We don’t do endorsements at Triad City Beat, as befits our nonpartisan approach to politics. Instead, we compile short bios of every candidate in most contested races in Guilford and Forsyth counties, dozens of candidates from president all the way down to city council.
We use our own reporting and the reporting of news outlets we trust, as well as candidate websites and responses to our candidate questionnaire. Complete transcripts of those questionnaires are linked in each candidates’ section if they filled one out.
It’s a lot of work. But it’s worth it, because at TCB we believe in elections, we believe in democracy, we believe in the power of the people to elect the candidates who most reflect their values and wishes. Everything else stems from that.
A reminder that voters will have to show a valid photo ID to vote this year. Early voting starts on Oct. 17 and runs through Nov. 2. Nov. 5 is Election Day. Voters can register to vote during the early voting period and can cast their vote at any open polling location during that time. Find places to vote early here.
On Election Day, voters are required to go to their assigned precinct. To look up your assigned polling place, learn more about the voting laws and find your sample ballot, visit nc.gov/living/voting.
Candidates are listed by last name, with incumbents listed first. There are also several candidate running unopposed in this election. To view a full list click here.
Key: D – Democrat, R – Republican, i – Incumbent
We know that this guide super long so use the buttons below or use the “Find in page” tool by using the shortcut CTRL + F or going to your sidebar in your browser to search for specific candidates or races.
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FEDERAL
PRESIDENT
Democrat: Kamala Harris/Tim Walz
When President Joe Biden dropped out of the race after a lackluster debate performance in July, his vice-president stepped in and immediately began gaining on Donald Trump in the polls. Her VP choice of Gov. Tim Walz (Minnesota) bolstered this enthusiasm.
Before becoming Biden’s VP, Harris was a prosecutor in California, eventually rising to San Francisco City Attorney and then DA, then winning election twice as the attorney general of the state before beginning her career in the US Senate in 2017.
Walz was a high school teacher and football coach before getting elected to the US House, serving Minnesota’s 1st District from 2007-19, eventually becoming the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. He was elected governor in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022.
The Harris/Vance ticket proposes a New Way Forward platform that includes cutting taxes for middle-class families, creating paths to homeownership and lowering rents, investing in small businesses, lowering costs in healthcare and energy, funding childcare, addressing climate change and strengthening both Social Security and Medicare.
Libertarian: Chase Oliver/Mike ter Maat
Oliver, according to his website, is a “37-year-old Libertarian activist living in Atlanta” who has run for Georgia’s 5th Congressional District (2020) and the US Senate (2022) against Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, earning 2 percent of the vote in the latter. Called “the most influential Libertarian in America” by Rolling Stone in 2022, his platform includes immigration and justice reform, ending the drug war — all wars, actually — and a pro-gun, anti-death penalty position.
Mike ter Maat ran for president under the Libertarian banner promising a “Gold New Deal” that eliminates the IRS, allows states to nullify federal legislation, end the Federal Reserve and Social Security, end qualified immunity for law enforcement and “phasing out” public schools, among other planks.
There’s a page dedicated to their platform on the website, which includes abolishing the Dept. of Education and ending drug penalties, abortion restrictions, corporate bailouts, the death penalty and excessive employment regulations. He supports nuclear power, term limits for all federal elected offices and a streamlined process for immigrants to become citizens.
Constitution: Randall Terry/Stephen Broden
The Constitution Party’s Randall Terry is running to “defeat and destroy the Democrat Party” by pulling what he says are its two largest constituencies — Catholics and Black Americans — into his tent. Staunchly anti abortion, anti LGBTQIA2S+ and a believer in “principle over politics,” Terry founded the anti-abortion activist group Operation Rescue in 1987 and, as an activist, has been arrested more than 40 times.
His running mate Stephen Broder ran for the Texas state House in 2010 as a Republican. He is also a pastor of the Fair Park Bible Fellowship Church and a spokesman for the Black anti-abortion movement in Dallas.
Republican: Former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance
As the 45th president from 2017-2020, Donald Trump enhanced religion in education, reduced the food safety net, rolled back emissions standards for cars and factories, delivered a $1.5 trillion tax cut to individuals and corporations, rolled back rules put in place after the 2008 financial crisis and appointed three judges to the US Supreme Court, which then overturned Roe v. Wade.
He also disbanded federal pandemic-response protocols before the worst pandemic of the century before fast-tracking a vaccine that arrived in early 2021.
After he lost the 2020 Election, Trump refused to accept the results, inciting an insurrectionist mob to attack the US Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021. He still maintains that the election was stolen from him, without providing tangible evidence.
He has been convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a “hush money” trial, two of which were dismissed in September, along with another of his criminal cases, this one for mishandling classified documents. He still faces federal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Sen. JD Vance rose to prominence on his book, Hillbilly Elegy, which documented his rise from poverty to Yale Law School. He has worked as a venture capitalist in the tech industry before being elected to the Senate in Ohio in 2022. He espouses many far-right ideologies, including stands against same-sex marriage, childless women, abortion and in-vitro fertilization,
Their platform is articulated in Project 2025, a sweeping slate of proposed changes to the US system of government and the people who run it.
Green: Jill Stein/Butch Ware
Dr. Jill Stein has been at the forefront of medical research linking environmental toxicity to health issues, and previously ran as the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2012 and 2016. Her platform is “People, Planet, Peace,” pledging to fight systemic racism, heal the planet and end “end the endless wars” with a foreign policy based on diplomacy and human rights.
Butch Ware is a lifelong activist and educator, concentrating his scholarship on West Africa. He was active during the George Floyd protests in 2020 and the current situation in Gaza. He has never held nor run for political office before but has written two books: Jihad of the Pen: The Sufi Literature of West Africa and The Walking Qurʼan: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa. He currently teaches at UC Santa Barbara.
Justice for All: Cornel West/Melina Abdullah
Dr. Cornel West is best known in academic and activist circles, focusing on matters of race, gender and inequality. A professor emeritus at Princeton University, where he was the first African American to attain a PhD in philosophy, West helped found the Center for African American Studies there. While he’s never before run for office, he has served as advisor for numerous candidates, including Bill Bradley, Al Sharpton and Ralph Nader. He supported Sen. Bernie Sanders for president in 2020.
He describes himself as a “non-Marxist socialist,” the US as a “racist patriarchal” society and has participated in virtually every protest and social justice movement of the last 20 years.
Dr. Melina Abdullah is also an academic, recognized as an expert in matters of race, gender, class and social movements. She is the first Muslim to run for the vice-presidency.
Their platform is “a movement rooted in truth, justice and love,” with planks on justice for Black mothers, children, the disabled, immigrants, voters, workers and LGBTQIA2S+ Americans. Their economic policy plans include a universal basic income, public federal banking, a wealth tax, abolishing homelessness, ending poverty and strengthening public schools.
STATEWIDE COURT RACES
SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE
Democrat: Allison Riggs (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Justice Allison Riggs was a civil-rights attorney in Durham before ascending to the Court of Appeals via a Gov. Cooper appointment, and then benefited from another Cooper appointment to the NC Supreme Court later that same year.
“These roles have given me a deep understanding of our legal system (its strengths and places for improvement) and a commitment to upholding the law with fairness and integrity,” she wrote in our questionnaire.
Her Top 3 issues are “equitable access to justice, reproductive freedoms and democracy,” she writes. “I value democracy, recognizing how fragile it is and that it works best when multiracial and inclusive. I spent 14 years working with individuals who were denied equitable representation because of restrictive voting laws, including gerrymandered maps.”
Republican: Jefferson G Griffin
Read his full candidate responses here.
Judge-Jefferson G. Griffin became a captain in the Coast Guard and worked as a commercial fisherman before attending law school at NC Central. He was a prosecutor in the Wake County DA’s office before Gov. Pat McCrory appointed him to the District Court bench in 2015.
In our candidate questionnaire, Griffin says he would improve the highest court in the state by “applying the law as it is written and removing politics from our Courts.
“Notably,” he adds, “we no longer have a former trial court judge serving on the NC Supreme Court. I believe that is a valuable perspective that we need to have represented.”
US HOUSE
DISTRICT 5
Republican: Virginia Foxx (i)
Virginia Foxx’s district runs from the western edge of Greensboro all the way to Boone. Though her time in Congress long predates the rise of Trump — Foxx was first elected to her seat in 2004 — she is an unabashed ally of the former president, voting against his impeachment, twice, and to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Her policy positions jibe with Trump’s: anti-immigration, anti “Medicare for all,” anti-LGBTQIA2S+ rights, lower taxes, higher military spending, minimizing the federal role in public schools and pro gun. She is staunchly anti-abortion, even as Trump tried to distance himself from that position.
She has raised $1.8 million to defend her incumbency in this newly cut district.
Democrat: Chuck Hubbard
Chuck Hubbard worked as a journalist for 40 years at the newspaper his family owned, the Wilkes Journal-Patriot, and is married to a former NC State Trooper from Greensboro. His platform positions support public education and women’s reproductive rights, protecting Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security, and expanding access to affordable healthcare.
He has raised about $275,000 so far.
DISTRICT 6
Incumbent: Kathy Manning, D, since 2021, not seeking re-election
Constitution: Kevin Hayes
When incumbent Democrat Rep. Kathy Manning declined to run after redistricting tilted the district to heavily favor a Republican, Kevin Hayes stepped into the small void for an alternative right-wing candidate.
