Jonah Garson

Jonah Garson was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina in 2009 and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2014. His professional experience includes working as an attorney. Garson has been affiliated with Chapel Hill Carrboro NAACP, Carolina Performing Arts, and the Orange County Democratic Party.[1]

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Video submitted to BallotpediaReleased April 27, 2022

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a grassroots organizer, attorney, and former voter protection director. My work over the past 12 years has focused on the legislative fight in North Carolina. As the representative for Chapel Hill and Carrboro, I will be a champion for progressive policy. But the job has to be more than taking the good, losing policy vote. We need legislators who are organizers, with the experience to help Democrats win across the state, so we can finally win the policies we need.

I am a Chapel Hill native and a proud alumnus of its public schools. After graduating from Carolina (’09), I worked at the NCGA for Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, Rep. Paul Luebke, and Speaker Joe Hackney, before attending Columbia Law (‘14). While in NYC, I helped found Team4NC, which mobilized out-of-state donors and organizers to support legislative candidates in NC.

Following law school, I returned to NC to serve as field coordinator for dozens of Democratic legislative challengers across the state, and in 2019, I was Voter Protection Director for the special “re-do” election in NC’s 9th Congressional district. Most recently, I chaired the Orange County Democratic Party and served as an Executive Committee Member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Democracy is under attack by an illiberal Right that has stymied progress in this state for a decade. At this moment, we need legislators who are also organizers, who believe that building Democratic power statewide is as essential to the job as casting the good, progressive policy vote. It will take a full-time, headlong commitment to organizing, to building power and flipping seats, to win any of the points. That's the commitment we need from our next state representative. It’s what I’ve done for the last twelve years. It’s also how I’ve run my campaign for this office — we’ve knocked over 30,000 doors here in the community so far, brought in over 125 volunteers, and we’ve been powered by small-dollar donations from over 500 donors.My first policy priority is democracy reform: for a decade, NC has been ground zero for voter suppression and map-rigging. We must fight back with urgency for our democracy, else we risk losing it. Second, fully-funded, equitable public schools: I support dramatic pay raises; universal pre-K; creating new programs to recruit and retain teachers of color. I will fight demoralizing “merit pay” models that exacerbate existing inequities. Third, addressing the climate crisis through transformative, system-level policy change that rebuilds our energy, transportation, and utility infrastructure, with policies grounded in environmental justice and equity, and intentionally center our frontline communities.Exacerbating our current challenges is a history of racially inequitable policymaking. As Representative, I will approach every policy question with an equity lens, challenging myself and my colleagues to ensure that policy responds to the needs of communities of color and other historically-marginalized communities. In doing so, I’ll be informed by relationships I’ve developed through years of organizing and policy work, including relationships developed as an executive committee member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, to make sure that these communities are centered in driving the policy agenda and in the organizing efforts critical to winning that policy.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

My political coming-of-age was 2010, watching the Republicans take both chambers of our General Assembly and gerrymander themselves into power for the next decade. Since that time, North Carolina has been ground zero for voter suppression, map-rigging, and for attacks on American democracy generally.

The experience of watching an entrenched Republican majority undo decades of progress has made me passionate about democracy reform, which is a requisite for realizing the progress we’ve been envisioning for years.

Among many other things, as Representative, I will work to finally enact redistricting reform to prevent racial and partisan gerrymandering and to ensure meaningful political representation for every community; introduce automatic registration for all voting eligible North Carolinians, including those turning 18; fight against voter ID requirements and other attempts to disenfranchise voters of color and poor voters; expand the right to vote and participation in our democracy through greater access to voter registration, early voting, and vote-by-mail, and the introduction of ballot drop-boxes; and increase funding and training for county boards of elections.

Fair maps give us a shot at powershift in the NCGA and a chance for Democrats to finally win on policy. My work over the past 12 years has focused on the legislative fight in North Carolina, and I believe this is the experience needed for the job of the Representative from Carrboro and Chapel Hill.