Cal Cunningham in 2020 NC Senatorial race
On Abortion:
Politicians have no place between woman and her doctor
Cal believes that a woman's choice is a woman's right. That's why he will always defend Roe v. Wade against partisan attacks and knows there is no place for a politician in a conversation between a woman and her doctor. Cal believes in ensuring
women have access to reproductive care, and he is strongly opposed to partisan efforts in Washington to attack and defund Planned Parenthood. Endorsed by Planned Parenthood and NARAL for his commitment to protecting women's health care.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Restore Voting Rights Act; for automatic voter registration
Cal will work to protect and expand the right to vote so that all eligible, law-abiding citizens can participate in our elections. Cal supports efforts to expand access to voting and prevent voter suppression, like restoring the Voting Rights Act,
extending early voting, and making it easier to register to vote by enacting reforms like automatic voter registration and making Election Day a federal holiday. He will also oppose efforts like unnecessarily purging voters from the rolls.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Corporations:
Encourage investment in minority businesses
Cal recognizes that too many communities across North Carolina have seen generations of economic inequality due to institutionalized racial discrimination and the resulting disparities in inter-generational wealth. He believes we need
innovative policies that break down historical barriers and encourage capital investment in communities of color and minority-owned businesses to reverse the legacy of economic injustice.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Crime:
End mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenders
Cal is committed to criminal justice reform. Cal believes we should revisit mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenders. Cal is in favor of refocusing efforts on preventing violent crime instead of locking up people who,
more than anything, need mental health or addiction treatment. We should also work to reduce recidivism by investing in programs that give people who have paid their debt to society the opportunity to re-enter their communities with dignity.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Education:
Public education should be an engine of opportunity for all
The quality of our children's education shouldn't depend on where they grow up, their family circumstances, their race, their wealth, or a disability, and Cal believes that public education--and the investments we make in our children through
schools--should be an engine of opportunity for all North Carolinians. Cal will fight to pay teachers what they deserve, to develop, respect, and strengthen the profession, and to recruit, train, and retain the best educators for our students.
Cal is a longtime supporter of early childhood education, including having voted in the state Senate to start what is now North Carolina Pre-K, and is committed to investment in our children through
Head Start and other early childhood programs that address the needs of the whole child. To build capacity to deliver early childhood education, we need to develop a more robust pipeline of early childhood educators.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Education:
Lower cost of college; expand access; reduce burden of debt
Cal will lead the fight to lower the cost of college, expand access to community college and technical training, and reduce the burden of student loan debt. North Carolina also has a proud tradition of strong public universities and our Historically
Black Colleges and Universities are a critical part of our higher education system. Cal will work to ensure the federal government increases investment and support for these important institutions.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Invest in clean energy economy for jobs & reducing pollution
North Carolina has seen the effects of climate change firsthand. He believes that in order to combat this crisis, we need to invest in a clean energy economy that will create good-paying jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and make North Carolina a leader.
Solar energy is already spreading across this state, providing good-paying jobs for our workers and economic investment in rural areas. Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Families & Children:
Supports Equality Act, and overdue Equal Rights Amendment
Cal believes that the story of North Carolina belongs to all of us. For Cal, that means standing with the LGBTQI community and communities of color in the fight against regressive policies. Cal supports advancing the long-overdue passage of the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), passing the Equality Act to protect LGBTQI North Carolinians from discrimination in housing and the workplace, reforming our criminal justice system, and restoring the Voting Rights Act.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Protect US with smart diplomacy & working with allies
Cal believes there is nothing more important to ensuring the safety of our nation than smart diplomacy and a forward-thinking foreign policy strategy that ensures we're working with our allies and staying tough on our adversaries. Whether it's
investing in securing our electric grid, bolstering cybersecurity, or defending our elections against foreign interference, Cal believes we need a strong national defense that is focused on what we need to do to protect ourselves in the 21st century.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Government Reform:
For campaign finance reform & independent redistricting
Cal will fight for campaign finance reform, fair maps, independent redistricting, and a political system that empowers voters to make their voices heard. Cal has pledged not to accept any corporate PAC money, and he supports overturning the
Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. He believes the Senate should reform the filibuster rule that is too often abused to promote gridlock and stop votes on important legislation. Cal has pledged never to become a lobbyist.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Gun Control:
