She would put ordinary folks over special interests.
Democrat Elaine Marshall is not the slickest politician we've ever seen on the campaign trail. She doesn't have the polished look or persona that national Democratic insiders were hoping would characterize their challenger to incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr. In fact, she comes across like someone raised on a Maryland farm who was slopping hogs and driving a tractor by age 12. Which is exactly who she is and which hints at why she would be a good U.S. senator for North Carolina.
The Senate has plenty of well-heeled, well-tanned members. It could use more people like Marshall, whose life has been like that of so many North Carolinians: She grew up on a farm and was the first in her family to go to college. She has repeatedly defied the odds and is nearly universally respected for her work as North Carolina's secretary of state since 1996. Everything about her personality and her record suggest that as a U.S. senator, she would stay true to her roots and stay intensely focused on the needs of the average North Carolinian.
Throughout her life, Marshall has confronted challenges head-on and succeeded, always because of her own energy, not because anyone handed it to her. None was bigger than when she vanquished NASCAR legend Richard Petty in 1996, becoming the first woman to win statewide executive office in North Carolina. As secretary of state, she has stood up to special interests. She played a significant role in reforming how state lobbyists are regulated. She cracked down on fraud and misrepresentation in cases federal authorities had let go. She modernized the office with better technology and more efficient administration.
Before that, in one term as a state senator, she pushed North Carolina to end its status as the only state that didn't outlaw marital rape. As a lawyer, she lobbied the legislature to require insurance companies to cover mammograms and pap smears.
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