Cheri Beasley, US Senate Candidate Visits Marion

US Senate candidate, Cheri Beasley speaks to a large enthusiastic crowd at The Spillway Bridge & Company in Marion.

Cheri Beasley, the Democrat seeking the U.S. Senate seat from North Carolina, met with McDowell County supporters during a town hall event on June 17th in downtown Marion.

Beasley, who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2019 to 2020, is traveling across western North Carolina to hear from voters and to highlight the “importance of strengthening rural economies” and “investing in renewable energy and growing good-paying clean energy jobs in the state,” according to a news release.

On Friday, she visited with a crowd of local voters and supporters at Spillway Bridge & Co. in Marion. She was introduced by Phillip Price, the Democratic candidate for McDowell County Board of Commissioners.

“Cheri has been tested,” said Price to the crowd. “And she knows what it will take to win, because she’s the only candidate in this race who has won statewide — twice. And in 2020, she earned 11,000 more votes than the president and 125,000 more than the Democratic Senate candidate, leaning on strength with both suburban and urban voters. That’s why she’s outraised every other candidate every single quarter with support from all 100 counties in North Carolina.

“That’s why she’s earned support from over 200 leaders, including Gov. Cooper and key organizations like the N.C. State AFL-CIO. We can trust that Cheri will be the kind of leader we need in the Senate: a true and independent voice for North Carolina that will always put the people first.”

During her speech, Beasley spoke about strengthening rural economies, the need to lower costs, and create good-paying jobs in communities like McDowell.

“One in three people in North Carolina earn less than $15 an hour,” she said to the crowd. “So it didn’t take a pandemic for us to understand that people in this state are struggling and so many people are really struggling as we are trying to come out of this pandemic. And everywhere I travel across this great state and by the end of this day, we will have done 18 counties in western North Carolina this week. But everywhere I travel, everybody says they want the next senator to fight to lower costs. Everything is so expensive and you all know that. People want to know that the next senator is going to fight to make sure everybody has good quality health care.”


During a question-and-answer session, Beasley was asked about such matters as capturing the youth vote in the election and how to deal with the issue of abortion in a “very red” county such as McDowell. She was asked if she supported universal health care.

“It is a basic human right and everyone deserves it,” she said.

Beasley said she hopes the expansion of Medicaid will pass in the N.C. General Assembly and a cap will put on the cost of the insulin.

During the event, she said, "What I support is expanding the ACA with a public option. I also support and really hope that this Medicaid expansion does pass in our state legislature. I support allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices down and I know it’s really important that we cap insulin costs at $35 a month."

She was asked about her position on gun control legislation. Beasley said her family owns guns and hunts but she hopes there will be no more mass shootings. However, she said there have been more than 20 mass shootings in the United States since the one in Uvalde, Texas. She said she supports universal background checks and red flag laws in all our states.

Another issue she was asked about is the power of political action committees (PACs). “Is there any way we can control these PACs?” asked a person in the crowd.

Beasley said she doesn’t accept corporate PAC money but her Republican opponent U.S. Rep. Ted Budd does accept corporate PAC money.

“I am so honored that so many people turned out here today,” said Beasley during the conclusion of her speech. “I am so thankful for your enthusiasm and excitement not just for our race but for the entire ticket. We are going to get this right for North Carolina. We are going to get this right for today and for the next generation.”

Both Beasley and Budd are seeking the U.S. Senate seat for North Carolina that will be vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Burr.

https://mcdowellnews.com/video/news/senate-candidate-cheri-beasley-visits-marion/video_f5d063e0-a88d-5314-87fe-13eeedf3ebbf.ht