North Carolina Senate race puts affordability front and center
CONCORD, N.C. — Rachel Wagoner describes Concord, North Carolina, as the kind of place where she always envisioned raising her three children: safe, with good schools, a lively downtown and neighborhoods filled with families. But lately, that idyllic life has become harder to afford. Wagoner’ husband works outside of the home while she stays home with their children, but rising grocery and gasoline costs have squeezed the family’s budget enough that she has spent the past year considering going back to a paid job. “It gets harder and harder to make ends meet,” Wagoner told CNBC. Things her family once considered routine “have now become a luxury, like eating out and coming and shopping downtown.” The cost-of-living squeeze has become a defining issue in North Carolina’s pivotal open Senate race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, as well as in numerous other contests that will determine control of the chamber. Meanwhile, Concord keeps growing. Across Cabarrus County, just northeast of Charlotte, subdivisions are spreading, major employers are expanding and billions of dollars in investment …
