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Donna Lake

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This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Donna Lake
Image of Donna Lake
Elections and appointments
Last election

November 3, 2020

Military

Contact

Donna Lake (Democratic Party) ran for election to the North Carolina State Senate to represent District 7. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Lake completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2020

See also: North Carolina State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for North Carolina State Senate District 7

Incumbent Jim Perry defeated Donna Lake in the general election for North Carolina State Senate District 7 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jim Perry
Jim Perry (R)
 
55.3
 
45,364
Image of Donna Lake
Donna Lake (D) Candidate Connection
 
44.7
 
36,737

Total votes: 82,101
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Donna Lake advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina State Senate District 7.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 7

Incumbent Jim Perry defeated Billy Strickland in the Republican primary for North Carolina State Senate District 7 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jim Perry
Jim Perry
 
65.9
 
10,214
Image of Billy Strickland
Billy Strickland
 
34.1
 
5,275

Total votes: 15,489
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Donna Lake completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lake's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, educator, healthcare professional, combat veteran, retired US Air Force Colonel, and concerned citizen. Through all of these roles I have seen triumph and struggle, peace and war, honor and dishonor in action - I have seen what makes our nation and our state strong and recognize that we are at a tipping point in our history. The next decisions we make on healthcare, education, the environment, criminal justice, public safety, and the principles of equality will set the course for our children and grandchildren and determine what kind of lives and opportunities they can have. I come from a working-class family and understand that to see real and lasting results, grit and resolve are required. In the US Air Force, I learned the true value of service, and it is with that spirit that I will spend every day fighting for the needs of our district, no matter the odds. I will lead from a place of understanding and experience, and I will never leave you behind.
  • Education - we need to do right by our students, which means doing right by our teachers. Our public school teachers deserve better pay and need to be equipped with better school resources. Studies show that smaller class sizes, access to resources like updated computers and textbooks, availability of counselors and nursing staff lead to successful, well adjusted students with higher graduation and future employment rates. I believe we also need to invest in universal pre-K education. Early childhood education improves literacy and comprehension skills, fosters social skills and self esteem.
  • Across the nation we see the need for improved, expanded, transparent healthcare systems, and North Carolina is not exempt from these issues. The goal of every community should be 100% healthcare coverage no matter age, gender, or wealth. Success in healthcare should be measured by the amount of patients who don't come back with complications. Our ultimate goal should be preventing illness and disease by promoting public health instead of treating recurring problems in vulnerable communities. North Carolinians deserve options in healthcare - the right provider at the right time, the right service at the right cost. As we create healthcare systems we need to keep everyone in mind: infants, adolescents, men, women, and seniors.
  • If we are intentional about the way we plan our rural, suburban, and urban spaces we can uplift more small businesses, farmers, and families. If we rethink our housing placement and future developments we can prevent crippling damage from severe weather and natural disasters. ​ A chain is only as strong as its weakest link - communities benefit from the success of the individuals who make it up. When our access to healthcare is more equitable, when our housing is more available and accessible, when our streets are safer and our water is cleaner, when our roads are well maintained, when everyone can put into their community what they get out of it, we all thrive.
I have been a nurse for 43 years and in that time have seen firsthand what we do right and what we do wrong when it comes to healthcare. This district is more rural - our access to healthcare is different than in North Carolina's urban cores. Many people here go to emergency rooms when confronted with minor health problems because they have no other option, saddling them with immense bills and debt. Creating a healthcare system that is fair and works for everyone is complex, but we should not hide behind "complexity" as a reason to not try.

This district is also the home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and military families make up a big part of the constituency. The top concern of military members considering relocation to North Carolina is the education options that will be available to their children. We need to strengthen the ties between on-base education liaisons and local and state governments to be sure that needs are being met and resources are being adequately provided. One of the largest blocks of the homeless population in the United States, North Carolina being no exception, is veterans. It is a population of people who leave the service with physical disabilities, severe mental health issues, and no job training or continued access to quality healthcare to support them in civilian life. This is both unacceptable and fixable, and must be addressed quickly as an average of four veterans per day move to North Carolina. We can increase facilities like food ba
Truthfulness, integrity, service over self, ability to respect diversity and practice equality.
North Carolina's greatest challenges in the next decade will be improving literacy and access to health care, making sure we have a strong workforce by providing more job training, and redesigning our housing and environmental policies.

Children and young adults need to be taught reading and comprehension skills in a classroom environment from an early age and we need to bring back teacher assistants and salary incentives for educators who pursue additional degrees in order to better serve their students.

In the rural areas of our state we will need to foster new agricultural industries and make sure that farmers have a seat at the table when it comes to making decisions that impact their livelihoods.

Healthcare access should include specialty care providers. We need to appropriately staff and equip our hospitals across the state.

We can do more in the way of disaster prevention. Climate change, if continued left unchecked, will wreak havoc on our rural and coastal communities. We can preempt some of this by updating our roads and sewage infrastructure and build new developments in a future-conscious way.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Footnotes


Current members of the North Carolina State Senate
Leadership
Minority Leader:Sydney Batch
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
Dan Blue (D)
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
Amy Galey (R)
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
Paul Lowe (D)
District 33
Carl Ford (R)
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
District 48
District 49
District 50
Republican Party (30)
Democratic Party (20)