Remember Virginia Foxx? Meet Jenny Marshall, Her Progressive Challenger

Blue America

My name is Jenny Marshall, and I’m running for Congress in North Carolina’s 5th District. I am a teacher, a wife, a mom to seven kids, an educational advocate, and a progressive who is working to unseat Republican Incumbent Rep. Virginia Foxx.

As a mom and a teacher, I am no stranger to putting others first. I taught in a Title I priority school in Winston-Salem’s urban center. I spent many nights after school helping struggling students, making sure they had lunch when their accounts were short and winter coats when the weather turned cold. I was always looking for ways to help my students and our community. My advocacy has never been limited to my classroom– I have devoted thousands of hours to grassroots organizing for progressive candidates and causes because I believe in a better future for all of us. I’ve invested a lot in this community, so when the worst-case scenario happened last November, I decided that I needed to up my game– I had to run for Congress.

Foxx has worked to stifle collective bargaining, prevent fair wages, and allow employers to tread on worker’s rights. Most recently, she approved of Donald Trump’s order to roll back Obama-era protections for women and minority workers. Well, I’ve had enough of Virginia Foxx’s attack on American workers, and I think we ought to do something about it. The first order of business is unseating Virginia Foxx and her GOP allies who work in lockstep to disadvantage American workers at every turn.

I chose to run for Congress because there aren’t enough people in office who truly understand the problems that we face as working and middle class Americans. Most of the people in Congress don’t know what it’s like to worry about medical bills or to work a minimum wage job. They are out of touch, and they consistently fail to meet the needs of their constituents. Like many of you, I’m tired of politicians who don’t understand our needs and never bother to ask.

When citizens all over the country can’t make an honest living off of $7.25, we have a problem. When our student debt has soared to over $1 trillion in the past seven years while the top 25 hedge-fund managers are making more than all of America’s kindergarten teachers combined, we have a problem. When people can’t afford to see a doctor or fill their prescriptions, we have a problem. In my district, over 50% of constituents are low-income or below the poverty level– that is unacceptable. What’s worse is that the GOP and Virginia Foxx are doing nothing to solve these problems. In fact, they do all that they can to keep systems of inequity alive and well. They have consistently voted against our best interests in order to line their own pockets, and they’ve profited off of our hardships for far too long.

Corporatism and greed continue to empower career politicians like Virginia Foxx to rob the hardworking citizens of this country, and I’ve had enough. If we want to truly fix the problems that surround us, we have to start with repairing the broken and corrupt economy that enforces our country’s most vile systems of inequity.

But for this campaign to really take off, it has to be about us– all of us. It has to be about people of color, women, LGBTQ+ folks, immigrants, workers, and parents all working together to turn the tide in the people’s favor. This campaign is about reforming our current system from the inside out to create a collective vision for America’s future that works for all of us. Because right now, under Republican leadership, our future is dim.

It’s high time we say no more. No more to turning a blind eye to those among us who are struggling. No more corporatism, no more tax cuts for the rich, and no more obscene spending on defense and fossil fuels while programs like Medicaid and social security sit by the wayside. In Washington, we will fight for working families and small business owners. We will fight for economic prosperity, for social and environmental justice, and for the equality of all people.

When we come together to combat economic injustices, we will propel movements that fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry. Let us not forget that the Prison Industrial Complex exists not only to oppress people of color but to line the pockets of some of country’s wealthiest elite. Let’s remember that while white women make $73 cents on every dollar that a white man makes, women of color make markedly less than that. Let’s be mindful that LGBTQ+ identified people are excluded from non-discrimination ordinances and can legally be refused housing, loans, and other avenues of support in many states and cities. Some of the most obvious social problems stem from one, central source: greedy corporate elites willing to do whatever– and oppress whoever– they can to make a profit.

I know that the key to winning is to build a strong, grassroots movement. That’s why I am asking for your support. I need individuals like you to help us win by joining our campaign. I resigned as a teacher to run for Congress. I resigned to stand up for justice and represent the working people and the most vulnerable of our communities. Donate now to invest in our future, and let’s resign to win in 2018!

-Jenny

Howie: if you’d like to follow Jenny’s campaign, you can do so on Facebook and Twitter.