Jim Neal for U.S. Senate

Background:

Seven generations after his working family joined others to help shape North Carolina, Jim Neal’s energy, economic expertise, and middle-class values make him uniquely qualified to help shape the next generation.

The grandson of a carpenter, public school teacher and two mill workers, Neal was born in Greensboro in 1956. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978. Following graduation he joined Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst. He returned to school at the University of Chicago where he earned an MBA and worked a series of part-time jobs to pay his way through school. As an investment banker at Salomon Brothers he earned a reputation for leadership and innovative strategies while advising Fortune 500 companies on how to play successful roles in a changing global economy.

Neal worked as a senior investment banker with E.F Hutton and Bear Stearns, serving clients that ranged from Bank of America and American Express to Lincoln National Corporation and Transamerica.

For the past two decades, Neal has focused his career on information technology and healthcare companies, including serving as chief executive officer of RxMarketplace.com, a start-up firm that helped pharmacists offer patients prescription drugs at more affordable prices. Since 2000, Neal has led several private companies prior to founding The Agema Group, a financial advisory firm based in Chapel Hill.

Neal has continued his active involvement in nonprofit groups and political initiatives. A member of the Board of Governors of the New School from 2002 to 2006, he also served as a national finance committee member for Wes Clark for President and the Kerry-Edwards campaigns, as well as acting as a national fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles in 2004.

Neal has served his community as an overnight volunteer at a homeless shelter, a lay minister to mentally ill residents of an assisted-care facility, and a sponsor of a post-war Vietnamese refugee family in alliance with the International Rescue Committee.

Neal lives in Chapel Hill with the younger of his two sons, Winston. The older, James, is currently working in New York City.

Goals:

I was taken aback by the surprise that nobody had stepped up to challenge Senator Dole. I believe that North Carolina deserves much better, we can do much better, and that the representation we’re getting in Washington is well below par for a state as noble as ours. I feel like I will make a better leader, I will be able to represent the interests of the people, I will come home and listen to the people, the electorate in the state who elect me, who pay my salary and who I’m accountable to. And as best I can tell, Elizabeth Dole doesn’t do any of those things. I’m very very confident in my ability to beat her, I’m very very confident that I represent a new kind of candidate, the kind of candidate that is made for 2008, that will be able to take down an incumbent who a lot of people view as being someone who is very much part of a process that is clearly broken and not working for our state or our country.

Again, I looked at the opportunity, the fact that no one is stepping up. She’s vulnerable, she’s doing a terrible job. I don’t think that one has to have a long history in public service, in fact, I think part of the process, the political process that is not working in Washington is that we keep sending the same people back. Politicians in Washington beget more results by politicians. The influence of special interest groups in our democracy is corrosive. I don’t have any ties to special interest groups. I’m only going to Washington to represent the people. And I might point out that the last Democratic Senator that was elected in this state was a fellow named John Edwards, and I don’t believe he ever held elective office as well.

Issues:

-Quality, Affordable Health Care for every American

-Economic security, fostered through home-grown wealth: providing the necessary infrastructure and incentives for small business and entrepreneurs to succeed.

-Ending the war in Iraq, quickly and responsibly, and refocusing the resources here at home.

Grassroots Support:

A significant one. I know that I will never have the special interest money of Senator Dole, but our campaign has galvinized the progressive community and youth, which is our greatest strength. We will win this race based on our ability to out-organize Senator Dole on the ground.

DFA Values:

My background is based in business: building, growing, and running businesses of all sizes. I know how to balance a budget, I know how to build economic security, and I know the necessity of responsible fiscal stewardship.

As the first openly gay man to run for Senate, I believe my social policy reflects my life: as a parent, as a member of my community, and as a small business entrepreneur. While I do not believe in so-called "litmus tests", I am pro-choice and pro-equal rights for all Americans.