One;
Heads up, big Media & everyone celebrating the election!
You’re almost totally doing the Flyover Country bias thing, and missing a huge political earthquake in North Carolina — BEYOND Roy Cooper’s very welcome Senate win.
I won’t do your homework for you, because I’m posting this photo to pay tribute to two of its hidden heroes: the co-chairs of the Alamance County NC Democratic Party (ACDP) Ron & Elizabeth Osborne.
In four gears, they’ve picked up a moribund chapter with a record of chronic losing, grown and spearheaded it to —last night— an almost total sweep. And neither is a professional politico. (Ron is a retired electrical engineer & artisan farmer, Elizabeth a longtime schoolteacher.)
But with tons of work, and quick learning of the ropes, these two newbies have totally flipped the loser script. ACDPers won several local offices in 2024 and 2025; proof pf concept. Then when the Blue Wave began to build this summer, they and ACDP were READY.
Scribblers, look up the full ACDP scorecard: they even beat the longtime neo-Confederate Alamance county sheriff, Terry Johnson, who has been deep into profiting from federal deportations— working with ICE from when it wasn’t even cool.
Their secret sauce, besides Elizabeth’s cookies (& Ron’s blueberries) was their skill in making the ACDP an upbeat multiracial activist community rather than a political “machine.” (Repressive laws & infrastructure are specialties of the NC GOP.)
Personally, in addition to their welcoming personalities, my view is that the key to their community-building success is Ron’s upbringing in a local Quaker Meeting, Spring Friends. It’s a small group but tenacious, maintaining a Quaker presence since before the American Revolution. Why do I think that? Full disclosure: I attend the same meeting..
I’m sure the Osbornes are exhausted after the rigors and stress of this frenetic, historic campaign. Ron has mentioned to me that he still prefers a bucolic, itinerant retirement to full-time politicking.
I agree, but I’ve seen a lot of political pros who will soon be knocking on their door, calling for them to venture a repeat performance. — Didn’t you notice? The 2028 presidential campaign began, um, TODAY at sunrise.
And where will that leave Alamance County & NC?
Still deep in Flyover Country . . . But also as usual, smack-dab in the middle of the action.
Photo: Left, Ron; Right, Elizabeth and new State Rep. Levon Barnes.
How Many Times Will It Take Til They Know?
