Michael Trudeau, candidate for NC Senate District 16

Name: Michael Trudeau

Political party: Green

Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 42

Campaign website: www.michaeltrudeau.org

Occupation: Book editor, self-employed

Education: Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Arts

Have you run for elected office before? No

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: I’m a longtime activist and organizer with the North Carolina Green Party on issues from antiwar to abortion rights to $22 minimum living wage to justice for Palestinians and more. With a son in Wake public schools, I’ve been a vocal advocate for better state- and district-wide preventative measures to stop the spread of COVID.

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

1) Healthcare: make it free / low cost to everyone regardless of citizenship.

2) Abortion: prevent enforcement of any antiabortion laws — stop police from arresting patients and providers or aiding any antiabortion investigations.

3) Build the North Carolina Green Party for working-class people: two capitalist parties run the state, denying the people access to basic social services like #1 & #2, as well as to the ballot and the ballot box. Win or lose this election, ultimately we win by building people power.

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

Declare healthcare a human right in North Carolina, and in the absence of a National Health Service, use the surplus to create a statewide North Carolina Health Service, making healthcare free or very low cost, or both, to all residents and visitors, regardless of citizenship, and accountable to the people, not shareholders.

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?

North Carolina schools rank 33rd overall in the nation. Teachers’ salaries should be increased to attract and retain great teachers so that our children develop critical thinking, empathy and cooperation in a changing world. Education should be a public service for the public good, not a money-making enterprise that diverts public funds into private coffers, often through charter schools that have run afoul of their charters and undermine public school funding.

Should North Carolina change its abortion laws? How?

There should be fewer restrictions on abortion after 20 weeks.

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

We need legislation now to make North Carolina an abortion sanctuary state: Enact legislation similar to that spearheaded by Councilmember Kshama Sawant in Seattle — DON’T enforce anti-abortion laws; DO protect pregnant people, doctors and other care providers facing persecution for abortion; PROHIBIT police from arresting patients and providers or aiding investigations related to anti-abortion laws in the US.

Should medical marijuana be legalized in North Carolina?

Yes.

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

The legislature must acknowledge North Carolina and the United States’ colonial history, in which it enslaved and brutalized Black and brown people for the sake of white settlement and white enrichment and curriculum should thus be offered from the perspectives of Black and brown voices, highlighting their struggles under U.S. colonialism and capitalism. Likewise, curriculum should highlight the struggles of LGBTQIA people, which includes gender-nonconforming or nonbinary people. These are starting points.

Do you accept the results of the 2020 presidential election?

Yes.