Primary election: Voter guide to Democratic 11th District U.S. House candidates

Voters in the Democratic primary will pick one of five candidates running for North Carolina's U.S. House 11th District. Here's a guide to some of their their core beliefs and policy ideas.

Candidates are retired military officers — including a former terrorism prosecutor — an attorney who would be the party's first female nominee and a millennial music producer. While some have run before, none has held elected office.

Four live in the newly reconfigured 11th District, which includes the state's 16 westernmost counties, plus half of Rutherford County. (Election law requires residency in the state but not the district.)

GOP profiles: Voter guide to Republican 11th District candidates

Candidates say the country's top problems are climate change, lack of health care access and sparsity of ethics and integrity in government.

The primary is March 3 with early voting running Feb. 13-29. The winner will face the Republican nominee in the Nov. 3 general election.

The Citizen Times asked candidates to answer the same four questions, to help voters gain further insight. Here are those questions and their responses. Candidates are presented in the order in which they appear on the ballot.

Questions posed to candidates

1. What is the most important problem facing the country, and how would you work to solve it as a member of Congress? (If it is health care or income — questions No. 2 and 3 — what is the third most important problem?)

2. What is the most important thing Congress can do to increase people’s access to quality health care?

3. What can Congress do to help boost people's incomes, especially lower-income Americans?

4. What was a defining time or event in your life?

Your WNC election guide: Who is running for office in Asheville, Buncombe, other parts of WNC?

Michael O'Shea

O'Shea is a music producer from Mills River.

1. Most important problem: Climate change is the most pressing issue facing our country and we are living in the only window of time we have to turn away from this disastrous course we're on. Economic inequality is hurting people right now and is a huge priority for me, but we also have to realize that if we don't treat this as an emergency right now then generation after generation will pay dearly for our inaction. I support the Green New Deal and am willing to do whatever is necessary to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of staying under the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold.

2. Health care: We can pass "Medicare for All." It will save over $600 billion annually in administrative costs and ensure that your wealth does not determine your health. Access to high quality, affordable health care is a human right and corporate profit has no place in it. I believe we need to focus on making sure every single American has access to the same high quality coverage instead of protecting private insurance company profits. The private health care system has failed our rural communities and we must move to Medicare for All to ensure universal access.

3. Improve incomes: Immediately pass a $15 living wage and tie it to inflation. Over 40% of Americans currently make less than $15 an hour and studies show that raising wages would result in negligible job losses. The only reason wages aren't higher is corporate greed. Studies also show that eliminating student loan debt would boost the entire economy and help all Americans. I also believe in free public colleges and trade schools. Access to education is a right, not a privilege for those who can afford it and we have to create accessible paths for people to improve their economic prospects.

4. Defining event: My father, the Rev. Chad Greer O'Shea, was the minister at the Unity church in Mills River for over 30 years before he passed away suddenly from cancer. He taught me that you do what's right because it's right, not because it's popular, and that we have a moral obligation to take care of the least among us, and he taught me this through his actions more than his words. His passing created a deep desire in me to carry on his work in some way, which is why I am devoting my life to public service.

Phillip G. Price

Price is a lumber recycling business owner from Nebo.

1. Most important problem: Our failing health care system is our most important problem. Implementing a single-payer, "Medicare For All" health care system will solve this problem. Everyone will be covered and the cost of health care overall will be reduced, while massive job growth will take place. Parallel to the health care problem and perpetuating it is the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United. This has allowed unlimited amounts of money to be poured into political campaigns enabling the ultra-wealthy and corporations to get politicians elected who pursue only their interests, e.g. the private health insurance and pharmaceutical industries that do not want Medicare for All passed.

2. Health care: Pass and implement Medicare For All. This can be paid for a number of ways including, but not limited to repealing and replacing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act so that the ultra-wealthy and corporations actually pay their fair share of taxes. We should also reevaluate our defense budget where hundreds of billions of dollars could be saved and reallocated toward Medicare For All. In addition we should end the $50 billion/year failing “war on drugs” and legalize cannabis once and for all, which, through regulations and taxation, will take the money out of the black market and put it into programs that benefit us all like Medicare For All.

3. Improve incomes: Along with Medicare For All, which will result in increased wages and decreased health care costs, I support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. These two things will drastically improve the lives and the incomes of the “poor." I also support publicly funded job training past 12th grade, including community colleges, tech schools, trade schools and four-year state universities. This will allow people to get job-ready education without having massive student loan debt that prevents them from participating in and benefiting to our economy.

4. Defining event? The decision to run for public office in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 N.C. 11th District congressional race. We were able to mount a massive grassroots campaign across all 16 counties of the 2018 11th District with a volunteer staff and hundreds of other volunteers in every county. We won the Democratic primary defeating two formidable candidates and went on to challenge the incumbent in a badly gerrymandered district winning over 116,000 votes, almost 40%. We were able to help get down ballot candidates elected and move the needle in the right direction for Western North Carolina.

Steve Woodsmall

Woodsmall is a retired Air Force major, former senior management consultant for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from Pisgah Forest.

1. Most important problem: The climate crisis is clearly the most significant threat to the planet and our national security. However, the most serious threat to democracy is the the idea that “corporations are people” and that billionaires and special interests are legally to spend unlimited, untraceable (dark) money in America’s elections. As a Ph.D in management, I understand the importance of addressing the root cause of a problem, and big money is the reason there’s no progress in any major issue facing the country. We must overturn the Citizens United ruling to fix our rigged political system and pass strident campaign finance reforms.

