Kathy Manning Comes Up Short In North Carolina House Race
Kathy Manning is running for North Carolina’s 13th congressional district seat. Image by facebook
By Aiden Pink November 7, 2018
Former Jewish Federations of North America chair Kathy Manning is projected to lose her North Carolina congressional race by a margin of 52%-45%.
Manning, one of many Democratic Jewish women to run as first-time candidates this cycle, long trailed in the polls against one-term Republican Rep. Ted Budd but had managed to narrow the gap as election day drew nearer.
Manning out-fundraised Budd leading up to the election, but Budd, a local gun store owner, made hay of the fact that more than half of Manning’s donors came from outside the state.
The heavily-gerrymandered 13th district stretches from Charlotte’s northern suburbs to Greensboro. A federal judge ruled in August that the state’s electoral districts were unconstitutionally drawn to favor the Republican Party, but that it was too late to change the maps before election day.
Budd won his race 56%-44% in 2016. But the nature of the maps, designed to protect the GOP, left them susceptible for a massive wipeout if Democratic turnout (or Republican apathy) vastly exceeded their expectations. In addition to turning out Democratic votes, Manning would have needed to flip wealthy and college-educated voters in the district’s suburbs who typically vote Republican.
EXPLORE ALL THE RACES WITH JEWISH CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES IN OUR INTERACTIVE MAP
Manning was the first woman to chair the JFNA, and was the founding chair of Jewish day school network Prizmah. She has been an active philanthropist and community leader in Greensboro for 30 years. She says she was inspired to run because of concerns about health care — one of her daughters has a pre-existing condition.
She was also inspired by her Judaism. She cited the rabbinic compilation Pirkei Avot in an interview with JTA last year: “It’s not our obligation to complete the work, but neither are we free from the obligation to get it started.”
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