Hayes is chair of the NC Constitution Party and has run for both the US Senate (in 2020) and the NC House (twice). His positions espouse small government, an end to illegal immigration, veterans’ rights and reducing the national debt, though without a concrete plan. He believes in minimizing or dismantling the federal Dept. of Education in favor of state authority over public schools, opposes the Green New Deal and wants to keep government out of healthcare. Other policy positions on his site are not elaborated upon beyond the headlines.
Republican: Addison McDowell
The 29-year-old political newcomer — McDowell worked as a lobbyist and for Sen. Ted Budd, briefly — benefits from the endorsement of Trump and fundraising from NC political heavyweights that include Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and other members of NC GOP leadership. They helped him win a crowded Republican primary loaded with NC heavyweights.
His policy positions include gun rights, secure elections, securing the southern border and an endorsement of Trump’s tariff program as part of his “protecting jobs” plank. He describes himself as “100% pro life” and wants to end “burdensome government regulation” on crypto.
All told, he has raised $622,000.
DISTRICT 9
Republican: Richard Hudson (i)
Incumbent Richard Hudson has represented District 9 since 2023 and represented District 8 from 2013-22. Chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Hudson is one of the more powerful Republicans in the House. As such, he has an A+ rating from the NRA and a 100-percent rating from the National Right to Life. He also voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. His website uses just photos and headlines to describe his policy positions — “Creating Jobs,” “Protecting the Second Amendment,” “Cutting Spending,” “Environment” — but he was endorsed by Trump in 2022, so the shorthand should suffice.
He has raised more than $3.1million for this race so far.
Democrat: Nigel William Bristow
Nigel Bristow is a retired NYC cop who relocated to NC in 2011 to live on family land and work as a parole officer. He says he will codify Roe v. Wade protections into law, as well as measures that ensure quality mental healthcare and to address climate change. Calling himself “the voice of and for the people,” he takes positions on raising the minimum wage, childcare funding, paid family leave, high-speed internet and incentivizing builders to address the housing crisis, as well as extending veterans’ benefits and a federal benefit for families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. He also has a slate of programs that help seniors “have dignity in retirement.”
He has raised about $11,000 this cycle.
Unaffiliated: Shelane Etchison
etchisonforcongress.com
Running unaffiliated for District 9, Shelane Etchison is a Special Ops veteran who served in Iraq and, afterward, earned two master’s degrees from Harvard, an MBA from the business school and an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government.
She’s running on a small-government platform that includes anti-corruption, individual liberties, national security and “societal wellness,” about which she says, “it’s a national imperative to strengthen our societal well-being by promoting civility, lifelong learning and skills building, holistic health approaches, and incentivized national service.”
She wants to overturn Citizens United, stop members of Congress from insider trading and “hold public officials accountable for their words and actions.”
DISTRICT 10
Incumbent: Patrick McHenry, R, since 2005, announced retirement
Libertarian: Steve Feldman
Read his full candidate responses here.
Libertarian Steve Feldman runs on a platform that addresses the national debt and “a foreign policy that uses violence to achieve peace.” His platform emphasizes the defensive role of the military, the importance of shared values between differing political parties and “solutions that empower people, not government” that “create opportunity” rather than “foster dependence.”
Republican: Pat Harrigan
Harrigan, a West Point graduate and Special Forces combat veteran, split his time growing up between the West Coast and a small town in Wyoming. Now he is a gun manufacturer. Naturally, he is bullish on Second Amendment rights; other policy positions on his website put him squarely at odds with Biden’s record on the economy, immigration, national security, election integrity and “protect[ing] the unborn.” Since the primary, he has added a section on his website about “Cultural Integrity” that “sees conservative values as the bedrock of our nation,” with a vow to codify those values into law.
In 2022, he ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Jeff Jackson (D) in District 14, and has raised almost $1.3 million for this race.
Constitution: Todd Helm
Read his full candidate responses here.
Helm is a former high school math teacher and coach who moved into an agricultural nonprofit that “exists to serve by helping families produce, consume, and market nutritious food.” His biggest issues are, in descending order, easing the national debt, enforcing immigration laws, and “life and family,” which includes defining marriage as between “one man, one woman,” abortion as “wrong” and LGBTQIA2S+ Americans as “morally bankrupt.”
Democrat: Ralph Scott Jr.
Ralph Scott claims to be the 6th great-grandson of James Madison. He served in the Air Force, and sees solutions to this country’s problems in its founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence,the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. He’s got a simple platform of God, family and individual rights, but also “Unity, collaboration and inclusivity.”
He has no previous political experience, and has not reported any fundraising activity.
STATEWIDE RACES
NC GOVERNOR
Incumbent Roy Cooper, D, since 2017. Cooper has met the term limit.
Republican: Mark Robinson
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was first elected into state office in 2020. Much has been made of late concerning our current lieutenant governor’s personal life: his time hanging out in a Greensboro adult-video shop, his comments on adult website nudeafrica.com in which he openly discussed an affair with his sister in-law, called himself a “black NAZI!!” and expressed a desire to reinstate slavery, as well as an affinity for transgender porn, despite his anti-LGBTQIA2S+ rhetoric, a plank of his platform. His wife’s nonprofit was forced to close after the state determined they had misappropriated more than $130,000 in July.
After these stories broke, nearly his entire campaign staff and legislative staff resigned.
Still, Trump has not rescinded his endorsement of the man he called “Martin Luther King on steroids,” though he seems to have disinvited Robinson to his NC events, and nearly every county GOP in the state is still standing with him, as well, including Guilford and Forsyth. The state GOP is still on board as well.
His platform is standard MAGA boilerplate, law and order, cutting federal spending, lowering taxes, decreasing regulations on businesses, ending the state’s Environmental, Social and Governance investing while increasing our interests in crypto. Though he’s softened his tone of late, Robinson has been extremely vocal about abolishing the NC Board of Education, which as lieutenant governor he chairs, and supporting gun rights. He has called LGBTQIA2S+ North Carolinians “filth,” and is staunchly pro-life, though he admitted to paying for an abortion for his wife in 1989 and, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, has said he doesn’t want to talk about abortion anymore. He has called Beyoncé’s music “satanic,” said he “wouldn’t be surprised“ if the moon landing and 9/11 were faked, called climate change “junk science” and warns against a “New World Order.”
So far he’s raised more than $15 million for this election.
Libertarian: Mike Ross
Libertarian Mike Ross, a financial planner from Charlotte, wants to reduce “government interference” in the lives of North Carolinians with free-market solutions. His plan includes legalizing drugs, removing government from healthcare, raising police pay but also ending qualified immunity for officers, ending “countless layers of taxation that hinder the economic prosperity of North Carolinians” and what he deems a “free market education,” which would “wind down the current monopoly” the state has on education in favor of redistributing the education budget equitably among all NC students and let the free market rise to the challenge of educating our children.
Constitution: Vinny Smith
Navy veteran Vinny Smith grew up in New York City before moving to NC when he was 15. He is co-founder and co-owner of NC Esports Academy in Cary and has written six Christian books.
He is staunchly anti-abortion in all cases, endorses the school-voucher program and wants to end mandatory school immunizations and also “phase out” property tax. He told the News & Observer that he also supports teacher pay raises.
Smith attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
Democrat: Josh Stein
Read his full candidate responses here.
As NC attorney general, Josh Stein brought home $50 billion in federal monies to combat opioid addiction and secured $40 million for the state by suing vape company Juul along with an other $1.1 billion from Duke Energy to clean that company’s coal-ash spill, as well as reducing the backlog of untested rape kits, at the time the largest in the country.
As governor, he pledges to foment an economy that will “work for everyone,” offering a more mainstream platform than his Republican adversary that promises lower taxes, job opportunities, better public schools and healthcare, a raise in the minimum wage and safer neighborhoods.
From our candidate questionnaire: “Our state is at a crossroads, and this November, voters will have an incredibly stark choice between two competing visions. Ours is forward-looking and inclusive. It’s about fighting for every North Carolinian and tapping their potential to build a safer, stronger North Carolina. I believe in the promise of North Carolina – that where you come from should not determine how far you go. My opponent Mark Robinson’s vision is divisive and hateful; it’s all about fighting job-killing culture wars. He is a threat to North Carolina unlike anyone we’ve seen before. He wants to turn back the clock on our state’s promise and threaten our economic future.”
So far he has raised almost $33 million for this campaign.
Green: Wayne Turner
Wayne Turner runs on an economic platform that hews closely to the Green Party philosophy of adequate pay and equitable benefits. He’s pro-union and speaks out against wage theft and industrial pollution. Planks include promoting worker cooperatives, and establishing a state-owned public bank. He pushes back against the school-voucher program and the recent re-tooling of the UNC System board. He wants to fund Leandro — the state’s decades-old $5 billion shortfall in our public schools budget and wants to replace school resource officers with “actual resources such as school nurses and counselors, art and music instruction, and teacher aides.” He also wants to establish statewide universal healthcare, abolish prison, end state cooperation with ICE and repeal NC’s right-to-work law.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Libertarian: Shannon Bray
Bray, a technology entrepreneur from Apex, has run for US Senate in 2020 and 2022. According to multiple news reports, Bray has been arrested multiple times, as recently as 2023, for assaulting his wife and threatening to kill her. He was also charged with manufacturing marijuana. He was not convicted on these charges.
