Former NC Rep. Deborah Ross challenges US Sen. Richard Burr

Former state Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, has launched a run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

Ross recently left her job as general counsel at regional transit agency GoTriangle to focus on a campaign. She served in the state House from 2003 to 2013 and previously led the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

“When I look at what’s going on Washington, D.C., I think people deserve better representation,” Ross said Wednesday. “The situation in Washington is a mess, and I decided I couldn’t sit back.”

Ross says her campaign will focus on “economic security” issues, such as raising the minimum wage, making college more affordable, ensuring equal pay for women and stabilizing Medicare and Social Security.

“Burr has voted to end Medicare and Social Security as we know it,” she added.

In the March 15 Democratic primary, Ross will face Chris Rey, the mayor of Spring Lake, a small town near Fayetteville. State Rep. Duane Hall of Raleigh considered a run but said this week that he’ll instead seek re-election to his House seat. And state Sen. Joel Ford of Charlotte says he’s still thinking about a run.

If he enters the race, Ford says he’d bring a moderate, pro-business record as a leader of the Main Street Democrats caucus. “Eighteen percent of the registered Democrats have voted for Republicans” in recent statewide elections, he said. “We have to address that.”

November’s general election could be a three-way contest because Libertarian Sean Haugh says he “intends to run” again. The Durham pizza delivery driver received 3.74 percent of the vote in last year’s U.S. Senate race.

Haugh tweeted that his candidacy “will be official when I start doing real candidate things like functioning website, raising $, hiring staff.”

Late-night news

Ross had a more low-key campaign announcement than other statewide candidates who launched their bids this year.

The Ross campaign quietly posted a three-minute announcement video to YouTube late Tuesday night, then sent out a news release at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

By contrast, attorney general candidates Buck Newton and Josh Stein held events across the state on the first day of their campaigns, and Attorney General Roy Cooper announced his candidacy for governor before a crowd of supporters Monday in Rocky Mount.

A spokeswoman for Ross said the video release is a “typical launch style for just about every major Senate race in the country.” But the N.C. Republican Party said the announcement came “under cover of darkness” and said Ross is too liberal to represent the state.

“She’s not just to the far left of the people of North Carolina, she is to the far left of her own caucus in the General Assembly,” NCGOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse said Wednesday. He also criticized her tenure at the ACLU, saying she’d “led the charge is getting cop killers off death row.”

Ross dismissed the criticism that she’s too liberal. “I’m not a big believer in labels,” she said. “I think what we need is to have a U.S. senator who reflects North Carolina values and works hard for the people of North Carolina.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Former NC Rep. Deborah Ross challenges US Sen. Richard Burr."