, 16 said they didn’t. In Winston-Salem, those who did jumped down to seven while 19 said they didn’t.
Greensboro
Sel: “I do have insurance, but also I don’t really understand it. Also, I’m really scared to go to the doctor’s office. Everyone’s like, ‘You should get a physical,’ I’m like, ‘I’m scared, how much are they going to charge me?’”
Terri: “I’m one of those people too that ignored the bills, and those are the ones that are not getting paid…I do have medical debt.”
Alex: He tore both his ACLs in college and got surgery on one, but couldn’t afford to get the other one done. He and his son have medical debt.
Nathan: He doesn’t have medical debt.
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: “My daughter told me she had to pay an $800 deductible for her baby to get a tooth pulled.”
Evelyn: She has around $5,000 in medical debt. “Most insurance actually doesn’t cover trans health care whatsoever…Even some things as simple as estrogen, my estrogen wasn’t covered through most of my transition.”
Brajan: “I play soccer, I lift weights, but I had a herniated disc in my back. Life happens.” But he can’t use his parents’ health insurance anymore at 27, and “the deductible is several thousands of dollars.” And a lot of people he knows through the soccer association are simply going uninsured or putting off getting checkups. Brajan also worries about the availability of bilingual resources for people trying to access healthcare.
Jason: “100 percent of my debt is medical debt. There came a time in my life where I decided that health insurance is a scam. You pay this monthly fee and then when you go to use it you’ve got to pay more money, how does that work?” Jason added that his 26-year-old daughter makes slightly too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to pay for insurance. “I enI’m not telling you not to pay your bills, but don’t pay your medical bills.”
What are your top healthcare concerns?
Greensboro
Terri: “Quality healthcare for Black people.” Abortion is important to her, too. She had an abortion in 2020. “I was having an abortion because I just started a new job and I couldn’t afford a new baby.” At the abortion clinic, she said the experience and hearing women’s stories really opened her eyes. “I think sometimes people have one-sided thoughts about why women do what they want with their body.”
Alex: “Preventative care.” His sister was rushed to make a decision during her birth; the baby died shortly after. “The things they do to Black women in healthcare is just insane…They push you to make decisions against your better judgment.”
Do you support ease of access to reproductive healthcare? What about trans-affirming healthcare?
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: “I think everybody has the right to choose whatever they want to…I’m not for abortion or against abortion, but I do know, it’s everybody’s choice.”
Evelyn: “Something that I think people don’t really understand about trans healthcare is that it often is a matter of survival.” Members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community are at higher risk for suicide, and countless studies have shown that gender-affirming treatment reduces suicides. “You don’t have to support being transgender, like, their personal ‘choice,’ which I don’t believe it is, you can even think they have mental illness, but you must also realize that even if they do have a mental illness…they still have the right to live. And the best way to ensure their right to life is to give them access to the healthcare that they need in the form of gender-affirming care.”
Brajan: “I have the privilege of being a man,” he said, adding that he supports both.
Jason: “A woman should have a right to choose…And the doctor should be able to operate without the threat of being arrested.”
“As far as trans-affirming care, I don’t know. If my children told me they wanted [to transition] I would be like, ‘Let’s wait and see.’ If a 13-14 year old girl isn’t happy with her breasts, should we allow her to get breast enlargement at that age? I don’t think so. Let’s wait and see what happens, you might like your body in 5-10 years.”
EDUCATION
It should come as no surprise that schools have become increasingly politicized in the last 10 years. Everything from funding to school shootings to the restriction of reading materials to what students learn in the classroom has come under heightened scrutiny.
Tell us where you went to school and what it was like?
Greensboro
Sel: She grew up going to local schools in Greensboro. “I built a great community but was super under-resourced.”
Terri: She went to several Guilford County schools; at some she felt like the classrooms were “still segregated,” at others, she met “people who looked like me, who had parents who set them up for success, and it showed me that I can do better and I can have better.”
Alex: He went to schools in Winston-Salem and attended UNC-Charlotte, but he wishes that he attended an HBCU because there are things he didn’t get to learn at other schools that he had to catch up on as he moved into social justice work.
Nathan: He was homeschooled for part of a year, but otherwise went to public schools. “One of the reasons my mom was cool coming to Raleigh and North Carolina was because the schools were well-resourced.”
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: She went to public school, but said she didn’t have bad experiences like some of the other panelists. But she worries about kids in school now. She put her grandson in one of the high schools, but was too worried about his safety so she pulled him out. “There’s not enough activities” to keep kids “occupied.”
Evelyn: “Something that I’ll always remember is no matter where you went to school, everyone hated the guidance department. I think that’s just indicative of how underfunded they are.”
