If the Democrats want to increase their razor-thin majority in the Senate, allowing them the possibility of changing senate rules and passing voting rights legislation and other critical goals of the Biden Administration, the State of North Carolina is an essential pickup. Incumbent Republican Richard Burr is retiring, and the state has been trending more and more blue. Late last year, our producer Ben Jackson sat down with Erica Smith, a progressive rural Democrat and former state senator who was running for the seat at the time. While Erica has since ended her Senate campaign and declared for the House, we wanted to bring you this episode as is because the things she says about the senate and her candidacy are so important.