He believes in abortion up to 16 weeks, legalizing cannabis, election reform and a slew of law enforcement reforms that include ending most traffic stops, ending the drivers license “points system,” abolishing no-knock warrants, ending qualified immunity for officers, stripping most officers of firearms, ending embargoes on police body cameras, abolishing civil forfeiture and paying off police lawsuits from the police pension and retirement fund instead of tax dollars.
He’s raised about $6,500.
Democrat: Rachel Hunt
Currently serving in the NC Senate’s District 42 in Charlotte, Hunt sponsored bills to codify Roe v. Wade into NC law, restore master’s degree pay for teachers, increase the minimum wage to $15, bolster early-childhood education and create an independent redistricting committee, among others. She also served two terms in the House.
This campaign, her key issues are affordable healthcare and reproductive rights, public schools, protecting voter rights and expanding broadband access as an economic development tool. She’s earned dozens of key endorsements including Reps. Kathy Manning, Jeff Jackson, Alma Adams and Deborah Ross; pro-chice groups Lillian’s List and Emily’s List; a score of state legislators; a few mayors and councilmembers; the NC Sierra Club; and the NC AFL-CIO.
She has raised $1.9 million this election cycle.
Constitution: Wayne Jones
Constitution Party candidate Waye Jones worked in the telecommunications industry for 34 years before being laid off in 2004. His platform is a long list of bullet points on his site that include “ Defund Woke Universities and Fund Community Colleges,” “Stop wasteful Spending your Money,” “The Protection of All Life,” “No Red Flag Laws, Constitutional Carry,” “Arrest and Deport Illegals,” “Abort Planned Parenthood,” “Stop Sanctuary Cities” and “Ending Property Taxes.” He also believes, “There is only Two GENDERS.”
He has donated about $1,700 to his campaign, the only cash reported so far.
Republican: Hal Weatherman
Wake Forest University grad and political operative Weatherman founded the Electoral Education Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to election integrity and was chief of staff for former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. Before that he worked for Forest’s mother, former Charlotte mayor and US Rep. Sue Myrick, an early member of the Tea Party Caucus in the 2000s. He also served on staff for former Rep. Madison Cawthorn. He calls himself a “principled limited government conservative — fiscal and social” whose main goal as lieutenant governor is to “remove the stigma our society has placed on working in the trades.” He also wants to elevate NC agriculture to the global market, establish continual monitoring of the State Board of Elections and pass a “Heartbeat Bill” outlawing all abortions. He is anti-union. He also wants to create a North Carolina Hall of Fame.
A full-throated Trump supporter, his platform includes more resources for SROs in schools, as well as armed guards, keeping “politics out of the classroom”: as well as “men out of women’s sports.” He also supports the state education-voucher program. In addition, though out of the purview of this office, he is staunchly anti-abortion and wants to start “deporting illegals.”
He’s raised almost $930,000 this cycle.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Incumbent Josh Stein is running for governor
Republican: Dan Bishop
Currently Serving as the representative for NC’s 8th Congressional District, where in 2020 he voted to overturn the election, Dan Bishop is a Trump acolyte and is still supporting Mark Robinson for governor despite his troubles. Before entering politics, Bishop was a commercial litigator for 30 years.
He’s running for AG to “defend the rule of law” against his predecessors who he says have turned the office “into a stepping stone for higher office and a platform to spread liberal propaganda.” His website is short on policy, but he told the N&O, “I will work hand in hand with local law enforcement to restore law and order and keep our cities and towns safe.”
Thus far he’s taken in almost $1,5 million in campaign contributions.
Democrat: Jeff Jackson
Best known nationally for his TikTok explainer videos, Jackson first took congressional office in 2023 but served as the representative for the NC Senate District 37, which covers Iredelle and Mecklenburg counties, from 2014-22. When he joined the state Senate in 2014, he became the second-youngest senator at the time.
In 2022, Jackson ran an unsuccessful bid for US Senate to replace Republican incumbent Richard Burr. While he raised $500,000 within 48 hours of his campaign announcement, Jackson ultimately suspended his campaign and endorsed Cheri Beasley who lost to Republican Ted Budd in the general election.
During his time as state senator and US Congressman, Jackson has pushed for expanding pre-K education programs, increasing teacher pay and expanding Medicaid, while fighting against gerrymandering and the anti-trans “bathroom bill,” HB2. He’s also known for being active on social media, namely TikTok, where he posts explanatory videos about what’s going on in Congress.
Jackson served in the army and was deployed to Afghanistan. Afterwards he became a criminal prosecutor in Gaston County.
On his website, he says he wants to be an independent, non-partisan voice as attorney general, pledging to fight scammers and fraudsters, tackle the fentanyl epidemic, support law enforcement, defend equal protection under the law and protect the environment using the criminal code.
He’s raised about $4.2 million for this race.
AUDITOR
Democrat: Jessica Holmes (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Running unopposed in the Democratic primary, incumbent Jessica Holmes became the first Black woman to serve on the NC Council of State when she was appointed to this post by Gov. Roy Cooper in 2023, after sitting Auditor Beth Wood pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges of misusing a state vehicle. She runs her re-election campaign on the slogan “Accountability. Integrity. Transparency.” She’s a lifeline North Carolinian and a first-generation college grad, getting her undergraduate and law degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill. In 2014 she became the youngest person ever to be elected to the Wake County Commission and in 2021 was appointed as deputy commissioner to the NC Industrial Commission.
In office, her audits exposed “hundreds of thousands of fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
In her candidate questionnaire, when asked to identify three of her priorities, she wrote, “I prioritize audits and investigations around sound methodology accounting for impact on North Carolinians, risk of harm to vulnerable populations including seniors, people with disabilities, underserved communities and the kitchen table issues we all care about. The OSA touches most aspects of our daily lives from education, infrastructure, environment quality and human services.
She’s raised almost $135,000 this cycle.
Republican: Dave Boleik
Despite the fact that he was a longtime Democrat, Dave Boliek changed his party registration in mid 2023 and now promotes himself as a “conservative Republican” on his campaign website.
In an interview with NC Newsline, Boliek said that he “migrated to the Republican Party because [he] feels like the Democratic Party in North Carolina has left [him] behind.”
The fiscal conservative and traditional Christian currently serves on the UNC Board of Trustees, and formerly served as the chairman from 2021-23, notably during the Nikole Hannah-Jones controversy. NC Newsline reported that Boliek was just one of four of the 13 members of the board to vote “no” when it came to granting tenure to Hannah-Jones.
From 1998-2001, Boliek worked as an assistant district attorney in Cumberland County. After leaving, he worked in private practice, with success working “with DMV regulations, ABC regulations and consulting on health care matters,” according to his campaign website.
He’s been endorsed by GOP leadership in Raleigh, including Phil Berger and Tim Moore, and has raised almost $450,000 for this election.
Libertarian: Bob Drach
Read his full candidate responses here.
Libertarian candidate and accountant Bob Drach begins his campaign with a pitch: “State government is dominated by Democrats and Republicans. Do we really want them auditing themselves? That is an apparent conflict of interest. It is one reason that government finances seem out of control.”
Drach attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE
The commissioner’s primary goal is protecting, maintaining and enhancing the ability of agriculture to produce an adequate supply of food and fiber and to enforce regulations.
Republican: Steve Troxler (i)
In his 19 years as commissioner of agriculture, Steve Troxler of Browns Summit has seen the economic impact of NC farming roughly double, from $59 billion to $111 billion, helped start the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which has preserved more than 36,000 acres of farm and forest land, and helped more meat and poultry farmers become registered meat handlers. He has also enhanced thousands of acres of state parks, forest lands and the NC State Fair fairgrounds, among many others listed at his website. He’s also taken home dozens of awards and honors during this time in office, from groups as disparate as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the NC Tourist Industry Association and NC State University, his alma mater. He also has been inducted to the Western NC Hall of Fame.
Libertarian: Sean Haugh
Read his full candidate responses here.
Using the same website and a lot of the same copy as he did during his 2022 run for NC House District 31, Sean Haugh said in his candidate questionnaire, “I am running on the single issue of full legalization of marijuana now in North Carolina.”
He’s been active in NC Libertarian circles since 1994, and mentions that he delivered pizza for seven years. From his website: “When you deliver pizza for seven years as I have, you’re invited to homes of people in every segment of our community. That experience has given me the insight to understand how best to fight for the needs of every person, and the openness to listen to any constituent about how I can best serve them.”
Democrat: Sarah Taber
Read her full candidate responses here.
Sarah Taber spent her formative years working on her family farm in Harlan County, Ky. and eventually started a multi-billion-dollar agribusiness. She wants to use policy to make more “on-ramps” for people to get involved in farming in the state to push back against out-of-state farm ownership, and her website has sections about animal welfare and forest fires.
Her platform includes steering NC farmers away from traditional crops like corn, soy and tobacco into more lucrative produce like berries, carrots, celery, sweet corn, tree nuts, pumpkins, and orchard fruit.
From her candidate questionnaire: “This role should advocate for our state’s farmers, expand the state’s agricultural economy, and protect North Carolina’s consumers from unfair practices. The Commissioner of Agriculture office wouldn’t exist without North Carolina’s farmers. They need someone who will look out for them – someone who will amplify their voice in the state legislature, someone who can advocate for them on the national stage and someone who can represent their interests to foreign markets.”
COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE
Republican: Mike Causey (i)
Incumbent Republican Mike Causey has held the seat since 2017 and has not yet stood up his campaign website nor responded to our questionnaire. He told the N&O that he negotiated rate hikes, “By following state law under Chapter 58 and the rate making process as required by the General Assembly since 1977. As Commissioner of Insurance, I have represented consumers well and said ‘No’ to every rate hike request before me during my tenure. Have negotiated settlements as close to zero as possible.”
He might also be remembered as an informant in the Greg Lindberg trial. In 2019 Lindberg, along with then NC GOP Chair Robin Hayes, were indicted for trying to bribe an elected official — Causey. Lindberg was convicted in 2020, and again in 2024, and must pay the state more than $500 million for his crimes.
Democrat: Natasha Marcus
Read her full candidate responses here.
Sen. Natasha Marcus has served three terms in the NC Senate, representing District 41 in Mecklenburg County. In the Senate, she currently serves on the Senate Commerce & Insurance, Judiciary, Redistricting & Elections, Budget, Justice & Public Safety Approps, and Education committees, and participated in a lot of community work including Moral MOnday protests, Habitat for Humanity builds and even fosters cats and kittens.
Drawn out of her district, Marcus says she’s running against the incumbent because, “I’m sick of elected leaders misusing the public’s trust to enrich themselves and their friends.”
“In the eight years he’s been Insurance Commissioner, Mike Causey has approved an unprecedented 16 insurance rate hikes and enabled a special loophole called Consent to Rate (CTR), that allows insurance companies to bill NC consumers 250 percent more than the max rate! We pay inflated insurance prices due to Causey’s rate hikes and the CTR loophole — that’s unacceptable.”
Marcus attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
COMMISSIONER OF LABOR
Incumbent Josh Dobson (R) since 2021, announced in 2022 he would not run again
Republican: Luke Farley
Beating a crowded primary field that included former House Rep Jon Hardister, Luke Farley is not a politically experienced candidate, though he notes on his website that former Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, who served for 20 years, had endorsed him. He also works as an OSHA lawyer in private practice.
According to his website, he will advocate for “free enterprise,” “common-sense regulation” and “cutting red tape.” One of the main issues Farley notes on his website is his opposition to pandemic workplace mandates being considered by the Dept. of Labor. The new rules would include a mask mandate, social distancing, paid time off for those wanting to get a vaccine and a requirement to keep workers who exhibit symptoms at home.
If elected, Farley said that he would “immediately start working to repeal any new mandates that are imposed.”
He’s raised more than $120,000 for this race.
Democrat: Braxton Winston II
The only Democrat to run for this seat against a crowded Republican primary field, Braxton Winston II served on Charlotte City Council as an at-large member and was mayor pro tem. He is currently a member of the stagehand’s union. He says he “will combine his experience in municipal leadership with his experience as a labor leader to build coalitions of our communities to keep North Carolina a place people want to come to live and work.”
He’s interested in heat safety for workers, and makes clear that he lands on the labor side of the labor/management equation.
He’s raised about $130,000 for this election.
SECRETARY OF STATE
The secretary maintains the official journal of the North Carolina General Assembly and is responsible for overseeing land records, chartering corporations and administering some commercial regulations.
Democrat: Elaine Marshall (i)
The current secretary of state, Elaine Marshall calls herself “a competent administrator with an eye toward reform.” She has held the seat since 1997. She touts small businesses as key to her platform and has worked for lobbying reform. She also leans into the law-enforcement facet of the job, returning more than $1 billion to NC investors who had been defrauded by Wall Street firms.
She’s brought in almost $300,000 in campaign contributions for this cycle.
Republican: Chad Brown
Conservative Christian Chad Brown explains on his website that he is anti-abortion and pro-Second Amendment rights — he is currently holding a gun raffle, with 15 types of guns, to raise campaign funds. On his homepage, he notes that if elected as secretary of state, he would protect elections and “ensure that every vote is counted” and protect consumers from fraud and identity theft.
Brown has been endorsed by outgoing House Speaker Tim Moore, but has terminated his Facebook friendship with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
Before the gun raffle, he’d raised about $36,000.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
The North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction is the elected head of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and oversees the public school systems of the state. Incumbent Republican Catherine Truitt lost her primary bid to Michelle Morrow.
Democrat: Mo Green
Read his full candidate responses here.
Former Guilford County Schools Superintendent and first-time candidate Mo Green announced his bid for State Superintendent of Public Education back in October. According to reporting by Education NC, Green has been a lawyer, a district superintendent and a philanthropist. He served as Guilford County’s superintendent from 2008-15 and as the executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation from 2016-23.
Since Michelle Morrow won the Republican primary, Green has fashioned a platform designed to protect and fund public schools. On his candidate questionnaire he noted, “I am running now because I am deeply concerned about the current direction of the North Carolina Public School system. It is woefully underfunded, even while funding for a taxpayer-funded private school voucher program is being increased dramatically. Its educators are belittled through low pay and respect. Statewide student academic performance must be improved, and we must have a vision of excellence. North Carolina public schools need a champion who will provide a new vision. Given my experiences, which are outlined in question three below, I believe I can be that champion.”
He has raised more than $665,000 for this race.
Republican: Michele Morrow
Conservative Christian and staunch Trump-supporter Michele Morrow served as a camp nurse and missionary in Mexico before moving to NC and teaching high school nine years ago. According to her campaign website, she has 16 years of classroom homeschooling experience.
She previously ran for a school board seat in Wake County in 2022, finishing in second place out of three candidates.
In past social media posts, Morrow has made racist and disparaging comments against Muslims, calling Islam “a political cult.” A website that opposes Morrow’s run for the state seat has a video of Morrow at the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington DC. In the video, she said “we are here to take back America and we are here to stop the steal.”
A firm believer in parents’ rights when it comes to schools, Morrow has added almost $200,000 to her campaign war chest since the primary, up to $206,000 from $7,800.
TREASURER
Incumbent: Dale Folwell, since 2017. Folwell resigned to run for governor; he lost in the Republican primary to Mark Robinson
Republican: Brad Briner
In November 2023, Briner, who lives in Chapel Hill, was appointed to the UNC Board of Trustees by Senate Pro Tem Phil Berger. Most notably, Briner works as the investment manager for New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg according to his LinkedIn profile.
On his campaign website, Briner lists protecting the state’s bond rating and improving the performance of the state pension and health plan as his priorities. He notes that underperformance of the state retirement plan as a key plank of his platform.
He’s raised almost $300,000 for this race.
Democrat: Wesley Harris
Read his full candidate responses here.
Rep. Wesley Harris has represented House District 105, in Mecklenburg County, since 2018. During his tenure, he has sponsored bills that would increase funding for child care, allow for renewable energy tax credits and start certain school employees across the state at $15 per hour minimum wage.
In his run for state treasurer, Harris states that he would work to protect the state’s strong bond rating, ensure the health of the state pension fund and take “culture war nonsense” out of the treasurer’s office.
In response to our question about his Top 3 priorities, he wrote: “Economic opportunity, public education, and smart infrastructure. These things are going to make sure that North Carolinians are well-positioned, now and in the future.”
His war chest for this election is almost $420,000.
NC COURT OF APPEALS
Seat 12
Democrat: Carolyn Jennings Thompson (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Judge Carolyn Thompson was first appointed to the court in 2023 to fill a vacancy by Gov. Roy Cooper. A former deputy commissioner on the state’s industrial commission, Thompson received her bachelor’s degree from Hampton University and her doctorate from NC Central University School of Law.
According to her candidate questionnaire responses, Thompson said that the top three issues that are most important to her include public education, the economy and housing.
When asked about what she views as her role, Thompson stated that the NC Court of Appeals is an error-correcting court for decisions made in lower courts all over the state, and she intends to review the record of the lower courts with “a commitment to fairness and impartiality.”
Her judicial philosophy is independent of political affiliation, divisive ideologies and social differences, Thompson said. She has never been publicly sanctioned by the State Bar.
To improve the judicial system Thompson said she would work with Community stakeholders and citizens to educate the public about what the Court of Appeals does. She has been endorsed by NC Pro-Choice and Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic.
Republican: Tom Murry
Republican Tom Murry, who describes himself as a common sense conservative who will uphold the Constitution, has served multiple roles in elected office. Prior to serving in the North Carolina House, Murry served as an at-large member of the Morrisville Town Council for five years.
In 2010, Murry was voted into the 41st District of the North Carolina House of Representatives where he served from 2011-15.
On his website Murry notes that he is an “army veteran, an attorney, a state prosecutor and proven conservative.” He currently serves as the vice chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Criminal Justice Section; he also served as an adjunct at Regent University School of Law since 2020 .
While his policy platform on his campaign website is thin, during his tenure as a state house representative, Murry sponsored bills related to health care including a measure that sought to exempt North Carolina from the federal Affordable Care Act. In 2013 he was the primary sponsor of voter ID legislation.
He also served as chief legal counsel to former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin, who was found to have assisted former president Donald Trump in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Seat 14
Republican: Valerie Zachary (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Yadkinville resident Valerie Zachary was first appointed to the North Carolina court of appeals in 2015 by former Governor Pat McCrory. Zachary is married to former Rep. Lee Zachary.
This year, Zachary was elected as vice president of the North Carolina Bar Association and appointed to the North Carolina State Bar Grievance committee.