Supports background checks & ban on high capacity magazines
Cal believes there are commonsense steps we can take to protect our communities from gun violence while protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens. Cal will work to keep our kids safe and to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, criminals,
and terrorists by supporting efforts to expand background checks, ban the sale of high-capacity magazines, pass extreme laws, and fund gun violence research on an issue that has become a public health crisis.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Health Care:
Strengthen Affordable Care Act; create public option
Cal will fight to strengthen and extend coverage under the Affordable Care Act, expand Medicaid in North Carolina, create a public health insurance option, support rural hospitals, address doctor shortages, support life-saving research, and ensure no
one loses their employer-sponsored coverage who wants to keep it. Cal will also work to lower the cost of prescription drugs through efforts like allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Homeland Security:
Fight for military project funding in NC; support veterans
Military service is part of North Carolina's DNA, and our leaders in Washington should be unwavering in their support of our service members and military families. That means fighting for military project funding in North Carolina, working to ensure the
Department of Veterans Affairs runs efficiently and leaves no veteran behind, supporting our troops who are wrestling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and expanding educational and job opportunities for veterans.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Immigration:
Comprehensive immigration reform, protect DREAMers
Cal takes the safety and security of North Carolinians seriously, including border security. Cal believes we must pass comprehensive immigration reform that fixes our broken system and modernizes it for the economy of today, grows North Carolina's
economy, protects DREAMers, and provides a fair pathway to citizenship. Instead of separating families and caging children, we should be investing in the necessary technology and trained staff to secure our borders.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Jobs:
Raise the minimum wage; support equal pay for equal work
Cal will fight for a more equitable economy and living wage in every community by standing with workers to support efforts to promote good-paying full-time jobs with benefits, rein in the cost of higher education and health care, defend workplace
protections, and finally raise the minimum wage. And at a time when women in North Carolina and across the country still don't earn equal pay for equal work, Cal will support efforts to close the wage gap and ensure paycheck fairness for all women.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Tax Reform:
Income equality fueled by tax cut for wealthy & corporations
Cal believes that the only economy that truly works is an economy that generates opportunities for everyone. The economy is steeply tilted in favor of the wealthy and against regular families struggling to make ends meet.
Growing income inequality in our country is being fueled by the recent tax law that overwhelmingly benefits the largest corporations and the ultra-wealthy while leaving middle-class and poor families further behind.
Source: 2020 North Carolina Senate campaign website CalForNC.com
Jun 10, 2020
On Health Care:
Extended Medicaid can catch people as they're knocked down
"We know that an extended Medicaid can be catching people as they are being knocked down," Cunningham told ABC11. "If we don't take these steps, the risk is that we create a downward spiral for our families and our economy. We need emergency
steps today to make sure our families have unemployment assistance, small business has opportunity to keep people on the payroll, that we provide health coverage to people in the middle of a pandemic so that things don't get worse."
Source: ABC-11 Eyewitness News on 2020 North Carolina Senate race
Jun 5, 2020
On Education:
Expand Pell Grants; allow refinancing of student loans
The opportunity to pursue higher education should be available to anyone who seeks it. We can start by expanding Pell Grants, fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and giving students the ability to refinance their loans at a lower rate.
We should also expand and support the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and work to remove cost as a barrier to community college and technical training.
Source: The UNC Daily Tar Heel on 2020 North Carolina Senate race
Apr 6, 2020
On Technology:
Invest in high-speed broadband, other infrastructure
Let's use the next phase of investment to help the nation get back on its feet to meet the unmet infrastructure needs of our time, not just high-speed broadband but also bringing schools, roads and bridges up to date. Doing so would save and create
well-paying jobs putting people to work on these needed projects. Communities would benefit from this kind of investment now, and in the future. It will help businesses and families alike.
Source: Raleigh News-Observer on 2020 North Carolina Senate race
Apr 6, 2020
On Health Care:
Add public option to ObamaCare; support Medicaid expansion
Two of North Carolina's Democratic U.S. Senate candidates disagreed on health care policy at the first meeting of their campaigns. They were among four Democrats and one Republican candidate who appeared at a forum sponsored by Charlotte's Black
Political Caucus at West Charlotte High School. All are trying to replace Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.Asked about health care, former state Sen. Cal Cunningham said he would build on the Affordable Care Act by adding a public option.
He also said he supports Medicaid expansion in North Carolina.
State Sen. Erica Smith didn't answer the question directly. "We get caught up in labels," she said, "This is not about left or right.
This is about wrong and right." Last year, she said she would build on the ACA, better known as Obamacare. But if Medicare for All is the only option, she said "would not vote against it."
Tillis has voted to repeal the ACA.
Source: Charlotte Observer on 2020 North Carolina Senate debate
Jan 21, 2020
Page last updated: Jul 27, 2020