2. Health care: We must pass a universal single-payer health care program. No one in this country should not have access to health care or have to choose between paying for medication or paying for groceries. Some candidates support Medicare for all who want it (public option), but this cannot work. As long as the profit motive exists for insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, the system will continue to fail. The for-profit option will reject high-risk, high-cost patients, which will lead to excessive costs to the government system.

3. Improve incomes: I support a federal living wage that can be adjusted by locality. However, we also must focus on living costs — especially for basic household needs such as food, shelter and utilities. In addition, the income tax system is highly skewed toward the very wealthy and the corporations (and drastically increased the national debt). This has to change immediately, and this can help level the field for lower income Americans. Sadly, for example, Amazon made $11 billion last year and paid zero corporate tax — I paid more than Amazon, as did most of your readers.

4. Defining event? Enlisting in the Air Force at age 19 was the best decision I could have made. Leaving my small rural hometown and overnight having to live with 49 other recruits, most of whom didn’t look, act, talk or think like me was a life-changing experience. The military showed me the importance of focusing on who people are, not what they are. The opportunity to complete a bachelor’s and master’s degree while on active duty, and being promoted eight times in 18 years, showed me the value of hard work. These lessons have made me who I am today.

Gina Collias

Collias, an attorney, lived in Cleveland County for 20 years. She now lives in Fairview.

1. Most important problem: (Health care and jobs/wages/income inequality are top issues I discuss below). The destruction of our environment/climate crisis is a threat that must be attacked. Record heat, devastating storms, rising sea levels and fires — including in our beautiful mountains — threaten our economy, our lives and our future. We must rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, get lobbyists out of our Cabinet level positions (EPA), stop supporting polluters and chemical manufacturers, create environmental initiatives/green jobs, empower our national research laboratories and harness all resources — human and technological. We must save what makes WNC special and preserve a safe, thriving planet for our children.

2. Health care: Americans need universal health care. We should offer a Medicare public option to the ACA (Buttigieg’s “Medicare for all who want it plan”) and allow those who want to keep their own insurance to do so (like many European countries). A less expensive Medicare public option plan would make the remaining private plans (finally) financially competitive (or go out of business) and would have a greater chance to get through Congress more quickly to help our families. We also need to pass HR 3 to reduce drug prices and help Medicare recipients.

3. Improve incomes: First, Congress must raise the minimum wage from an unconscionable $7.25 per hour to a living wage. We need to increase the funding for education, so that our children have better schools. We should be funding, promoting and encouraging job training, community colleges and the trades. I also think we need to create a WPA-type program that would rebuild our infrastructure (including broadband internet) and bring teachers and health care workers to underserved areas. Lastly, we need Medicaid expansion and affordable health care, so the poor and working poor don’t have to choose between seeing a doctor or paying the rent.

4. Defining event? I was an attorney poll-watcher for Hillary (Clinton) in 2016. After the election, I worked with a group of attorneys investigating Electoral College illegalities. We found seven N.C. Republican electors among 50 nationally who should not have been seated. We sent 1,200 pages of evidence to Congress, and I called 100 Senate offices. We needed one senator and one House member to take up the investigation. Seven House members stood, but no senator. That shock ultimately inspired me to run for office and work for real change. (The Supreme Court recently announced they will hear a case involving Electoral College rules).

Moe Davis

Davis is a retired Air Force colonel, former Guantanamo Bay detention camp lead prosecutor from Riceville.

1. Most important problem: There are many policy issues from economic inequality to health care, climate change and over $23 trillion of debt that are critical, but the top priority has to be restoring ethics, integrity and accountability in Washington. Decent parents would put their kid in timeout for behaving like President (Donald) Trump. Republicans in Congress have been derelict in performing their constitutional duty to act as a check and balance on this rogue administration. Americans have the right to a government they can have faith is making an earnest effort to serve them. Fixing the cracks in the foundation of our democracy is job one.

2. Health care: We spend twice as much on health care per person than comparable countries, yet about 15% of District 11 residents aren’t covered. That’s nearly double the nationwide average thanks to the Republican-dominated state legislature. I’ll do three things. 1.) Block Republican efforts to privatize VA hospitals; 2.) Work on a universal health care coverage plan so that everyone gets care with the option for individuals to purchase their own plan or supplement. 3.) Fund a physician assistant program at Western Carolina University where we’ll train PAs at no cost in return for a service commitment in underserved areas of the district.

3. Improve incomes: Except for the wealthiest Americans, those who fell for the trickle-down charade are beginning to realize that all they got was a trickle. We need a bottom-up fiscal policy: Let the rising tide at the bottom and the middle lift the yachts at the top. Green technology is the pathway to the future for Western North Carolina. We rank second in the nation in solar power production. We need to expand support for alternative energy and target those efforts in high poverty areas where green technology can create jobs that pay well, protect the environment and make us energy independent.

4. Defining event? When I was the chief prosecutor for the terrorism trials at Guantánamo Bay, I was ordered to use evidence obtained by torture. Many of those who facilitated the abandonment of our core values — like Jay Bybee, John Yoo, David Addington, Jim Haynes and others — were rewarded for their behavior. I said “no” to torture knowing there would be consequences, but it was the right thing to do. The people of Western North Carolina deserve someone in Washington who will do the right thing. I’ve got a record of doing that and I’ve got the scars to prove it.