Newcomer Kyle Parrish faces uphill battle to Congress

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Kyle Parrish never thought he would be running for political office. Now the Cary resident faces an uphill battle to be the representative for N.C.’s 7th Congressional District — which, for the time being, includes Chatham County.

“It was never an aspiration of mine to get into the political world, and for me, right now, it’s a lot less about me wanting to go somewhere than it is to make sure that a void is filled,” Parrish said. “That void is a contrary narrative, especially in District 7.”

Parrish, a registered Democrat, decided to seek the office to provide a new voice in the newly-drawn Republican-leaning district.

Under the current legislative map plan, District 7 includes seven other counties. Only four counties are in their entirety in the district, including Chatham, Alamance, Lee and Randolph. Sections of Davidson, Guiliford, Harnett and Wake were also carved out to form the district. The map could change again after the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled the maps drawn and approved were unconstitutional, forcing the General Assembly to redraw them.

As it currently stands, Chatham is the only county completely in the district whose voters elected all Democratic candidates in the 2020 election, resulting in a more difficult campaign for Parrish.

“It’s a tough, uphill battle,” Parrish said. “I’m doing this as much to provide an alternative narrative as well as to see if we can get reasonable people back into a conversation.”

Parrish’s perspective on seeking office changed after the 2020 presidential election and some of the misinformation surrounding its outcome. He became more open to a political career after a backpacking trip with his youngest son in western Virginia last year, where they met several people throughout the rural, mountain communities. During the course of the backpacking trip, Parrish and his son walked through small, mountain towns where support for former president Donald Trump was rampant and passionate.

“I began to talk to these people and some of them are the most charitable, kindest, nicest people you would ever meet, but they have a different view of the world than I have,” Parrish said.

It was on that backpacking trip Parrish began to question why those people — many of whom experience several social and economic hardships — could follow someone who he believed to be against a “social safety net.”

“There’s a complete separation of what these people support and their politics — they don’t understand that conservative ideology does not really permit much of a safety net, yet as you are walking through, these people are all about the social safety net,” he said.

Parrish said he realized each of the people he talked to had one thing in common — fear and anxiety for their future.

“These are really nice, good people who have gotten anxious and scared for their future, and they see the world accelerating past them and they don’t know what to do,” he said.

When he came back home to Cary, Parrish started to pay attention to the various legal proceedings regarding congressional and state office redistricting. This was around the time several candidates announced their candidacy for several offices, including in his own district.

“What you see are in these rural counties, where these things I saw were, they are very red,” Parrish said. “The candidates that are running there have banners that say ‘100% Trump.’ I looked to see who was running against them, and the answer was nobody.”

For Parrish, it’s not just about providing a different voice in an otherwise homogeneous district. He wants to “build a bridge” between the two parties and return to a peaceful, unified legislative body.

“I wanted to enter this to see if there is a possibility to begin building bridges with independents and with moderate Republicans — a coalition so to speak — to eject the radicals out of our government and return us to conversations about policy and not conversations based on fear,” he said. “I believe, as a country, we are at an inflection point where if we do not stop the Trump train, we are very dangerously close to losing our system of government.”

Parrish has other reasons for making his political debut at a national level — he said he wants to be an advocate for issues in communities like those in Chatham County. One of the big topics Parrish is interested in is education, which stems from his mother, who was a teacher in the public school system.

Specifically, Parrish believes community colleges need to be invested in on a federal level, as they can benefit the local economies of the towns and cities they reside in.

“In Chatham County, you have the Chatham megasites trying to bring in all of these companies, but how do you create a workforce?” Parrish said. “The community college education system I believe is vital to bringing in a workforce. I believe in community colleges, and I believe in the strength they can provide.”

Other issues on Parrish’s platform involve criminal justice reform, healthcare expansion and environmental crises in the United States.

One of the topics Parrish discussed is water contamination, specifically involving pollutants such as PFAS, 1,4-Dioxane and other “forever chemicals.” These chemical dumps into the Haw River affected communities in Parrish’s district, including in Chatham County, and he said he believes companies responsible for the dumping of these substances into water supplies should be held responsible.

“Where have the environmental protection people been? Where is the accountability for the companies that are doing this? Where are the officials that should be calling them out and punishing them? Because currently, there is very little punitive risk from what I can gather,” Parrish said. “Forever chemicals really don’t care whether you’re rich or poor. It’s something that should not be a partisan issue whatsoever, we should have clean water in the United States of America, full stop.”

Part of campaigning is traveling to see potential voters and constituents, and Parrish said he is working on starting town halls throughout the district. However, the districts could change once again due to the redistricting legal proceedings in the coming weeks.

When it comes to Chatham County specifically, Parrish wants to reach out to all of its residents, whether they vote for Democratic candidates or not. He said he wants to be able to listen to all concerns, regardless of political affiliation.

“Whether I agree with them or not, if someone has a concern, it is a legitimate thing to express,” he said. “Siler City’s concerns are going to be very different than Pittsboro’s, so for me, it’s going to be about listening and hearing what are the things these people need.”

Concerns may be different among different towns and cities, according to Parrish. He said some people may care more about tax rates, while others may care more about social policies.

Regardless of background, all Chatham County residents should voice what they believe the problems are to start the conversations towards potential solutions, Parrish said.

“I am going to go to all places with an open mind, ears turned on, to hear what they have to say,” he said. “I may not have all the answers to all of the concerns, but I am going to do my best to try.”

Reporter Taylor Heeden can be reached at theeden@chathamnr.com.