United States of America

Friends,

I have been a Democrat for as long as I have been able to vote. I have done my best to support Democratic candidates throughout North Carolina and the nation. I was proud to run twice as a Democratic congressional candidate in North Carolina.

Georgia voted – Reverend Warnock will be Georgia’s next Senator and currently Jon Ossoff holds the lead, and his race should be called later today as the final votes are counted.

Today is a good day.

I must admit there is a certain amount of vindication - vindication that Donald Trump’s divisive tactics did not outweigh democracy, the rule of law, and common decency. But this is no time to gloat. In fact, perhaps this time to be somber.

On Friday, our family will hold funeral services for my father-in-law W.C. Flake, Jr., who died from Covid19. He was a father to me, a father in every sense of the word. And I loved him. His death did not have to happen. We get carried away sometimes and lose sight of what really matters. I hope and pray that we can put this election cycle behind us. I hope and pray that we can put the last four years behind us. And although it happened, and America has become more divisive now than ever, I believe we can heal.

During my congressional campaign and all throughout North Carolina I met people who were struggling who had unimaginable heartbreaking stories. My heart hurt for those children who were going hungry due to no fault of their own. I acted. I started my Instant Impact program and to date, that program has provided almost 100,000 meals.

We all have a commonality. We want to live in peace. We want to be able to raise our children so that they will have a better life than we had growing up. We want what is best for our friends and neighbors. When they are hurting, we hurt also. When there is tragedy in our local communities we come together because deep down, we know we are all in this together.

Friends never lose sight of what is important. We need to end the divisiveness in politics. We have too much at stake to give up on our common humanity. No, now is not the time to gloat over the Georgia election or even the presidency for that matter. Now it is time for us to take stock of the loved ones we have and to figure out a path to move forward through this economic crisis and this pandemic.

Lincoln’s quote of “a house divided cannot stand” might be cliché, but it’s absolutely true, now more than ever. Let’s be sure that we work to heal the division and focus on what we have in common and not our toxic differences. I have faith that we can and will do so.

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