On the day filing opened for state house and senate representatives, House District 50 representative Graig Meyer filed for re-election to his fifth term.

Meyer, who represents most of Orange County except for Chapel Hill and Carrboro, has been in North Carolina’s House of Representatives since 2013. He says he’s motivated by his hope to be part of sweeping changes if the Democratic party can gain a majority. Expanding Medicaid, addressing rural North Carolinians’ health and access needs and fully funding public schools are just some of the goals he wants the state to achieve.

“There’s a lot of good we can do for the state of North Carolina,” Meyer says. “I’ve got a long list of bills Republicans haven’t been willing to hear. I want the chance to be able to put some of things into law and set some priorities for the state.”

While Meyer’s district did not change following the approval of new voting district maps for the 2020 election, he says his party is still suffering from the effects. As co-chair of the House Democrats Campaign Committee, he helps recruit people to run as candidates in districts. But state legislative district maps were not set until late October due to the gerrymandering case against their construction.

Meyer says he believes some potential candidates have been tentative to join not just because of the uncertainty around which map would be used, but also because they still favor Republican lawmakers.

“The big thing is the maps are still gerrymandered,” says Meyer. “It doesn’t take much for a smart person to look at the map or numbers and say, ‘why would I run for this, I’m going to lose.’”

Meyer says the committee is looking to build on success from the 2018 elections, when a Democratic candidate ran in all 170 races. He says despite the maps’ construction, he focuses on pitching potential candidates the ways they can still impact what issues get addressed by the state legislature.

“We kind of turn that around on people and say, ‘besides winning, what else do you want to do for your community through your campaign,’” Meyer says. “If you can bring people together and get your opponent to agree with you on some issues that they’ll go back to Raleigh and work on, you can make a difference even if you don’t win the election.”

The filing period for the 2020 state elections runs through Friday December 20.

Photo via Graig Meyer.

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