Jeffus, Harrison backing Moore
Guilford County Reps. Maggie Jeffus and Pricey Harrison are backing Richard Moore in his campaign for governor. From an endorsement letter they co-signed (along with several other female legislators) on Monday:
Richard has shown that the people of North Carolina can depend on him for steady leadership and in times of crisis. His careful stewardship of the state's pension fund has resulted in its consecutive rankings as second best in the country. More than 700,000 teachers, police officers, National Guard Members, and other public workers know that they can depend on Richard. When Hurricanes Floyd and Fran and other natural disasters hit North Carolina, Richard Moore led the emergency response and started the rebuilding process for our devastated communities.Richard has built this record of achievement through hard work and by surrounding himself with a diverse and highly talented professional team, including the first African American female chief investment officer to run a public pension plan. In fact, more than half of Richard's current leadership team is female, including his chief of staff.
Our communities, families, and women need and deserve Richard Moore as their next governor. The steady leadership and fresh approach he offers to fix North Carolina's problems are exactly what we need. We hope that you will join us as we work to make Richard Moore the next governor of North Carolina.
Only one sitting or former member of the Senate signed the letter, Ellie Kinnaird.
I suspect the letter (full text here) is going to be viewed as something of a counter-punch to Bev Perdue's Emily's List endorsement, which came out last week. (For those living under a political rock: Perdue and Moore are the major Democratic players running for governor.)
In fact, Harrison suggested as much when I spoke with her on the phone just now.
"I've been a fan for a while now," Harrison said. "I really was impressed when he came out for the minimum wage before it was popular."
Harrison said she also liked that Moore had been active on climate change issues.