This op-ed was submitted in response to a previous op-ed, “Rep. Foushee is Not the Fighter NC-04 Needs.”

With the recent re-districting move by Republicans in NC and at least a dozen other states, it may be even more challenging in 2026 to be in the House minority. Today, bills that are authored and co-authored can be—and usually are—denied even a hearing; committees rarely meet; and extremist rhetoric all-too-often carries the day. In this environment, Democratic challengers—often armed with good ideas—understandably resort to performative actions, volatile words, and express their frustrations loudly. While that is an understandable response, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of what being in the minority means, day-to-day, and of what actually can be accomplished, even under nearly impossible conditions.

Rep. Valerie Foushee will be challenged in the March Democratic primary, as our electoral system provides. This, however, is not the time to trade a quietly effective, principled, hard-working, and experienced legislator like Foushee for a newbie. 

Foushee’s seniority has allowed her to work, often behind the scenes, on important issues ranging from complex international affairs, women’s reproductive freedom, protecting immigrant rights, and reducing gun violence to such pocket-book issues as making community college more affordable, supporting military families experiencing financial hardship as parents, and developing an accessible infrastructure for pedestrians, bicyclists, and public-transit passengers nation-wide.  

In international affairs, Foushee has authored the Gaza Humanitarian Aid Resolution designed to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches all civilians in Gaza. She co-sponsored the Block the Bomb Act to stop the transfer of ALL offensive weapons to Israel and demand Israel’s compliance with international and U.S. laws. And she co-sponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act to codify the Biden Administration’s executive order  to prevent all acts of violence in the West Bank and to punish those who commit such acts. She’s co-sponsored the VISIBLE Act, requiring ICE agents to visibly display their badges, badge numbers, and law-enforcement affiliation when questioning, detaining, or arresting, an individual, as well as the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to protect the civil and human rights of immigrants being detained and to end the inhuman conditions of detention centers.  

In the strictly domestic sphere, Foushee’s record for legislation co-sponsored is also impressive: these include important bills too often overlooked in the overheated current political moment: Menstrual Equity, Access to Birth Control, and Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom; Redistricting Reform; Protecting WIC Benefits; the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ+ people, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act;  the Assault Weapons Ban; and many others. 

And here’s one more example of her quiet, principled commitment to justice, progress, and democracy: during the recent government shutdown, Foushee gave up her congressional salary in a heartfelt act of solidarity with all the fired, laid-off, and furloughed government workers. 

In early March, the choice will be ours: an effective work-horse or an untested show-horse.

Kate Torrey is a current board member for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Foundation and long-time volunteer with Democracy NC and North Carolinians Against Gun Violence.

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