According to her candidate questionnaire, Zachary noted that her Judicial philosophy is to ensure public confidence in the courts. She noted the importance of applying the law fairly to all regardless of party affiliation and working together with other judges on the Court of Appeals. She has never been sanctioned by the state bar.
When asked what she would do to improve the judicial system, Zachary noted that she would like to see the court continue to offer oral arguments via online video because it is less expensive for litigans who live outside of Raleigh or who might otherwise not be able to attend; the option was started during the pandemic.
Democrat: Ed Eldred
Read his full candidate responses here.
This is Carrboro-resident Ed Eldred’s first time running for office. According to his candidate questionnaire Eldred was drawn to run for office because “the courts have not been protecting our constitutional rights to free and fair elections, to a sound basic public education, or to reproductive freedom, abortion access, and bodily autonomy.” Eldred also stated that as a judge, three important issues include administering true justice, depoliticizing court opinions and restoring faith in the judicial department.
Eldred has never been sanctioned by the State Bar. With regards to abortion, Eldridge stated that “women have the right to make decisions about their own bodies.” He is also endorsed by Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice North Carolina and Equality NC.
Eldred attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Seat 15
Republican: Chris Freeman
Republican Chris Freeman is currently serving his ninth year and third term as a district court judge. He is also serving his 11th year as an officer in the US Air Force JAG Reserves. He is also a former prosecutor.
According to an article by the News & Observer, Freeman said that the areas of law in which he has experience include criminal, civil litigation, government/public interest and family law. On his website he notes that he went to High Point University and obtained his law degree from Regent University where he was influenced by the institution’s Motto, “Christian leadership to change the world.”
His website notes that he aims “to bring [his] steadfast commitment to conservative judicial philosophy to the appellate court level.”
Democrat: Martin Moore
UNC-Chapel Hill graduate Martin Moore started his career as a public defender. He now runs a mediation and appellate law practice and won a seat on the Buncombe County Commission in 2022, flipping a red seat to blue.
While more does not have platform details on his website he has multiple endorsements including ones from North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs, The Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice NC and Equality NC.
If elected, More would be the youngest judge currently sitting on the bench at 36, and also be one of the only Black judges on the Court of Appeals.
NC SENATE
District 26
Republican: Phil Berger (i)
Senator Phil Berger has served 12 terms since he was first elected in 2000. He served as minority leader of the state Senate from 2005-11 and became the president pro-tem of the state Senate in 2011. Over the past 24 years in office, Berger has sponsored or supported numerous conservative bills including the anti-trans HB2, voter ID laws, the gerrymandering of districts, blocking public access to police body cameras and more. This year, Berger sponsored S631, a bill that blocks gender-affirming care for children.
Democrat: Steve Luking
As a family doctor, Democrat Steve Luking’s platform largely relates to the issue of access to quality healthcare. On his website, he notes how the lack of medical insurance coverage, the lack of quality education and the burden of addiction can degrade communities. The issues that matter most to him include healthcare, public education and the “critical importance of integrity.”
If elected, Luking noted that he would work to expand Medicaid, advocate for quality public education and reduce the influence of money on legislators’ decisions through policy changes.
Luking also noted the importance of preserving reproductive rights, fighting against fentanyl poisoning, endorsing science-based methods in healthcare policy, limiting the influence of insurance companies and fighting aggressive medical-debt collection tactics. If elected, he said that he would support exempting a portion of a small business’s income from state corporate taxes, protecting the environment, protecting the LGBTQIA2S+ community and supporting commonsense gun laws.
Constitution: Alvin Robinson
Read his full candidate responses here.
Constitution candidate Alvin Robinson is no stranger to running for elected office. In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran for Guilford County Board of Commissioners and NC State Senate. In his candidate responses to TCB, Robinson noted that the three issues that are most important to him include life, religious liberty and parental rights/consent.
An openly religious candidate, Robinson noted in his responses that the “state needs to get back to uphold our Constitution to protect life.” As such, Robinson said that he would abolish abortion. He is opposed to casinos in the state, socialism and supports voter ID requirements.
District 27
Democrat: Michael Garrett (i)
Read his full candidate responses here.
Senator Michael Garrett has represented the 27th District since he was elected in 2018, flipping the seat from Republican Trudy Wade. Since then, Garrett has sponsored bills that would strengthen gun control, release police body-camera footage to citizen review boards, make certain chokeholds by police illegal and make Election Day a national holiday. On his website, Garrett notes that if elected, he would support a statewide school infrastructure bond, restore bonus pay for teachers with master’s degrees, expand Medicaid and give tax credits to small business owners. He would also support clean energy, work to pass bills that hold polluters accountable and work against gerrymandering. He is opposed to the use of public tax dollars for private school vouchers.
In his candidate response, Garrett said that he has a track record of working across the aisle with Republicans to pass legislation such as a bill to cut carbon emissions.His legislative role model is Sen. Kay Hagan. He stated that he would not support a 1-percent prepared-food tax in Guilford County.
Garrett is endorsed by the North Carolina Association of Educators, Equality NC, the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic and the North Carolina Sierra Club.
Republican: Paul Schumacher
According to his campaign website, Paul Schumacher doesn’t identify as part “of the red party or blue party” but as the “forefront of the new Red White and Blue party.” However, his website does include conservative notions, including small federal government, anti-Biden sentiment and what appears to be homemade anti-transgender memes.
In his military service, Schumacher was tasked with the coordination of the reserve portion of the Bosnian Humanitarian Airlift.
District 31
Incumbent Joyce Krawiec, R, announced her retirement in December 2023.
Republican: Dana Caudill Jones
Former Forsyth County School Board member Dana Caudill Jones is no stranger to running for political office. From 2011-13, she served as Mayor Pro Tem on Kernersville’s Board of Alderman. In 2015, she was elected to the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education; she served as the chair of the board from 2015-18.
Joyce Krawiec, who has held the District 31 seat since 2014, endorsed Jones as her replacement last year.
While she doesn’t have any platform positions on her website her press release and posts on Facebook show that she is a Trump supporter, an advocate for teachers, a proponent of school choice, anti-abortion and a supporter of the Second Amendment.
Democrat: Ronda Mays
rondamays4ncstatesenate31.campaign.win
Read her full candidate responses here.
This is candidate Rhonda Mays’s first time running for political office. In the past, she was elected as the president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators for two terms. She was also elected to serve as the North Carolina Director on the National Education Association Board.
According to her candidate questionnaire responses, she said that her top priorities include schools and education, the economy and housing. In terms of schools and education, she noted that she has served as a school social worker for 24 years and has seen the importance of having resources in schools. She also opposes increased funding to private schools and urges state legislators to honor the Leandro ruling.
In terms of the economy maze noted that the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour needs to be increased. She said affordable housing is a priority. If elected, May noted that she would work to issue a moratorium on opportunity scholarships, reinstate longevity pay for state employees, push for the Leandro ruling to be executed, increase funding for mental and physical healthcare issues, push for childcare funding and increase the state minimum wage. Mays also supports the expansion of Medicaid and views senators Graig Myer and Paul Lowe as her legislative role models.
District 32
Democrat: Paul Lowe (i)
Read his full candidate responses here.
Incumbent Paul Lowe has served in the state Senate for the 32nd District since 2015. In that time, he has supported bills that would prohibit the release of mugshots to the public and media, restore state employee and teacher retiree medical benefits, make police footage more readily available and legalize medical marijuana in the state.
According to his website, Lowe would work to expand Medicaid, push for school bonds to build and repair schools and create programs to help community college students finish their degrees and find good jobs.
Lowe is the pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
Libertarian: Zac Lentz
Triad City Beat could not find any information about this candidate.
Republican: George K. Ware
Real estate businessman George Ware said that if he was elected he would hold quarterly district forums to get public input. According to his website his priorities include school choice, fighting inflation, healthcare reform, protecting neighborhoods, term limits and community grant funding.
He would push for increasing teacher salaries, direct healthcare programs for the uninsured and for two-term limits for politicians. He noted that he pledges to not seek more than two terms as a state senator.
According to a candidate survey by the NC Family Policy Council, a conservative political website, Ware supports private-school vouchers and restrictions to abortion. He does not support trans students in school sports or the protection of sexual orientation or gender identity. He is undecided on the legalization of medical marijuana and assisted suicide by doctors.
NC HOUSE
District 57
Democrat: Tracy Clark (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Incumbent Tracy Clark took the seat for District 57 earlier this year when the former representative, Ashton Clemmons, announced her resignation. Amidst some political controversy — particularly within the local Black political machine — Clark was chosen as the replacement and took office in August.
According to her campaign website, Clark’s priorities include increasing pay for public school teachers, investing in safe gun storage, implementing red-flag laws and ensuring reproductive rights.
In her candidate questionnaire responses, Clark described herself as a moderate who understands that working across the aisle is important to passing legislation. If elected Clark said that she would work to repeal the abortion ban currently in place, repeal the private school vouchers and push legislation that reduces gun violence. Her legislative role model is Rep. Pricey Harrison. She stated that she would not be in support of a future 1-percent food tax but is in support of the quarter-cent sales tax increase to support educator pay.
Clark attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Republican: Janice Davis
While Republican Janice Davis does not appear to have a campaign website, on her Facebook page, she posted support for former President Donald Trump.
