Convention of States Action (COSA) grassroots volunteers and leaders are not only committed to working toward the goal of an Article V convention. We also aim to help promote and elect candidates for state legislatures who act and work for limited government and ordered liberty in service of self-governing citizens.
Nowhere have the fruits of such labor been more evident than in North Carolina.
Members of the COS North Carolina team have recently campaigned in 16 statewide primary races for candidates who support an Article V application and were successful in 14 of the races. In three “open seat” House districts and one Senate district, the COS-endorsed candidates have advanced to the general election. The North Carolina primaries were held on March 5.
Wins in the House included District 80, where incumbent Rep. Sam Watford advanced. COSA development officer Katherine Del Conte is the district captain there and relayed some impressive statistics about the effort made by the North Carolina team all across the state:
“More than 22,000 text messages were sent to encourage voters to get out the vote; over 7,000 emails were released and almost 500 phone calls were made!”
Regional Director Grant Martin reiterated the significance of the grassroots to the legislative races.
“We support those candidates that demonstrate they support our efforts, either through a a voting record or pledge to support on a candidate survey,” he said.” The team goes to work for these COS supporting candidates, through block-walking, phone calling, texting and emailing. This is an extensive effort on the part of the grassroots and it is extremely gratifying to see COS supporting candidates win their races and the team play a part in that effort. One of the races we participated in this primary won by 93 votes!”
In Senate District 3 candidate Michael Speciale, a former state representative against whom the grassroots campaigned, was defeated in the Republican Party primary.
“Again and again, our Convention of States Action North Carolina team has proven itself a force to be reckoned with in North Carolina politics,” said COSA senior vice president for legislative affairs Rita Peters. “They are on a mission to help elect state legislators who will use their constitutional power under Article V to stand up to federal overreach."
The Article V application, House Joint Resolution 235, is currently pending in the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate. The North Carolina House has already passed an Article V application. Should the Senate pass it, North Carolina will become the 20th state to sign on to activate Article V.
Our grassroots in North Carolina will continue to work to elect legislators who support an Article V convention and are interested in truly working for their constituents as public servants in name and practice. This is in keeping with the concept of the citizen-legislator that the Founders envisioned, which was articulated by Calvin Coolidge when he, as governor of Massachusetts, addressed the legislature and said:
“The place each member of the [legislature] will hold in the estimation of his constituents will never depend on his salary, but on the ability and integrity with which he does his duty; not on what he receives but what he gives; and only out of the bountifulness of his own giving will his constituents raise him to power.”
Many of those constituents will congregate at Halifax Mall, the green space adjacent to the legislative complex in Raleigh on May 15 at 11:00 ET to hear from – among others – COSA co-founders Mark Meckler and Michael Farris, and former U.S. senator Rick Santorum, urge legislators to support the COS resolution, and make North Carolina the 20th state to call for an Article V convention.
The North Carolina team consistently demonstrates the importance of active engagement with state legislators and legislative candidates, reminding them that they must adhere to the will of their constituents in order to gain or retain power. According to Del Conte, over a dozen meetings are scheduled in April to attract citizens to the grassroots.
As she said of the effort in North Carolina, “The grassroots have lived out Act, Learn, Adjust as the battle for passing the COS Resolution continues into its tenth year…We know that it is our duty to be engaged with those who are governing over us so that they govern us well and represent us well. It is our God-given right and duty.”
