"Democrat announces for 11th District House seat" — Citizen-Times

[Sorenroy]

ASHEVILLE – Matt Coffay hopes the same energy that has enabled Democrats to run strong races in usually Republican U.S. House districts this year will boost him in North Carolina's conservative 11th U.S. House District.

Coffay (pronounced Cough-A) is an unabashed progressive and the first Democrat to declare his candidacy in the 2018 election for the seat now held by U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Buncombe. The 30-year-old is head of the local chapter of Our Revolution, an organization formed to push roughly the same platform Sen. Bernie Sanders advocated during his presidential bid.

...

"All three of these guys are doing what we intend to do in Western North Carolina," said Coffay, who said he will build a grass-roots campaign that will also bring in unaffiliated and Republican voters. "I am not running as a Democrat. I am running as someone who wants to represent working class people."

Coffay grew up outside Blue Ridge, Georgia, in a county that shares part of its northern border with Cherokee County, North Carolina, and graduated from UNCA. He was a farmer in Alexander until last year, when he took a job with the nonprofit National Young Farmers Coalition. He now lives in Asheville.

He announced his candidacy at a "Medicare for All" town hall meeting held Sunday in Waynesville by about 20 WNC progressive and Democratic groups. He thinks the United States should extend health insurance coverage similar to Medicare to the entire population.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2017/04/24/democrat-announces-11th-district-house-seat/100847916/
I actually know Matt. We share a precinct and he was elected the Secretary/Treasurer for the Precinct's Democratic Party (had to drop it to run though). Anyway, I find it odd that he's running in District 11. All of our precinct is located in the 10th and both districts are represented by Republicans (10 is represented by Patrick McHenry). I doubt he'll be able to win, even with a major swing (it went to Mark Meadows 63.2-36.8). It doesn't help that he's a progressive running in such a heavy Republican district.

Even though it's over a week old, I didn't see any other posts about it. Plus he's local and the first Democrat to announce for 2018.

[Sorenroy]

A few quick additions:

Twitter Account: http://twitter.com/matt_coffay

Website: http://mattcoffay.com

To summarize what I found on his issues page:

Income & Wealth Inequality - Reminiscent of the Sanders platform: the top 0.1% owning 90% of the wealth, how less than half the country earns over $15 and hour, and how a new New Deal could help the region.

Education - Increase funding for public schools and a plan to "retrain millions of workers who have been left behind" in the form of tuition free public college for all.

Infrastructure - Again, reference to a new New Deal. Focus on infrastructure to improve the living conditions of people in the district. The only thing I found at all surprising was the inclusion of broadband internet in that list. The rest of it seems pretty standard.

Minimum Wage - Raise it to $15 an hour. Not much else to say.

Social Security and Healthcare - Medicare for all.

Big Money in Politics - again echoing Sanders platform but with more specifics. Namely passing a law making it illegal for corporations to "buy out politicians" and giving Congress term limits.

Foreign Policy - First: the website says "America cannot continue to be the world's policeman." Specifically, it is to costly to police the world and the goals America hopes to achieve by doing so would be better achieved through diplomatic relationships. Second: make military spending "smart". "Spending money on extra fighter jets while ignoring cyber warfare, for example, isn’t smart military spending."

Environment - No real policy, more of a statement about the threat of climate change and how we need to turn to new technologies and away from fossil fuels.

Immigration - A pathway to citizenship for "undocumented workers" and a rethinking of deportations. The site says that deportations of non-violent immigrants are inhumane and a waste, as well as endangering safety and human rights.

Women's Rights - Nothing on abortion, but it does talk about how we need better medical coverage and family leave for women. This section also talks about closing the wage gap (although there is nothing on how).

Veterans - Fully fund and fix the Veteran's Administration so soldiers can get what they need.
The only real comment I would make is that if he really wants to make any sort of attempt to win the district rather than just be an opposition candidate, I sure hope he comes across as more moderate in interviews and when talking to voters then what's written on the website. Remember, this is Meadows district. The Tea Party guy. I don't understand how he thinks Medicare for all, infrastructure spending, and a new New Deal will play to district 11 voters, but I doubt it will play well.