District 59
Republican: Alan Branson (i)
Incumbent Alan Branson was appointed to the District 59 seat in April after Rep. Jon Hardister resigned. He owns a family trucking company and is a Methodist.
Branson previously served on the Guilford County Board of Commission from 2013-21 and then ran unsuccessful campaigns for the board in 2020 and 2022.
According to his campaign website, Branson’s priorities include supporting police and emergency service personnel, lowering taxes and pushing for school choice.
Democrat: Tanneisha Dukes
Read her full candidate responses here.
First-time candidate Tanneisha Dukes has worked as a fourth and fifth grade teacher in Guilford County Schools and recently earned her PhD in Educational Leadership from High Point University.
According to her questionnaire responses, Dukes is most concerned with funding public schools, protecting reproductive rights and public safety. If elected, she would push against private school vouchers, support funding for mental-health professionals and crisis responders and advocate for improving the state’s rate of maternal mortality. She also listed advocating for voting rights on her website.
Her legislative role models include Reps. Lindsey Prather, Renee Price, Ashton Clemmons, Amos Quick and Pricey Harrison.
Dukes attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
District 60
Democrat: Cecil Brockman (i)
Incumbent Cecil Brockman has represented the 60th District since he was first elected in 2014. Since then, he has sponsored legislation that would have offered free breakfast and lunch in public schools, increased access to affordable healthcare, enacted police reform and expanded the state’s pre-K program. He is one of the only openly LGBTQIA2S+ members of the NC General Assembly as a bisexual man.
In the last year, Brockman has come under scrutiny for missing legislative votes including ones that pertained to the repeal of pistol purchase permits and requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE.
Early this year, news outlets reported that both Brockman and fellow Democrat Michael Wray had campaign mailers that were sent out on their behalf by the Carolina Leadership Coalition, a conservative nonprofit with deep ties to both North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and a political action committee that supports House Republicans. In interviews, Brockman said that he had no idea that the mailers were being sent out and that it’s illegal for candidates to coordinate with organizations during election season.
On his website, Brockman lists jobs and the economy, education and healthcare as his core priorities.
Republican: Joseph Perrotta
According to his campaign website, Joseph Perrotta’s top priorities include school choice, supporting law enforcement and immigration control.
In his responses to Ballotpedia’s survey questions, Perrotta noted that he is concerned about “illegal aliens” coming into the country and ensuring that they “are not relocated to our neighborhoods.” As the son of a veteran, he’s passionate about veteran affairs.
He also stated that it’s beneficial to foster relationships with other legislators to build trust which will help in negotiating points of a bill or garnering support.
District 61
Democrat: Pricey Harrison (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Incumbent Pricey Harrison has represented District 61 since 2019, and represented District 57 from 2005-19. During her tenure, she has been a staunch advocate for environmental protections, reproductive rights, public education and social justice.
Her main priorities, according to her questionnaire responses include protecting voting rights, addressing climate change and protecting and strengthening public schools. She also noted that for the foreseeable future, she would be focused on helping Western NC recover.
If re-elected, Harrison noted that she would push for citizen-driven redistricting, fighting efforts to limit access to the ballot, gun violence prevention and protecting reproductive rights.
Her legislative role models include the late Rep. Rich Preyer and US Rep. Jamie Raskin and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
She noted that she is mixed about the potential for a 1-percent prepared-food tax in Guilford County. A more appropriate solution would be through an occupancy tax, Harrison said.
Harrison attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Republican: Crystal Davis
According to her campaign website, Crystal Davis is a supporter of the Second Amendment, limited government, the NC Constitution, fiscal conservatism and limited government. She is also an advocate for collaborating “with faith-based institutions with a proven track record of successful rehabilitation, maximizing the resources available to help those in need.”
District 62
Republican: John Blust (i)
Politician John Blust has been the representative for District 62 since former Rep. John Faircloth resigned in September. In the past, Blust served in the NC House of Representatives (1996-99) and unsuccessfully ran for the 13th District of the US House of Representatives in 2016. Blust is a veteran.
According to his campaign website, he supports school choice, increasing funds for public schools, reducing taxes, voter ID, the Second Amendment and abortion restrictions. If elected, he would push for defunding DEI and CRT in schools and clarifying the emergency powers of the state. He also supports stricter immigration enforcement.
Democrat: Margie Benbow
Read her full candidate responses here.
According to her campaign website, Margie Benbow is a lawyer, farmer, former public school teacher and military wife and widow. After the passing of her husband, Benbow became a VA-accredited attorney to fight for veterans’ rights.
In her candidate questionnaire responses, Benbow noted that she is concerned about public education (funding and pay for teachers), reproductive healthcare and good jobs. She also stressed the importance of “safeguarding clean air and water and protecting our parks and open spaces.” She opposes the practice of gerrymandering. She supports providing more healthcare to North Carolinians.
As a political moderate, Benbow noted that she is for transparency and accountability in government spending and that she opposes government overreach.
Benbow attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
District 74
Republican: Jeff Zenger (i)
Incumbent Jeff Zenger has represented District 74 since 2021. Since that time Zenger has sponsored legislation that would have targeted drag performers, established a pilot program to support the mental health of caregivers and offered housing support for firefighters, law enforcement officers, teachers, nurses and first-time home buyers.
According to his website, Zenger previously served as a missionary in Baltimore and believes that the government should be small. He is also anti-abortion, for second amendment rights and loosening business regulation. He owns construction and development companies according to the state secretary’s database.
Democrat: Amy Taylor North
Read her full candidate responses here.
First time candidate and longtime political volunteer Amy Taylor North said if she were elected she would prioritize teachers, public schools, local small businesses, reproductive and healthcare rights and safer communities.
In her candidate responses, North said that it is important to break up the supermajority to protect democracy. She wants to fully fund public schools, make teachers’ salaries competitive and support universal pre-K. She is also LGBTQ+ affirming.
While she supports school choice, she said that the expansion of private school vouchers takes away from public education and is “destroying our schools.”
Her legislative role models include Natasha Marcus and Jeff Jackson.
District 75
Republican: Donny Lambeth (i)
Incumbent Donnie Lambeth has represented the 75th District since 2013. In 2017 he voted for a budget that did not include a stipend for teachers for out-of-pocket expenses. He has supported legislation targeting drag performers and a bill that would have increased the size of Winston-Salem’s city council. He also supported the expansion of Medicaid and sponsored a bill that would have studied the legalization of assisted suicide in NC.
Prior to becoming a legislator, Lambeth served on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education for 18 years as chair. He formerly served as a hospital administrator. His priorities include healthcare and education.
Democrat: Caroline Warren
facebook.com/p/Caroline-Warren-for-NC-House-75-61555537423512/
Read her full candidate responses here.
While Caroline Warren has no experience in elected office, she was hired as an organizer for the Obama campaign in 2012 and has worked on campaigns ever since. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
In her candidate response, Warren said that her priorities include ending the prohibition on collective bargaining for state employees, pushing for a $20 minimum wage and fully funding public schools. She also would push to increase the minimum age for marriage to 18.
According to her Facebook page, she is against the expansion of private school vouchers, supports reproductive rights and increasing teacher pay.
Her legislative role models include Mo Green. Warren is also an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights. She attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
District 91
Republican: Kyle Hall (i)
Incumbent Kyle Hall has represented District 91 since he was first appointed to the seat in 2015. In that time, he has sponsored legislation that would have removed motor-vehicle emissions testing requirements, allowed landlords to refuse rent to tenants whose income comes from federal housing-assistance programs and combatted social-media addiction.
According to his campaign website, he is the child of public educators and is a licensed real estate broker and realtor. His top priorities include improving education, limiting government and restricting abortion. He believes that defunding the police is a radical idea.
Democrat: Vivian Fulk
Read her full candidate responses here.
Activist Vivian Fulk said on her website that she champions women’s rights, STEAM public education, voter’s rights, environmental justice and the “coexistence of race, religion and sexual orientation.”
As a former volunteer with former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, Fulk is passionate about environmental protection. In responses to TCB, Fulk noted that she does not support the expansion of private school vouchers or restrictions to abortion. Her top priority is fully funding public schools.
To make housing more affordable, Fulk said that she would follow Carolina Forward’s Middle Class Housing Plan to guarantee below-market construction and permanent financing for qualifying housing projects and override certain permitting with appropriate zones and utilities.
She formerly worked as an industrial engineer and IT project management specialist.
NC DISTRICT COURT
District 24B Seat 1
Democrat: Stephanie Reese (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Stephanie Reese was first appointed to the seat in 2022 by Gov. Roy Cooper before the realignment of districts last year. In her candidate responses to TCB, Reese noted that she has more than 20 years of experience in district and superior courts handling both civil and criminal cases. She has lived in High Point for more than 20 years.
At a candidate forum in February, Reese noted that she’s never been publicly sanctioned and that she is pro-choice.
If she had the power to change something about the judicial system, Reese said she would make the first-offender diversion program for drug violations mandatory so that people don’t get convicted of felonies. She also said she would advocate for more money in diversion courts to help get people out of the system and wants to start a veterans’ court. She would also support increased funding for programs like drug-treatment court and mental-health court.
Her judicial philosophy is two-fold: that everyone is respected and making sure that what is happening in the courtroom is the right thing.
Republican: Georgia Nixon
On her candidate website, Georgia Nixon said she opened her own practice in 1995 and worked as an assistant district attorney for NC prior to that. She served on Jamestown Town Council for 12 years.
