Amy Block DeLoach, candidate for NC House District 20

Name: Amy Block DeLoach

Political party: Democrat

Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 59

Campaign website: https://amyblockdeloach.com/

Occupation: Real Estate Management

Education: BA, psychology, UNC Chapel Hill

Have you run for elected office before? No

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: Previous board member of Bellamy Mansion, Children’s Museum, Advisory Council of the Rape Crisis Center of Coastal Horizons, PTA President of my children’s elementary, middle and high schools, President of Bnai Israel Congregation.

What are the three issues that you see as most important to your district and what will you do to address them?

I will fight to protect a woman’s right to an abortion. I will work to protect the environment and hold corporate polluters accountable. I will support our public schools by making sure they are adequately funded so we can pay our teachers and staff and to close the achievement gap in underfunded schools.

At a time when costs are rising, state government has a surplus. How should it be used?

1 in 6 children in North Carolina are going hungry on a regular basis. That is simply unacceptable. One easy thing we could do is provide free breakfast and lunch at public schools, which would help parents with grocery bills. Some of that money could also go towards raising teacher pay.

Will you vote for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina?

Yes.

What has the legislature gotten right, and what has it gotten wrong, about public education in North Carolina?

I’m glad to see that the legislature has made modest investments to increase teacher pay, but the increase doesn’t even come close to keeping up with inflation. We need to be paying our teachers and administrators significantly more, so they don’t keep leaving the profession. We should provide children with free breakfast and lunch so none of our kids are too hungry to focus in the classroom. And we need to provide more resources to schools in lower-income areas to close the achievement gap.

Should North Carolina change its abortion laws? How?

There should be no restrictions on abortion.

Please add anything else voters should know about your position on the legality or availability of abortion in North Carolina.

I believe that decisions on abortion belong to the woman along with the advice from her doctor.

Should medical marijuana be legalized in North Carolina?

Yes.

What, if anything, should the legislature do to shape curriculum dealing with topics of race, sexuality and gender?

We need to teach our children about America’s failures along with its successes. Things like slavery, Jim Crow and discrimination are as much a part of American history as our heroism in World War II and the greatness of our constitution. It shouldn’t be controversial to teach both and to be proud of the progress we made while acknowledging we have more work to do. In regards to sexuality and gender it’s far past time we accept people regardless of who they love.

Do you accept the results of the 2020 presidential election?

Yes.