Filmmaker Offers Free Campaign Ads for Gun Safety Candidates
*By Christian Smith*
North Carolina may be gun safety advocates' best bet for making legislative inroads this November, said Sarah Ullman, filmmaker and founder of One Vote at a Time, a PAC that creates free campaign ads for pro-gun safety candidates.
"I think North Carolina is really interesting right now," Ullman said Monday in an interview on Cheddar. "People smell an opportunity to make huge, huge gains for Democrats."
North Carolina, a state with a strong firearms culture and deep ties to the NRA, might seem an unlikely place for gun safety advocates.
But thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to redistrict in an effort to curb gerrymandering, Ullman believes Democrats can make real progress.
Republicans in North Carolina currently hold a supermajority in both the state's House and Senate, which means both bodies can box Democrats out of policy decisions. Ullman hopes that through her team's work, Democrats can win back enough seats and end the GOP's stronghold on the state legislature.
This year, One Vote at a Time will work with 190 candidates across 10 states, she said. To make the cut, a candidate must stand a chance of winning and also be pro-gun safety ー the definition of which the PAC determines on a state-by-state basis.
"What it means to be pro-gun safety is very different in Texas versus North Carolina," Ullman said. "We have a political adviser, we talk to different political people in the state to make an assessment on which candidates are the best for us."
The cost of ads varies, since different states have vastly different rules about the amount of money a PAC can contribute to a campaign. To limit costs, One Vote at a Time executes many simultaneous ad shoots for candidates in a single day, so the organization can distribute the cost across several campaigns.
The ads run online and, if the candidate's campaign can afford it, on local broadcast networks.
One Vote at a Time has raised just over a $1 million this year.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/from-films-to-filings-why-one-director-decided-to-make-her-own-super-pac).
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill held its first primetime hearing on Thursday. Cheddar News speaks with legal analyst Tracy Pearson, who breaks down the biggest takeaways.
Fuel and oil prices have risen almost 17 percent since May, making the national gas prices reach nearly $5 a gallon. Andrew Lipow from consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates joined Cheddar News to discuss the future of gas prices. "The biggest issue on the oil market is really events that are beyond our control, which is what is happening over in Europe," he said, regarding the ongoing Russia Ukraine war. Lipow also said he predicted gas prices to hit $5.05 and that he's focused on the Biden administration's overtures in repairing a relationship with Saudi Arabia.
March For Our Lives will be returning this weekend to Washington, DC, in the wake of the recent mass shooting seen throughout the country. Marchers include Yolanda Renee King, the only granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. She joined Cheddar News to discuss the importance of the march and activism in general. "I just think that it's so important to have these rallies because we need to demand to our leaders and politicians that they pass legislation and that and we actually need to see action," she said.
Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow, directors of 'The Big Payback,' join Cheddar News to discuss their new film, 'The Big Payback.' It premieres Saturday, June 11 at the Tribeca Festival.
President Biden proposed a new rule that would add 500,000 chargers for electric vehicles nationwide. The proposal comes amid the rapid shift to EVs with dozens of automakers announcing plans for all-electric fleets within the next decade. But with the new surge will the U.S. have the proper infrastructure to keep up? Scott Painter, founder and CEO of Autonomy.com joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss. "I really think the idea of standardization is a big deal. Standardization certainly makes it much better for everybody to be able to get a charge when they need one," he said.
The House select committee investigating the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill is opening its landmark series of public hearings. Cheddar News speaks with Mike Sozan, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who explains how to follow the hearings and what to expect.
Claudia Rosenbaum, freelance reporter for Vanity Fair, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the race for Los Angeles mayor.
Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer, forced a runoff with the longtime Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who had been the favorite in the race until an ad blitz from Caruso leaning on the city's issues with crime and homelessness.
Survivors of Larry Nassar, including Olympian Simone Biles, are seeking $1 billion in damages from the FBI due to its failure to investigate the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of committing years of serial sexual abuse of minors. Jack Queen, a senior reporter at Law360, joined Cheddar News to break down the legal grounds of this case. "This is one of the biggest black eyes that the Bureau has faced in generations, quite frankly, and the FBI has taken full responsibility and admitted that it completely botched this investigation," he said. "So, there's a lot of pressure to settle."
