Cheri Beasley, candidate for U.S. Senate
Name: Cheri Beasley
Political party: Democrat
Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 56
Campaign website: https://cheribeasley.com
Occupation: N/A.
Education: Duke University, Master of Laws, Judicial Studies (2018); The University of Tennessee College of Law, Juris Doctor (1991); Rutgers University, Douglass College, Bachelor of Arts (1988).
Have you run for elected office before? Served from 1999-2009 as a District Court judge in the 12th Judicial District of North Carolina, from 2009-2012 as a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and from 2012-2020 as a justice and chief justice on the North Carolina State Supreme Court.
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: American Bar Association, National Association of Women Judges, North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers, North Carolina Bar Association, Wake County Bar Association and Tenth Judicial District Bar, First Baptist Church, Junior League of Raleigh, The Links, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Sigma Tau Omega Chapter), SEANC / SEIU (former member).
What are the three issues that you see as most important to your constituents and what will you do to address them?
Our next senator must fight to lower costs, grow job opportunities and strengthen our economy. To support working families and businesses, I would fight for affordable child care and paid family leave. I would invest in building a Made-in-America economy and fund vocational training programs, so good-paying industry jobs are available across our state. And I would bring health care costs down by capping the cost of insulin for all Americans and cracking down on price-gouging by drug companies.
What action by Congress would you support to help reduce inflation?
There is no doubt we need to lower costs and strengthen our economy. I’d start by investing in Made-in-America manufacturing, so events abroad don’t raise prices here, and by bolstering skills training and apprenticeship programs that are a direct pipeline to critical, good-paying jobs. I’d also hold corporations accountable for flagrantly raising prices, undercutting competition, and putting their shareholders above the interests of working North Carolinians.
What federal legislation would you support on abortion?
Codify Roe v. Wade.
Should members of Congress be banned from owning and trading individual stocks?
Yes.
What changes in U.S. immigration enforcement and restrictions would you support?
America’s broken immigration system has been ignored for too long. We must focus on solutions that fix our system and reflect our values. I support comprehensive immigration reform that secures our border, reduces wait times for legal immigration, and improves our visa programs, including our agricultural visas which our farmers tell me are so important for their work. And I support a clear pathway to citizenship, especially for Dreamers and for those who serve honorably in our military.
What legislation would you support to make Americans safer from crime? What legislation would you support to make mass shootings less likely?
As a judge and chief justice, I spent over two decades partnering with law enforcement to hold violent offenders accountable and keep communities safe. In the Senate, I would start by fully funding the police so they have the resources they need to keep communities safe. We must also invest in community violence intervention programs to stop the cycle of violence. And we need common sense gun safety reforms — like cracking down on ghost guns, universal background checks and strong red flag laws.
What, if anything, does Congress need to investigate?
Oversight and investigation are important parts of Congress’s job. To make our laws and ensure our government is working for the people, it’s important for Congress to understand and investigate whether laws are being implemented appropriately and whether government officials are acting with integrity.
Do you accept the results of the 2020 presidential election?
Yes.
