Ahead of the midterm elections, The Washington Post is offering snapshots of voters across the country who cite affordability as a top concern. Here is the first in the series.
Dorothy Brown, 81, has always loved hosting a crowd.
When she was raising a family in Ohio, she said, “our house was one where you were welcome and there was food. We nurtured you and nursed you.” Since moving to Charlotte two decades ago, the retired schoolteacher has invited an eclectic, steady procession of people to her table — friends from her exercise class, fellow church members, neighbors, friends of friends.
But soaring grocery prices have prompted her to scale back significantly. The $20 pot roast that once made a feast now costs nearly twice as much, she said. She’s also turning off lights more, watering her lawn less and reducing her travel.
“I can’t afford to give away food in the amount that I would normally have,” Brown said of her beloved hosting efforts. Visitors are still welcome, she insisted, but inflation has put a damper on her instinctive hospitality.
“You can come, but you better bring your lunch,” she joked. “I might give you the drink or whatever, but the choices of three meats, homemade desserts … I can’t afford that anymore.”
Financial snapshot
Annual income: Above $75,000
Age: 81
Profession: Retired teacher
Biggest financial worry: “Whether my income will be sustainable for longevity.”
Brown said the issue of affordability is at the top of her mind as she heads to the polls this November. She is also motivated by concerns over the war in Iran, aggressive immigration enforcement, the targeting of diversity and equity initiatives, and what she sees as the erosion of decency in politics.
In short, Brown said, she is hungry for politicians who “consider the least among us.” Who ask themselves a simple question: “How can I make each of my constituents’ lives better?”
A registered Democrat, Brown has voted for candidates from both parties in the past. “In a lot of ways, I’m an independent,” Brown said of her political leanings. She plans to vote for Democrat Roy Cooper in her state’s pivotal U.S. Senate race because she admires his track record as North Carolina governor.
“I felt like he really looked out for people in the middle class and lower middle class,” she said.
It has been nearly 20 years since North Carolina sent a Democrat to the Senate. But Cooper has a strong lead in the polls over Republican Michael Whatley, and GOP leaders working to maintain their Senate majority acknowledge the state may be slipping out of their grasp.
Brown said she feels grateful at a time when she knows so many are struggling. She has reliable income from teaching pensions in Ohio and North Carolina. She owns her house. She has good insurance coverage and some savings in the bank.
But she worries about how long that will last if inflation continues.
She was “floored” on a recent day when she ordered french fries and an iced tea at McDonald’s and the bill came to $7.41. She was appalled when she recently put $50 worth of gas in her 2017 Chrysler 300 and the tank still wasn’t full.
Brown previously canceled her cable subscription and stopped shopping at dollar stores, where few items cost only a dollar anymore. Now, she has taken to unplugging any electric items around the house when she isn’t using them. She shops more often at Goodwill. She stopped watering her lawn this summer.
She has seen the usage figures drop on her power and water bills. Small monthly victories.
In a year marked by scaling back, she is hoping the midterm election brings a measure of relief.
“A lot of things are on hold, because we’re waiting to see what’s going to happen,” she said. “And that’s the thing. I’ve never felt like, ‘Well, I’ve got to wait to see what’s going to happen based on the government.’”
Brown has long aspired to visit every state in the continental United States. She has ticked off several dozen, and last year she ventured to Montana. This year, she had planned to travel in New England, visiting Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
But with spiking airfares, the specter of filling a rental car with gas and her general uncertainty about the state of the world, she postponed the trip.
“It’s not that I’m depressed about it every day or anything,” Brown said. “But I’m just hoping things will get better and I’ll be able to do it — physically, as well as financially.”
Until then, she said, she plans on staying closer to home, turning off the lights and trying not to visit the gas station or the grocery store any more than necessary.
And, on some days at least, to keep inviting friends over to laugh around her table, pot roast or not.
The post A retired teacher loves to entertain. Rising prices have made her think twice. appeared first on Washington Post.