During a candidate forum in February, Nixon noted that she was sanctioned in 2013 and said that she “had several associates working for [her]” and that she was “accused of something and had to make some hard decisions.” In the end, because of Nixon’s general good standing of not having any prior professional disciplines and the fact that her actions were “intended to benefit her [clients],” Nixon’s license was kept from being suspended due to good behavior.
Nixon noted that she was pro-choice during the forum. She wants to “level the playing field” by advocating for packets of information like the ones provided by One Step Further which provide a client’s background that gives context to their life that can help their cases. Her judicial philosophy is “about fairness.”
She has been endorsed by Guilford County Commissioner Alan Perdue, former Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes and former High Point Mayor Jay Wagner.
District 31 Seat 10
Incumbent Victoria Roemer did not file for re-election.
Democrat: Shonna Alexander
Read her full candidate responses here.
This is Shonna Alexander’s first time running for elected office. According to her candidate questionnaire responses, Alexander’s priorities include public safety, school safety and access to juice for housing and economic issues.
According to her website, Alexander became a licensed registered nurse in 2007.
Her judicial philosophy pertains to access to justice. “All parties whether charged with a crime or the victim of a crime deserve a full and fair hearing,” Alexander wrote.
Alexander was temporarily suspended from the NC State Bar 19 years ago and was reinstated the following year. “I know that having made that mistake almost two decades ago did not prevent me from serving my community in multiple ways,” she wrote. “Most importantly I have a greater ability to empathize with my clients as they often navigated the worst day of their lives.”
Republican: Erin Brock
Read her full candidate responses here.
According to her campaign website, Erin Brock grew up in a military family where faith was a cornerstone of her upbringing. In 2006, she opened her own law practice in Winston-Salem. She has practiced as a criminal defense attorney and family law attorney in District Court in Forsyth County and the surrounding counties for the past 26 years.
In her candidate responses, Brock noted that the three issues most important to her are individual rights, people experiencing trauma and their impact on the court system and the fundamental fair and equal application of the law. In an example, Brock noted that in a Driving While Impaired case, law enforcement must have a reasonable articulable suspicion to stop the vehicle. If they do not, a motion to dismiss must be granted.
She has never been sanctioned. If elected, she would advocate for a diversionary court that addresses trauma. She believes “that a woman’s access to abortion is an equal protection issue and is still a valid constitutional right.”
Brock lives in Clemmons.
COUNTY RACES
GUILFORD COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
District 3
Republican: Michael Logan (i)
Read his full candidate responses here.
Incumbent Michael Logan became the District 3 representative after a contentious dispute between Republicans and Democrats on the local school board. Initially, after the previous representative, Pat Tillman resigned, the Republicans on the board chose Logan to fill the seat but the board’s Democratic members — which make up a majority of the board — opposed their pick, pointing out past comments and social media posts made by Logan that were “racially prejudiced.” Democrats then seated Bill Goebel, a different Republican in the seat against local Republicans’ will. After some back and forth, including input from state legislators, a law was passed that allowed Logan to take the seat a year ago after Goebel resigned.
A former Guilford County Schools teacher, he spent 26 years with GCS and mainly taught automotive technology to students. Regarding school vouchers, Logan believes that the “money follows the student, it can go both ways. When you create an environment that parents want their children to attend, you win the money.” As for parents’ roles in shaping school curriculum, Logan stated: “Parental rights and responsibilities come first…All curriculum and materials should be available for parents.” On LGBTQ+ rights in schools, he said, “One student shouldn’t have more rights than another. Sexual orientation isn’t included in subject matter. All students can learn.”
Logan supports the ¼ cent sales tax increase for teacher and school staff pay.
Logan attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Democrat: David Coates
Read his full candidate responses here.
First-time candidate and longtime school board attorney, David Coates’s top three issues include “physical and emotional safety of students and staff, attractive pay for teachers and staff and accountability for student achievement.” State representatives have been working to expand school vouchers, and Coates stated that he’s “adamantly opposed” to private school vouchers, calling them a “direct assault on public education.” He would prioritize school safety by having a nurse in every school, banning semi-automatic weapons and having periodic security reviews of schools. Coates supports the ¼ cent sales tax increase for teacher and school staff pay.
Coates attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Unaffiliated: Bill Goebel
Read his full candidate responses here.
A former Republican, Goebel gathered the necessary number of signatures to appear on the ballot this November as an unaffiliated candidate. Goebel was on the board from April 2023 until he resigned in August 2023. He’s against school vouchers, and said that the money should instead be going toward teacher raises as well as school facilities — which a large portion of counties’ budgets goes toward. He added that his philosophy on LGBTQIA2S+ rights in schools is: “Every student has a right to be identified as they wish, no exceptions. Let’s keep politics [out] of our schools.” Coates supports the ¼ cent sales tax increase for teacher and school staff pay.
Goebel attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
District 5
Democrat: Deborah Napper (i)
According to Napper’s Facebook page, she is a registered nurse, mom and PTA volunteer. In an Oct. 1 video posted to social media, she stated that one of the questions she is frequently asked is, “What have I done? What did I do for four years?”
She said that the answer is “pretty simple.”
“The first thing I did is show up” for commissioner meetings and duties. “I personally think that that attendance record thing is a pretty big deal for elected officials,” she said. Some things she posts about are gun violence, tax increases for teacher pay and fentanyl poisoning awareness.
In a News & Record article, Napper noted that her priorities include oversight of bond money for school construction and repair, hiring more police for schools and offering better pay for teachers.
During a candidate forum in September, Napper noted that public dollars should stay in public schools and that she doesn’t support the expansion of private school vouchers. She also said that she wants to see more environmental consciousness within the school system including solar buses and solar panels on schools.
She supports LGBTQIA2S+ students and is endorsed by the Guilford Green Foundation.
Republican: Cara Townsend Dohner
Read her full candidate responses here.
Republican Cara Dohner previously worked for former Gov. Pat McCrory as a policy analyst, and worked for former president George W. Bush’s office before that. She was also a legislative assistant for the US House of Representatives, working for four members of Congress. She’s currently the regional director of community relations for Vaya Health and was the former president of the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club.
The three most important issues to her are “school safety for students, teachers and staff, more transparency for parents, teachers, school board members and the community, and behavioral health solutions for our classrooms.” She supports the proposed quarter-cent sales tax. On parents’ roles in shaping curriculum, she said, “I think parents and grandparents deserve to know what their kids are learning in school. I think constituents should oversee electing leaders who will shape school curriculum.”
During a candidate forum in September, Dohner noted that she supports diversity in schools, noting how there are dozens of languages spoken in the school system. She also stated that LGBTQ+ students need to be protected from discrimination and she would support mental health training for teachers.
Dohner attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
District 7
Democrat: Bettye Jenkins (i)
The BOE’s current vice-chair, Bettye Jenkins, has been in office since 2020. She worked for more than 30 years with Guilford County Schools’ families, and over the course of her years in Greensboro, she worked as a library clerk, teacher’s assistant, counselor, school social worker, community service work coordinator and social work supervisor. According to her website, she will work to “implement plans for parental involvement, ensure educators have resources for 21st Century content and utilize leadership experience to create positive change.” Jenkins attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Republican: Karen Coble Albright
No website
According to Albright’s LinkedIn profile linked in her Ballotpedia page, she works at West Market Realty and attended Guilford Technical Community College.
GUILFORD COUNTY COMMISSION
District 4
Democrat: Mary Beth Murphy (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Murphy has been in office since 2020. In a statement shared with TCB, Murphy noted that she “ran for this office because of [her] deeply held belief in public schools as the foundation of our democracy.”
She stated that “being a County Commissioner is about improving quality of life for all members of our community. In order to do this, we must not only invest in our public schools, but also improve access to healthcare and support economic development that allows all people to thrive. We have made great progress in these areas over the last four years, and there is still work to be done, which is why I am seeking re-election.”
Murphy attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Republican: Tony Jacobelli
Read his full candidate responses here.
Tony Jacobelli is an engineer and has served as a Guilford County poll judge according to his website. In the candidate questionnaire he filled out for TCB, Jacobelli stated that one area the county could improve upon is “affordable, quality housing,” and thinks that it spends too much money on “social programs that have had no little or no recorded results toward improvements of those they are chartered to help.” Jacobelli does not support tax increases to support school infrastructure or teacher pay, and stated that the county commission’s relationship with the homeless community should be to offer “temporary, constructive and efficient assistance to get them onto a path for responsible citizenry. Municipalities should not be encouraging or condoning a lifestyle of homelessness, but providing the temporary help needed to get them out of homelessness, permanently.”
District 5
Democrat: Carly Cooke (i)
Read her full candidate responses here.
Carly Cooke has been a commissioner since 2020, and was driven to run for office after becoming “actively involved” in her youngest son’s school when he started kindergarten and seeing the “significant and ongoing lack of support” that public schools “endure,” according to her statement to TCB. Some issues that are a priority to Cooke are investing in public education, improving access to healthcare and basic needs for the county’s “most vulnerable residents” and addressing housing and food needs. “We’ve been fortunate to experience significant economic growth in recent years. We must work to continue this momentum but also assess and anticipate infrastructure needs to ensure our community can continue to thrive amid the economic growth,” she stated.
Cooke attended TCB’s Greensboro reverse town hall.
