I’m an accidental candidate for Congress.

I didn’t plan on running in North Carolina’s 8th District, but when I realized nobody would file, seven minutes before the deadline I threw my name in the hat. I believe that people deserve a choice in elections and that politicians should be held accountable for their actions.

Unfortunately, gerrymandering has rigged districts so that incumbents, mostly Republicans, are protected and the people are denied the choice they deserve. Challengers are discouraged because of the long odds, the expensive races and the politics of destruction that dominates so many races.

But if nobody fights back, the system will never change. I’m fighting back.

The 8th Congressional District is the most competitive district in North Carolina. Democrats outnumber Republicans by seven points, 41 percent to 34 percent, and independents make up 25 percent of the registered voters. Among likely voters, Democrats hold a 5-7-point advantage, depending on the model, and 26 percent of the voters are African-American, Native American or Hispanic. Historically, districts in North Carolina with more than 20 percent minority voters have been competitive.

In addition, Democrats have won the district in recent elections. Attorney General Roy Cooper and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, in particular, have racked up healthy margins there. Former Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin won a state Senate seat that incorporates much of the district in 2012, the year that may have been a low point for Democrats in the state.

However, Democrats in the district are certainly not guaranteed to support their party’s nominee. Every candidate will need to earn their vote. Like the unaffiliated voters, Democrats in the district are fiercely independent. They haven’t been voting for Republicans; they’ve been voting against an establishment that, until recently, was run by Democrats and that, they believe, is beholden to special interests and has sold them out. And they’re right.

Today, though, the establishment is Republican and they’re still getting the short end of the stick — even more so. Politics is dominated by a broken Congress that thrives on special interest money from multinational corporations who pay little in taxes but get a lot in favors.

Hyper-partisanship prevents Congress from passing even the most basic legislation and cynical politicians peddle the politics of division instead of the politics of unity. We won’t fix the system until we change the people running it.

Congressman Richard Hudson is a product of the system. He’s spent his career on Capitol Hill, thriving as the dysfunction in Washington grew. When the 8th District was gerrymandered, he traded on his insider status to fund his campaign for Congress. He’s built a massive war chest funded by special interests to discourage challengers to his seat.

Hudson is a poster boy for what’s wrong with Washington — an insider taking advantage of a rigged system that protects a dysfunctional establishment. The people of the 8th Congressional District deserve a choice. I’m going to give them one.

Thomas Mills, a native of Wadesboro, owns and operates the PoliticsNC website. Email him at thomas@politicsnc.com.

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Thomas Mills

Contributing Columnist