Brajan: “I was actually a troublemaker when I was young,” adding that he was expelled and sent to a school for “troubled” kids. “I think there’s pros and cons between the changes that I saw in school now,” he said. Kids aren’t being disciplined as harshly as they used to be or sent away to a school for “troubled” kids. Brajan mentors kids at Mount Tabor now, and he’s concerned about the prevalence of guns and drugs in schools, as well as kids’ mental health.
Jason: “Kids were being killed in neighborhoods and stuff when I was coming up, now they’re being killed in schools. How are we going to solve it? It’s not just on the teachers, principals, police, judges — it’s a community problem and it’s going to take a community effort to solve.”
Do you have kids in public, private, charter or home school? What do you think is going right with the education system? What would you change?
Greensboro
Terri: About Peck Elementary and the schools she sends her children to such as the Experiential School of Greensboro: “One thing I love that they are doing, they are creating student-led classrooms…safe spaces, a culture of inclusivity.”
“The knowledge that my daughter comes home with and things that she talks about, I try to mirror that in my school so that kids can have the same conversation.”
Alex: His son is in a STEM school. He’s already coding, Alex said.
Nathan: While his child isn’t ready to go to school yet, Nathan is friends with a lot of teachers, he said. “I don’t know a ton about it, but in a few years I will know a lot.”
If you could change the city for the better, what would you change?
Greensboro
Sel: For Greensboro to “stay unique” and not compare itself to larger cities like Charlotte or Raleigh, “but with progressive policies.”
Terri: More transparency. “Greensboro has a lot of roots that we just try to cover up…Killing the facade, the mirage, dealing with the real issues the right way.”
Nathan: “Homelessness needs more resources.” And pedestrian safety needs more attention, he added.
Alex: He agreed with Nathan. People “deserve to live in a place where they are respected and cared for.”
Winston-Salem
Cynthia: She wishes the city would meet more with its constituents and be “more involved.”
Evelyn: “De-commodify housing.”
Brajan: “Make being involved more accessible,” he said, as well as improve public transit.
Jason: “I’d like to see more community outreach from the city.”
CANDIDATE TAKEAWAYS
Winston-Salem
Erin Brock: “One of the biggest issues that’s unaddressed in this community is trauma and what trauma does to our children…and our adults.”
Valerie Brockenbrough: “The county has a lot of say in terms of public school funding, and of the areas that I would really like to improve is access to Pre-K.”
Curtis Fentress: “I think the most important thing we can do as county commissioners…We have to do more listening.”
Vivian Fulk: Noted that she was also a “troublemaker.”
Regina Ford Hall: Hall noted that city council representatives need to make sure that they are engaging with residents outside of the thirty minute public comment period held every month at council meetings.
Marsie West: “I so appreciate you coming here and being vulnerable,” she told panelist. Commissioners need to focus on strong public schools, public safety and affordable housing.
Caroline Warren: “I heard everybody talk about how life was for them actually…I believe very much in the people of our city.”
Bob Drach: “We talked about a lot of difficult things, but you were full of optimism.”
Scott Andree Bowen: Talked about improving transit and city outreach, as well as starting a housing trust fund.
Ronda Mays: “What I heard was, you want to be heard. And not just heard, but you want to be part of making solutions.”
Vinny Smith: “Holding elected officials is very, very important.”
Greensboro
Michael Logan: Logan said that it’s “disheartening” to hear about teachers struggling.
Bill Goebel: “Even though I’m running for school board, a lot of this stuff spills over.”
Tracy Clark: Clark thanked Terri for sharing her abortion story. It’s so “stigmatized.”
She was with her daughters while watching Senate Bill 20 pass: “Seeing these old men take away my daughters’ rights is one of the reasons I got off the sidelines.”
Tanneishia Dukes: “We are making policies that directly impact your day-to-day lives.” Black maternal health is a “really big thing” for her, “because I was also a mother who struggled on the delivery table. And so having to make a decision between having my child suctioned out or having a C-section or my child coming out not being alive…those are state policies…we have to allow women the bodily autonomy to make those decisions.”
Bettye Jenkins: Jenkins said that she’s working to “get more money for teachers.”
Cara Townsend Dohner: “It was great to learn about housing; it’s interesting that rent has gone up 35 percent, that’s concerning. Also I would love to know what you mean about quality healthcare.”
Ed Eldred: “I guess I forgot what it was like to be young and not have a lot of money…Hearing y’all talk about that was eye-opening and a good reminder.”
Natasha Marcus: Discussed how insurance rates make an impact on housing and healthcare costs.
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