Christy Clark and Natasha Marcus
Nov. 7. By Dave Yochum. Natasha Marcus of Davidson has defeated incumbent Jeff Tarte in the race for NC Senate District 41. With all 28 precincts reporting, Marcus outran the former Cornelius mayor 48,987 to 37,307.
Marcus, who works in development at the Ada Jenkins Center, community leader and volunteer, is the daughter of a New York legislator—a moderate Republican in the Nelson Rockefeller tradition. She is a former litigation attorney with a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.
“The good news is sinking in,” Marcus says. She spent this morning resting her voice, taking congratulatory messages and reaching out to thank supporters.
She plans to get back to her job at Ada Jenkins this afternoon.
“I look forward to getting to work on important issues like public education, environmental protections and affordable healthcare. I will reach out to local and state leaders to build on existing relationships and make new ones soon,” she told Cornelius Today.
The blue wave Tuesday, which washed across Mecklenburg County, breaks Republican super-majorities in both chambers of the legislature. “By overwhelmingly rejecting the power grabbing constitutional amendments, North Carolinians sent a strong message to the legislature that they want their state leaders to find more common ground and work better with the governor,” said Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.
Democrats broke the GOP super-majority in the N.C. House of Representatives, giving them the power to sustain a veto by Gov. Cooper.
The governor said he is ready to work with Democrats and Republicans to invest more in education and clean water, to create better paying jobs, to expand access to health care and to help North Carolina recover from the recent devastating hurricanes.
Another local legislator who got his start in Cornelius politics, NC Rep. John Bradford, also lost.
Christy Clark, a Democrat, defeated NC House District 98 incumbent John Bradford, a Republican, 19,845 to 19,512. The tight race went down to the wire and ended up 50.42 percent for Clark, 49.58 percent for Bradford, a former Cornelius Commissioner and one of the standard-bearers of the next generation of GOP leadership in North Carolina.
Clark says she will work alongside Gov. Cooper and the NCDOT to “develop real solutions to I-77.”
“Toll roads are one tool that could help pay for highways. But the I-77 toll lane is a case study in what not to do. It’s not just about a high toll fee or a 50-year contract. It’s about a community that did not have an opportunity to voice their concerns. It’s going to take political courage and bi-partisan cooperation to make the necessary changes,” she said.
Likewise, Marcus says she opposes the tolls, all the way back to 2014 when she ran against Bradford for the District 98 seat in the House of Representatives. “It’s too bad where we are now, but given where we are now…we have to work with the governor,” she says, explaining that the Republican super-majority hamstrung Cooper’s efforts to take over the 50-year contract with Cintra.
Both Marcus and Clark officially take office Jan. 1.
