Gang of Five

As most of you know, last year there were five Democratic members of the NC House who voted with the GOP on its ideology-driven state budget, hurting public education, health care services, the senior safety net, environmental protections and other important programs. Many of these Dems -- dubbed the Gang of Five -- also voted with the GOP on other far right bills during last year's session. Since then, three of these Dems have announced they will not seek re-election and the remaining two now face Democratic opponents in the upcoming primary on May 8th. Progress North Carolina Action is taking a stand against both of them: Jim Crawford (Granville and Person Counties) and William Brisson (Bladen, Sampson, Johnston Counties). If you'd like to know more or help us, details are after the jump.

Matt Dixon will try to knock off one of the Gang of Five:

Elizabethtown attorney Matt Dixon announced this week that he would seek the Democratic nomination in state House District 22. In a statement, Dixon said he will focus his campaign on returning education funding cut under the budget Brisson and Republican leaders crafted.

We asked for it, now we need to back this guy up. I haven't found a campaign page yet, but I'll put up a link when I do.

The people have spoken! The infamous "Gang of Five" has won Progress NC's not-so-coveted 2011 Jones Street Heisman Trophy for penalty-worthy conduct on the political playing field. Must have been their famous Flying Wedge maneuver that did the trick. View details and voting results here: http://www.progressnc.org/2011/12/and-the-winner-is.html

Thanks to all of you who weighed in!