Democrats need to gain four seats in the House to break the supermajority and restore Governor Cooper’s veto, and District 35 is a prime target. In the Democratic primary, we’re endorsing Terence Everitt, a Wake Forest attorney who ran against and lost to incumbent Christopher Malone in 2016. Everitt’s opponent in the primary, small business owner Adam Wright, has not run for the legislature before. Everitt, meanwhile, has gained the support of top Democrats, including House Minority Leader Darren Jackson and Representative Grier Martin. He should be a formidable challenger to Malone, especially if he is buoyed by an expected Democratic wave. Everitt won 47 percent of the vote in 2016.

One of Everitt’s key issue areas is education, and he criticizes Malone for voting for budgets that underfund the state’s public schools while cutting taxes for the wealthy and out-of-state corporations. He also blasts Malone for siding with Duke Energy on coal ash cleanup. Simply put, Everitt believes that Malone has the wrong priorities. He’s right.

No Republican in this race gets our vote. Again, we refuse to endorse any candidates opposed to abortion and LGBTQ rights. The Republican challenger to Malone, Issac Burk, is anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage. For those reasons, he can’t get our vote, and neither can Malone, a self-proclaimed “gun enthusiast” who believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Hard pass.