NC House candidate highlights her Moral Monday arrest

An Apex Democrat running for N.C. House wants voters to know she was arrested at a 2013 Moral Monday protest.

Jen Ferrell posted a lengthy statement about her arrest on her campaign website this week, noting that she’s expecting the incident will show up in an attack ad from her opponent, incumbent Republican Rep. Nelson Dollar of Cary.

Ferrell was among more than 100 people arrested that day and charged with trespassing, including some elected official like then-Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton.

“I’m passionate, I’m not crazy,” Ferrell told The News & Observer at the time.

“I stood with others in opposition to cutting public education, limiting access to women’s health and raising taxes on middle class families to fund tax giveaways for special interests,” she says in the campaign statement. “These are mainstream values. This case and all charges were dropped in September 2014.”

Dollar criticized Ferrell’s decision to get arrested in a tweet on Thursday.

Ferrell’s statement blames Republican legislators for prompting Moral Monday actions.

“While the actions of our current NCGA have created the necessity for Moral Monday marches, it’s time for our citizens to use their voting voices as we replace this harmful and regressive legislative body with people who’ll look out for North Carolina’s interests.” she said. “And when we vote this fall, we can hopefully eliminate the need for Moral Mondays.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 12:31 PM with the headline "NC House candidate highlights her Moral Monday arrest."