Race Update: Victoria Masika, Candidate for Hillsborough, NC Town Commissioner

Victoria Masika is an independent, GoodParty.org Certified candidate running for town commissioner in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Since announcing her run in early July, Masika has become one of the first candidates in North Carolina to affiliate with the Forward Party. She has also taken time to speak out about her main policy priorities and why she feels Hillsborough needs more effective, independent leadership.

Masika has been an educator in North Carolina for over 20 years, teaching in both the public and charter school systems. With a master’s degree from Grand Canyon University and leadership experience in both the North Carolina charter school system and her church community, Masika brings a unique level of insight and perspective to her campaign. She is also a mother of three and the faithful caretaker of an aging parent.

During a recent town hall meeting with the North Carolina Forward Party, Masika explained part of why she decided to run for local office. She described how during the last major election, she had a moment of epiphany while teaching her students.

“A lightbulb went off in my head,” Masika said. “I was watching my students as I was teaching a social studies lesson, and they were talking about some of the unfairities that they were seeing in the community and in the nation. I remember saying to myself, ‘Either we can complain about it, or we can do something about it.’ Toward the beginning of this year, I decided to get off the sidelines and make a decision to run for office.”

Masika’s commitment to fighting unfair and unequal conditions is reflected in her policy priorities. She supports sustainable infrastructure, including safeguarding natural resources and developing a more accessible community. In addition, she prioritizes entrepreneurship and small businesses, diversity and equity initiatives, and strong economic growth. Affordable housing is another issue at the heart of Masika’s campaign, as she highlighted during the North Carolina Forward Party’s town hall meeting.

“My heart is always for families and communities,” she said during the meeting. “It’s important for families to find a sense of community, for families to find a place that they can have civility at the core of things. If there is not affordable housing, then there are issues with children not being able to go to school and feel safe, with families and parents not being able to work and feel as if they have the peace of mind to work successfully. It’s important at this time that we start finding creative solutions.”

Masika emphasized the importance of setting aside partisan differences in order to find meaningful solutions — especially as minorities are disproportionately impacted by the affordable housing crisis.

“We have to stop fighting about the issues that really don’t matter and get to the heart of the issues that do matter. How do we keep families safe? How do we keep communities safe? How can we come together to create creative solutions to the problems?” Masika said. “It’s important for us to take time to look at the affordable housing crisis as not a Republican or Libertarian or Democratic issue, but as a human issue, a human condition that we can come together and create a human solution for.”

Aligning with the Forward Party has been an important step toward achieving Masika’s non-partisan goals. The North Carolina Forward Party’s platform emphasizes common-sense governance, anti-corruption efforts, and electoral reforms. Masika expressed her gratitude during the town hall meeting for the opportunity to align with the Forward Party.

“I love the fact that Forward Party represents not left, not right, but right there in the middle,” she said. “I think the majority of the country is right there in the middle, so I’m excited to be a part of Forward Party and be able to do something significant in our nation and in the community.”

The election for Hillsborough town commissioner is on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. Three seats are open for the position, making room for more independent leaders like Masika to bring their vision to Orange County.

As a GoodParty.org Certified candidate, Masika has pledged to run a civil, people-powered, and anti-corruption campaign, without relying on donations from corporations, unions, political action committees, or large donors. Masika is running a campaign powered by and for the people she hopes to serve as Hillsborough’s town commissioner. To learn more about Masika’s campaign, you can visit her campaign website here. You can also learn how to volunteer for Masika’s campaign — or how to volunteer with GoodParty.org, to support independent candidates across the nation.