Republican: Reece Walker
No website
Reece Walker lost his seat on Summerfield’s town council last year after serving on the board for eight years.
District 6
Democrat: Brandon Gray-Hill (i)
Read his full candidate responses here.
Brandon Gray-Hill has been in office since October 2023, filling in the remainder of Commissioner James Upchurch’s term after he vacated the seat. According to Gray-Hill’s website, he’s a small-business owner, community activist and former first vice-chair of the Guilford County Democratic Party. Gray-Hill’s top three issues are “schools, economic development and public health/safety,” according to his candidate questionnaire. “I think our team does a great job of allocating funding,” Gray-Hill said of county spending. “As Republicans in the General Assembly continue to defund our public schools, the county has to step in and fill the gap. If over half of our budget did not have to go to our schools we would be able to afford to spend more money in other places but at this time we cannot.” Gray-Hill supports the ¼-cent sales tax for teacher and staff pay.
Republican: Maritza Gomez
Maritza Gomez is a small business owner. According to her website, she supports lowering taxes and cutting “waste from the county budget.” As for her stance on public safety, she stated that the county is “currently experiencing a massive crime spike fueled by Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies. As your County Commissioner, I will make sure that the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is not only getting the funding it deserves but the accountability it needs.”
FORSYTH COUNTY COMMISSION
District B (Vote for three)
Republican: Richard Linville (i)
No website
Linville was first elected in 1980 and was the chair of the board from 1985-86. A farm owner, Linville’s community service includes the NC Association of County Commissioners Agricultural Committee, Transportation Advisory Council and North Carolina Agricultural Steering Committee. Linville attended East Forsyth High School.
Republican: Gloria Whisenhunt (i)
Whisenhunt has been in office since 1996 and has served as chair and vice chair of the board. Before that, she was on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education from 1990-96. Whisenhunt was previously a cosmetologist. Whisenhunt got into politics because customers in her shop used to “constantly complain about the public schools.” After her son left for college, she “decided to do something.” According to her website, she’s focused on fighting against drug and opioid addiction.
Republican: Gray Wilson (i)
Despite an unsuccessful bid for one of the three spots on the Republican ticket during March’s primary election, Wilson was selected to fill the remainder of former commissioner Dave Plyler in July.
Wilson is a US Army veteran and has practiced law in Winston-Salem for 47 years, most recently with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. He also taught trial advocacy at Wake Forest University School of Law and authored North Carolina Civil Procedure. His priorities are community safety, economic development, housing, education and fiscal responsibility, according to his website. Wilson feels that the city’s police department and sheriff’s office are “undermanned, underpaid and overwhelmed with the spike in violent crime,” and that they need to be “supported” and offered competitive salaries.
Democrat: Valerie Brockenbrough
Read her full candidate responses here.
Valerie Brockenbrough is a mom and entrepreneur who runs Zoë b Organic and helped found Community for Public Schools, a group of parents, educators and other community members involved in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. She served as the board president of Piedmont Environmental Alliance for two years. Brockenbrough wants to invest in school buildings and push for a school bond on the ballot in 2024, “properly fund” the sheriff’s office and jail and create a “holistic plan” for housing. Brockenbrough believes that it’s “time for new leadership,” according to her candidate questionnaire. Her top three issues are public education and access to Pre-K, making sure the county has a fully staffed emergency department and preventing gun violence. She also supports tax increases in order to provide more support for public education. All three Democratic candidates favor changing the meeting times for the commission, which meets at 2 p.m. on Thursdays.
Brockenbrough attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
Democrat: Curtis Fentress
Read his full candidate responses here.
Curtis Fentress is a dad, a Forsyth County native, the marketing director for Ecolab Inc. and a volunteer coach with NC Fusion Youth Soccer. He’s also a startup mentor with Winston Starts. In his candidate questionnaire, he stated that school quality and economic growth are the most important issues facing county commissioners. “We need to increase revenues for the County to be able to fund critical services,” he added. “Increasing revenues are a function of how many taxpayers exist, how much they spend, and what rate they pay. As county commissioner, my focus would be on increasing the number of taxpayers as opposed to raising rates which could have a counterproductive effect on the budget long-term.” To the question of whether he would support tax increases for school infrastructure and teacher pay, Fentress responded, “I support teacher pay and infrastructure as high priorities in the County’s next budget.” Fentress attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
Democrat: Marsie West
Read her full candidate responses here.
Marsie West is a senior consultant with the Enosys Group, a business-consulting firm, and was the vice president of Wachovia Bank from 1990-94. Her previous experience as a civil servant includes serving as a town meeting member for Reading, Mass. from 2005-15 and serving as the finance committee’s chair and vice chair for several years. She was on the Reading Board of Selectmen from 2013-15.
In her TCB candidate questionnaire, West stated that “strong public education, public safety, and affordable housing are the three top issues we must focus on to attract new businesses that will help build our economy and keep the tax rate low while allowing us to continue to provide needed services to the community.” She thinks the county commission needs to do a “better job coordinating with the Winston-Salem City Council and the leadership of our other municipalities.”
West attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
WINSTON-SALEM CITY COUNCIL
Northwest Ward
Incumbent Jeff MacIntosh, D, announced in January 2023 that he would not seek reelection.
Democrat: Regina Ford Hall
Read her full candidate responses here.
Regina Ford Hall worked for the US House of Representatives from 2009-14; now she’s the executive director of the Boston-Thurmond community network and previously served as the reintegration and youth development manager with the city of Winston-Salem, helping to coordinate the Winston-Salem Urban Food Policy Council. She was also the 12th Congressional District’s district liaison for the US House of Representatives. She worked as a program administrator for Successful Outcomes After Release, or SOAR, a city program that temporarily employs former offenders and gives them work experience in routine labor and clerical jobs.
In office, Hall wants to address issues like gun violence, poverty, climate, hunger and food insecurity and housing. The three most important issues to her are “housing, public safety, and small business support,” according to her candidate questionnaire. “I sincerely believe that social engagement is the secret sauce to starting conversations that foster creative ideas to solving some of our city’s most wicked problems such as poverty, (gun) violence, chronic homelessness, and recidivism,” she added.
Hall attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
Republican: Jimmy Hodson
Jimmy Hodson is taking another shot at this seat after narrowly losing the Republican nomination to Eric Henderson in 2016. Hodson served in the US Army and has lived in Winston-Salem since 1995. He’s currently a product manager at Noregon Systems, a software development company in Greensboro. He’s also been a board member of United Family Church for more than eight years. Hodson’s top priority is public safety according to his website, and he’s “fervent about fostering economic prosperity.”
West Ward
Republican: Robert C. Clark (i)
No website
Robert Clark has been in office since 2001 and is the chair of the city council’s Finance Committee. He worked as an outside director of Triad Business Bank and is the president and owner of Leesona Industries headquartered in Burlington. The city does a “good job for the most part” in providing services, Clark stated in the candidate questionnaire he filled out for TCB, but believes that it could be doing a better job at maintaining its roads. The issue of homelessness is a “complex one that requires coordination between many stake holders including the city,” he stated. “A discussion of this topic is lengthy and complex, but I would add that it is an area that I take a person[al] interest in and support a community wide effort to address.”
Democrat: Chris Smith
Read his full candidate responses here.
A small business owner, Winston-Salem native and army veteran, Chris Smith first ran for county commission in 2020. After the race, he and a few volunteers started the Non-Discrimination Ordinance Coalition, a community advocacy organization that aims to expand non-discrimination protections in Winston-Salem, eventually helping to pass an expanded version of the city’s non-discrimination ordinance. He believes that the top three issues facing the city are affordable housing, community safety and economic development. He also believes that the city’s relationship with the homeless community should be one of “support, compassion, and understanding, not aggression and punishment,” and supports the housing-first model.
Ballot initiatives/Referenda
Statewide: Constitutional Amendment (FOR or AGAINST)
Constitutional amendment to provide that only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age and otherwise possessing the qualifications for voting shall be entitled to vote at any election in this State.
This amendment to the state Constitution would change wording to note that only a citizen of the US who is at least 18 years old shall be entitled to vote at any election. Critics of the amendment have noted that protections already exist barring anyone who is not a citizen from voting. The bill, HB1074, was a Republican-backed measure that would replace the part of the Constitution that states that “every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized” is entitled to vote. Several human-rights and immigrant-rights groups including the NC Justice Center, Democracy NC and El Pueblo have spoken out against the amendment.
“Those who proposed this constitutional reform based this decision on anti-immigrant rhetoric, they insinuate without any evidence that immigrants can be a threat to the integrity of the electoral process,” El Pueblo states.
The referenda is similar to several other amendments on the ballots in other states including ones in Wisconsin and South Carolina.
A vote FOR would mean changing the language. A vote AGAINST would mean keeping the language as it is now.
Guilford County: Local Sales and Use Tax (FOR or AGAINST)
Local sales and use tax at the rate of one-quarter percent (0.25%) in addition to all other State and local sales and use taxes.
While the text of the referendum does not state this, the proposed .25 percent, or quarter-cent sales tax increase, was authorized by county commissioners earlier this year to be used to increase teacher pay and pay for school staff.
A vote FOR would increase the tax rate to support teacher and school staff pay. A vote AGAINST would keep the tax rate the same.
During a candidate forum in September, both Republican and Democratic candidates for Guilford County School Board noted that they supported the sales-tax increase.
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