Cynthia Wallace believes she can take down the congressman who sponsored North Carolina's infamous 'Bathroom Bill'

• First-time House candidate Cynthia Bishop is going up against GOP Rep. Dan Bishop in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.
• Bishop is probably best known for being the architect of North Carolina's HB2, which prohibited transgender people from using bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity in government or school buildings.
• HB2 cost the state billions in revenue after organizations like the NBA boycotted North Carolina in protest of the bill.

In 2016, when Dan Bishop — a self-described "pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Wall" conservative — served in the North Caroline State Senate, he sponsored the state's now-infamous piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation known as HB2, better known as the "Bathroom Bill."

Cynthia Wallace was watching.

Wallace, who lives in Bishop's congressional district in Charlotte, saw the bill cut down local LGBTQ non-discrimination protections across the state and prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity in government or school buildings. She watched as the bill was partially repealed a year later, but not before spawning copycat legislation around the country and costing the state an estimated $3.7 billion in lost business. And she watched as Bishop introduced legislation urging the government to cut funding to so-called "anarchy" cities where Black Lives Matter protests anti-police violence protests raged.

And then she decided to run against him.

Wallace, a first-time House candidate, comes from something of a political dynasty. Her father, Homer Lee Wallace, helped found the local chapter of the NAACP and in 1985 was elected to the Effingham County Board of Commissioners — the first and only African-American to do so. Wallace and her sister would spend election season hand painting yard signs and later helping count absentee ballots for the county.

When Wallace was in middle school, she remembers her father fighting for a holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. As part of the fight, students were held out of school in protest. Wallace knew it was a big deal when her parents, proponents of perfect attendance, let her stay home. King's birthday became a federal holiday not long after.

That moment shaped her understanding of how to affect positive change, she said.

Spurred on by the election of Donald Trump and the death of her father, Wallace is running on a platform of Medicaid expansion, installing rural broadband, lowering prescription drug costs, continued extension of the state's Covid-related unemployment benefits, and obtaining federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe. She praised Gov. Roy Cooper's handling of Covid but said the state needs to continue to follow a science-based approach, while balancing the needs of businesses and the economy.

The district is a diverse one. Snaking along the state's southern border, it includes a chunk of the Charlotte metro area, as well as some of the lowest-income counties in the state, and is home to the Lumbee Tribe. In recent years, the 9th has been a source of continual controversy. During the 2018 election, a Republican operative was charged with committing ballot fraud, which led to a special election in 2019 that saw a record $10 million in outside spending.

Bishop won that race, but Wallace believes that his words and actions since then, along with the reputation he has garnered since the Bathroom Bill fiasco, won't resonate with voters.

"He's made no effort in his year in office to reach across the aisle," Wallace said. "He's been there a year, and Democrats in positions of power don't even know him."

The race between Bishop and Wallace has been relatively tight. A poll by LOC Wick in early October saw Wallace up by four points. The most recent poll, taken on October 29 by Public Policy Polling, saw Bishop ahead by two.

As Charlotte continues to grapple with racial and criminal justice issues. Wallace has been involved with some of the local pushes for police reform and says while she doesn't support defunding the police entirely, she envisions "reimagining" their role in society.

"We need to make sure we have the right people responding to the right issues and that we're not overburdening police," Wallace said.

While the 9th is solidly red (the district went for Trump by a 12 point margin in 2016), Wallace believes her district might be ready for a change. She pointed to the close race in 2018, as well as the fact that several of the counties are pivot counties that voted for Obama back in 2012. If elected, she would be just the seventh woman ever to represent North Carolina in the House.

Persistence is key, she said, again citing her father, who lost his first election in Georgia. Whatever happens next week, Wallace said she will keep the faith, both for herself and the country.

"Change does not happen overnight," she said. "But I am still hopeful."