My latest: The evolution of a TikTok congressman

Dear friends,

You might know Jeff Jackson as the TikTok congressman. The North Carolina Democrat has 2.2 million followers and a reputation for producing straight-talk videos that offer a behind-the-scene view of D.C. politics.

Now he’s running for state attorney general. The race is tight.

Jackson’s fans admire his frankness and calm demeanor. His critics call him “Baby Jesus” and claim he’s using social media as a springboard to higher office.

But behind his public persona lies a more complex personal story. Jackson’s political evolution began in the 1990s. It was shaped by Ayn Rand novels, college philosophy professors, the September 11 terror attacks, and a year-long deployment to Afghanistan. This summer, we talked at length about his adolescence and early adulthood, including his role in Operation Enduring Freedom. I wrote about him for The Assembly.

https://www.theassemblync.com/politics/jeff-jackson-attorney-general-political-evolution

You can read one free Assembly story a month. After that, you will hit a paywall (though a subscription, which lasts through the end of November, only costs 99 cents).

I hope you read, enjoy, and share the story.

Plus, other articles I’ve been reading: 

• Casey Parks on what happened when one of the country’s few trans girl athletes was outed and her family punished in Florida;

• Colby Itkowitz on a politician who is running for North Carolina’s legislature, even though she knows she will lose;

• Vann R. Newkirk II on why Michael Regan’s EPA, despite great advances, had to back down on environmental justice;

• Wright Thompson on the 480-year-old map that shaped the violent history of his home state of Mississippi;

• Latria Graham on ethical plantation travel;

•  Amanda Shendruk on how America’s car-centric cities can be transformed by the “superblocks” found in Barcelona, Bogotá, and Berlin; and

• a deep look at a 14-year-old’s path to shooting up a Georgia high school, produced by five journalists at The Washington Post.

Here in North Carolina, we are watching with despair as the toll from Hurricane Helene becomes more apparent. We were spared here in the east, but the mountains in Western North Carolina and surrounding states were devastated. Here are some places to donate.

Some of the best work on Hurricane Helene: 

• Storms Reback on the disaster no one saw coming;

• Holly Kays on fear and humanity at an Asheville apartment building;

•  Allison Salerno on the impact on Georgia farmers;

• Christopher Flavelle on how legislative inaction in North Carolina made the impacts even worse;

•  Kirk Ross on disaster politics and disinformation;

• Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs on a 75-year-old man who spent his last hours clinging to a tree; and

• Gerrit De Vynck and Jabin Botsford, embedding with a helicopter crew. 

And what I’ve been listening to: two timely songs about the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains.

Rhiannon Giddens and Silkroad Ensemble’s “Swannanoa Tunnel” recalls the wrongfully imprisoned Black laborers who were forced to build railroad tracks through the North Carolina mountains. The towns along that railroad line, including Swannanoa, were devastated by Helene. 

“When the Water Goes Down” begins with the real-life flooding of Butler, Tennessee to create Watauga Lake. Then it layers on a fictional murder mystery. The ballad is performed by the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass Pride Band.

I heard the latter on WNCW, the excellent public radio station in Spindale, North Carolina, which stayed on the air throughout the storm and is continuing to deliver critical information and great music. It’s a terrific station that you can stream online. (It’s also delaying its fundraiser, so please consider throwing them some dollars.)

Catch you later this fall.

All best,
Barry Yeoman