Zooming Into the Issues with Brent Caldwell and Jonah Garson

ABOUT THIS EVENT

Join us Monday, November 10 at 7:30 PM for ZOOMING INTO THE ISSUES with Brent Caldwell and Jonah Garson. Brent is running for U.S. Congress in NC District 14, and Jonah Garson is your current 1st Vice Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

This is your opportunity to learn more about both of these gentlemen, get updates on where things stand today, and hear their plans to move us forward. There will be an opportunity to ask questions.

This event will be held via Zoom. You will receive the Zoom link after you sign up below.

BACKGROUND – BRENT CALDWELL (https://www.caldwellforcongress2026.com/meet-brent):

I was raised in the county area outside a mid-sized Southern city, where old traditions met new opportunities. My parents, Col. Michael Caldwell, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) and Lt. Col. Peggy Caldwell, U.S. Army Reserve (Ret.) met while my father was stationed in south Mississippi. After a posting in the Philippines, where I was born at Clark Air Force Base, and later time in Washington, D.C., we returned home to be near my mother’s family.

My childhood was one version of the American Dream. With steady military paychecks supplemented by my parents teaching in local schools and community colleges, we lived a secure middle-class life. Summers were spent traveling the country in an RV, seeing firsthand the breadth of America. That foundation carried me from a full academic scholarship at a state school to professional politics—working for Members of Congress, an aspiring governor, and as a union organizer—before earning a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics and studying law at Duke University.

This life rested on the stability my grandparents had provided. One grandfather followed war service with a job in the Apollo program; another ran a Texaco station and then a fabric shop with my grandmother. Family heirlooms and stories connected us to America’s journey: a record of service in every major war since the Spanish-American War (now with the exception of Afghanistan); a reported patent for an early refrigeration device purchased by President Thomas Jefferson; and a cast-iron pot, stolen during the Civil War and later recovered, that sits in my home today.

I am running because I fear that life of economic stability and feeling of integration with the American story is slipping away. I intend to contribute my voice to the growing chorus of Americans saying that things are broken. Too often the big money has too much of an advantage. Government seems unwilling to regulate efforts to nickel and dime the middle class but quick to regulate average citizens working to stand on our own two feet.

Our country is supposed to be wealthier than ever but our town squares are shuttered and decent housing is hard to find. It seems impossible to start at the ground floor in a company and work your way to the top. And we all know tragic stories where promising people lost themselves to drugs, drink, or despair.

This feeling of disenfranchisement is no accident: It is the result of policy choices designed to concentrate political and economic power in the hands of a few. America has overcome aristocracy before, and it is time again for us to plainly declare and commit to the basic principles we know are essential to good lives: Independence. Equality. Freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from fear.

In doing this we can push toward new frontiers to build a great society. That is the message I will be spreading in the coming months as I travel from Mecklenburg to Gaston to Burke, Cleveland, Rutherford, and Polk Counties. I invite your support, your voice, and your participation in this effort.

BACKGROUND – JONAH GARSON (https://www.ncdp.org/leaders/ncdp/):

Jonah Garson, a Chapel Hill native, is an attorney, organizer, and current First Vice Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

After graduating from UNC (’09), Jonah worked in the NC General Assembly for Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, Rep. Paul Luebke, and Speaker Joe Hackney. Jonah spent time in NY while he attended Columbia Law (‘14); while he was away, he helped to found Team4NC, which mobilized out-of-state donors and volunteers to support NC candidates, particularly those running in races critical to the state’s democratic revival.

Jonah returned to NC to serve as field coordinator for dozens of legislative challengers across the state, and in 2019, he was Voter Protection Director for the special “re-do” election in NC’s 9th Congressional district, re-done due to GOP ballot fraud. He then served as the First Vice Chair and Chair of the Orange County Democratic Party.

Currently, in addition to serving as First Vice Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jonah practices law at Parry Law, PLLC, a civil litigation firm based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He also serves as the Governor’s Appointee on the North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission, and on the Executive Committee of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, the Board of Visitors for UNC-Chapel Hill, and the International Advisory Board of Carolina Performing Arts.