Source: Editorial Board
Senate District 7, located in New Hanover County, is one of North Carolina’s newer political battlegrounds due to the county being close to split between registered Democrats and Republicans.
The district’s current senator, Republican Michael Lee, won reelection in 2022 by just over 1,700 votes out of more than 88,000 cast. While running, he portrayed himself as a “moderate” and ran on a promise that he would “oppose an extreme ban on abortion” after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Anyone can say they are moderate, but when you vote with North Carolina’s far-right Republican legislators 99.5% of the time – as Lee does – it’s hard to believe such a claim.
Coming into the 2023-24 legislative session, Lee had already voted to restrict abortion five times since he was first elected to the state Senate. Once reelected, he voted two more times to ban abortion – first, he voted for the Republicans’ 12-week abortion ban, then he voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the bill, turning his back on his promise to New Hanover County voters.
If voters are looking for a candidate more trustworthy than Lee, they should consider voting for his Democratic opponent, Dr. David Hill.
Hill has earned the trust of North Carolina parents and children during his decades as a pediatrician in the state, including 22 years practicing in Wilmington.
Lee, who has no medical background or knowledge, has used his vote seven times to tell North Carolina women that what they do with their bodies is his decision and not theirs.
That people like Lee and his fellow anti-abortion extremists in the legislature think they know how to practice medicine and make decisions as though they do is one of the biggest reasons Hill is running for office.
“I have noticed a trend over the last few years that the legislature in this state and others has decided that they want to control some aspects of health care. They want to have a say in women’s reproductive health,” Hill said in an interview with the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS). “The legislature is starting to practice medicine, and I am very concerned about that. So to me, the answer is, it’s time for me to go practice legislating.”
Hill explained further, “What we know is that health does not just occur in the exam room, it occurs in all of society. …[I]f I want to do my job as a pediatrician, it is time to get outside the exam room and into policy.”
Hill, who co-hosts a podcast for pediatricians, parents and caregivers, is not just concerned with the health and well-being of children, but also the political issues that impact the care all people in North Carolina receive.
Hill is running on a platform that includes protecting not just abortion rights, but access to contraception, IVF and other forms of reproductive health care. He also supports cutting prescription drug prices and the cost of routine health services to “ensure that families and hardworking people aren’t being exploited by insurance companies.”
When it comes to our money and the economy, Hill “believes in growing our economy from the bottom up and the middle out by investing in our people and our community.” He supports lower taxes on families, cracking down on price gouging, and providing funds to increase housing stock with a focus on workforce housing and starter homes.
Hill has also called for more investments in public schools, saying that “public education is under attack in our state” due to the Republicans’ private voucher scheme, which will continue the Republican legislature’s record of underfunding our public schools. Hill supports “fully funding our public schools” and giving teachers and support staff inflation-adjusted pay raises.
Living and practicing medicine in a place with so much natural beauty like New Hanover County has also made an impact on Hill and his environmental views. His platform calls for stopping PFAS (forever chemicals) at the source and banning them from our products, establishing state-level PFAS water quality standards and making polluters pay for clean-up.
Hill has been endorsed by various organizations including Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic, New Hanover County Association of Educators, North Carolina AFL-CIO, North Carolina League of Conservation Voters and Cape Fear Sierra Club.
Early voting begins on October 17 and ends at 3 p.m. on Nov. 2. The deadline to register online to vote is October 11, however during the early voting period, you can register in person when you go to vote. ID is now required for voting in North Carolina, and you can view a list of approved IDs here.
