Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: Let's get together and get to work.

The day after the election, I was groggy from having stayed up late watching the results come in. My teenage son wanted to stay up until Donald Trump spoke, which kept getting delayed and I had kept dozing off. Thankfully, my neighbor offered to drive the kids to school.

I briefly looked at social media before starting work. Trump voters were gloating, Harris voters were handwringing. I thought both seemed useless; one cruel, the other out of touch, neither thinking about the work ahead (at least not yet).

But the work ahead is here and it may feel unbelievable after all that, but it's shared work. We've spent a long time retreating into our camps — all of us, me included — and acting as if we don't live in the same place; As if we don't drive the same roads, shop in the same grocery stores, and pay the same prices.

Both major parties had big wins here in North Carolina, with Democrats securing the governor's office and half of the Council of State. Republicans secured the other half and, obviously, the presidency. Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in the state legislature and now there is a better representation in Raleigh of who actually lives in our state. It should be no surprise to any of us who have a large enough friend group that North Carolina remains a purple state and this gives us the opportunity to look at not just how we dissent, but what we share.

There are things, after all, that we all need to live a bit better. These are the things that we can reach out to our neighbors about, regardless of how they voted, and begin to push our new government to secure.

One of those things is housing, which — so far — has managed to remain a nonpartisan issue. Whether you are trying to rent or purchase your first home, North Carolina's housing prices have priced most of us out. According to the North Carolina Housing Coalition, 48% of renters in North Carolina and 19% of homeowners are cost-burdened here (2024). These numbers apply to both rural and urban counties, and transcend race, educational attainment and, certainly, party affiliation. We must start to demand that our lawmakers, from local county boards to the state house, address the housing crisis through a myriad of responses, from building new homes to holding landlords accountable to our community needs.

Another reality that all North Carolinians live with is that our wages are too low and the cost of living is too high. The vast majority of us know what it is like to rob Peter to pay Paul when it comes to our bills and what it is like to count change at the grocery store. What we all need, even those of us who have managed to get ourselves out of poverty, is a raised minimum wage and sick leave. Minimum wage in North Carolina has been stagnant at $7.25 for sixteen years, Alaska and Missouri, both red states, raised their wages by ballot initiatives this election and, along with Nebraska, also approved sick leave requirements. We have the chance right now to organize for similar provisions here in North Carolina knowing that raising wages and improving working conditions would help to right a currently unbalanced corporate-leaning ship, benefiting workers across income levels and in all industries.

A third reality we all share is our public schools. Most of us graduated from our public education system and most of us drop our kids off at a public school each morning. In many of our communities, our local schools are the place where we overlap and converge most frequently. Yet, our schools are dramatically underfunded and uncared for. According to the Education Law Center, North Carolina ranks 48th for our school funding level (2023). We can demand that our leaders both locally and at the state house provide the funds our schools, teachers and children need for success.

These issues of everyday life — housing, wages, schools — are just that: everyday life. They are basic needs, shared concerns, transcending party and place. They are also our responsibility, as people who live in and love our state, who want our neighbors and children to thrive, to fight for.

Now that the dust of the election has cleared, let's reach out to our neighbors and get to work.