RALEIGH, N.C. — Cal Cunningham joins Senior Political Reporter Loretta Boniti for a candid conversation about his life and his upbringing.

He shares stories from his childhood, his desire to serve others, and lessons he is passing on to his children.

When Cunningham looks back at his childhood and how he was raised, he says a plane crash that happened many years before he was born, killing many family members, had a strong influence on his life.

“My dad and his brothers were young when that plane crash occurred.  He and his brother split up to go live with aunts.  My dad's older brother then joined the army at an early age, and deployed to Vietnam.  He was then killed in Vietnam.  That shadow of both of those tragedies hung over dad's side of the family,” Cunningham explains.

He says one of the biggest lessons he learned as a child didn't come from his parents, but instead his Aunt Sis.  

“One of the early lessons she taught me that has stuck with me through the years is that a good listener is a good learner,” Cunningham says.  “What I took away from that throughout life, whether it was building a business or serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, or doing other things in life, I have really come to believe that listening is a foundation for leadership.  And that it is sorely missing in public life.”

Cunningham's wife Elizabeth also joined us for the conversation.  

She says his passion to serve others was apparent since the time she met him, and that while it was difficult when he served in the Army right after 9/11, she believes it was the right thing for him to do.

“We knew that whatever he would be asked to do, that he had a lot of skills that he could offer,” she says.  “And it was a time for everybody to step up and do what they could do.  Whether that was in Lexington or whether, as he was eventually asked to do, in Iraq and Afghanistan and Fort Bragg.  It wasn't easy every part of it, all of the time, but certainly ended up being the right thing for him to do.

Watch the link above to learn more about what has made Cal Cunningham the man he is today.

Cunninghan is seeking to unseat North Carolina's sitting U.S. Senator.  He is a democrat.