How to Apply for a Marriage License Online? - Vital

I've been doing this for the last 3 elections and people tell me it's useful so here it goes again. There are a LOT of candidates in this upcoming primary. I did my best to provide a summary of most of them (I omitted the presidential candidates, and the board members representing specific districts). I start with the Republican ballot. You must scroll way down for for the Democratic ballot. Independents can choose which primary they want to vote in. If you have comments or additional information to inform voters, please add them at the bottom. Be informed and vote!
Here’s what is on the Republican ballot.
I won’t go into detail on the presidential candidates though it is important to note that there are two serious candidates against Trump. Bill Weld was the former governor of Massachusetts and Joe Walsh is a vocal former congressman who feels that Republicans should get another choice.
US Senate candidates:
Thom Tillis. Tillis is the incumbent first elected in 2014 (who will likely have a tough race in November but should sail through the primary). He stayed within party lines and has supported Trump and has advocated anti-abortion issues and some anti-Internet marketplace actions (e.g. anti-counterfeit measures, the SANTA Act which forces more accountability on the part of marketplace sellers). He calls himself a “common sense fiscal conservative.” He is a critic of tax increases and “passionate about serving active military members, veterans and their families.” He supported Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and “the President’s stance on border security.” Tillis was previously speaker of the NC House. In the House, he supported the 2nd Amendment, anti-abortion initiatives and voter ID efforts. He lives in Huntersville.
Paul Wright. Wright was a former judge (District Court judge, Superior Court Judge). Wright, like his name, leans right. He has a “lifelong interest in conservative politics.” He believes “Christianity should be rightfully restored to its proper place to protect the rights of the people.” He is worried about dechristianization (“America losing its soul”), supports the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms, supports building a border wall and ending sanctuary cities, and wants to reverse same-sex marriage.
Larry Holmquist. Holmquist claims to be a “consistent conservative” and is a far-right candidate. He is pro-wall and 2nd amendment, anti-abortion (he thinks Planned Parenthood is “despicable”), pro term limits (thinks both Senators and House reps should have 12 years only), anti-Obamacare and pro strong national defense. He is “disgusted by Thom Tillis’ ‘flip-flopping’” and asserts that Thom Tillis is opposed to Trump’s border wall. He is a supporter of energy companies (“over-zealous environmentalists” should not be allowed to “shackle the country’s energy output.”) He also wants to abolish federal education standards and let cities and counties determine education. He is from the Midwest (Illinios and Iowa), lives in Greensboro, and is a former salesman and businessman.
Sharon Hudson. Hudson is a graduate of UNCC, lives in the Charlotte area and appears to be a moderate candidate. She is anti-Thom Tillis because she didn’t like the I-77 toll road expansion which she thinks he pushed. She believes these “failing financial models shouldn’t be forced on the American people.” She is pro-environment (though doesn’t mention anything specific to save it). She believes illegal immigrants should have “a strong guest worker program.” She is pro-life and supports “charter schools, private schools and homeschooling.” Her father was a cousin of Chuck Yeager (she’s from West Virginia where Yeager is from; Yeager was the first pilot to break the sound barrier).
NC Governor:
Dan Forest. Forest is an architect by training. He served for two terms as the Lieutenant Governor (2 terms max is what the NC Constitution allows). He is also a very conservative candidate: he supports school choice, was pro HB2, has voted against climate change legislation and is anti-gun control. He is as close to political royalty in Charlotte as one gets: he is the son of Sue Myrick, the Congresswoman from District 9 from 1995-2013 and former Charlotte mayor. Forest is in the midst of a money scandal because he recently received an in-kind donation from a donor who was indicted for financial crimes.
Holly Grange. Grange has a sparse website but decent experience; “Trump supporter” is one of the few words on her homepage. She is a “wife, mother, military veteran and member of NC House or Representatives.” She went to West Point. Her plan under “jobs & economy” on her website says that she supports tort reform to crackdown on trial lawyers and “jackpot justice.” She wants sheriffs to cooperate with ICE (unlike Mecklenburg Country’s sheriff). She is pro-life, pro-veteran and pro first responders (police and firefighters). She lives in Wilmington.
NC Lieutenant Governor:
This is an understandably less scrutinized race than governor as the role has less responsibility (even though the salary, $125k, is almost as much as the Governor’s). This role is like the Vice President: it is 2nd in line to the governorship, and it presides over the NC Senate. The role also serves on the NC Board of Education, the NC Capital Planning Commission, the NC Board of Community Colleges and is Chairman of eLearning Commission. I’m not sure why there are as many candidates as there are though this article explains it: many believe it is a stepping stone, a “cushy” job with a good title and relatively little attention.
John Ritter. Ritter is a lawyer in Moore County and a new father. It does not appear that he has any political experience. He is an advocate of vocational education, strong infrastructure, and fiscal responsibility.
Mark Robinson. Robinson has little political experience. He served in the Army reserves and held a number of different jobs as a factory and restaurant shift worker. He gave an impassioned speech about the right for citizens to own guns to the Greensboro City Council in April 2018 which made its way to YouTube and was well-received by conservatives as he critiqued the “loonies on the left.” He is also African American, which makes him a unique and appealing spokesperson for conservatives.
Scott Stone. Stone is a businessman and civil engineer from South Charlotte. He was an NC House member from Mecklenburg County until he lost in 2018 when there was a “blue wave” in the county. He’s ambitious--he tried to run for mayor of Charlotte twice. His platform in this election is about reduced regulation and taxes, standing up to sanctuary sheriffs, protecting the 2nd Amendment and enforcing voter ID laws and advocating against abortion.
Andy Wells. Wells is currently an NC State Senator for a rural area near Winston-Salem. He was an NC House member before that. He is a business owner of a real estate development company and his website indicates he is supportive of voter ID laws and not supportive of sanctuary sheriffs.
Buddy Bengal. Bengal is a young entrepreneur in New Bern with restaurants, a small baseball team and a syrup company to his name. He is an advocate of job creation and economic development and believes he can be a “salesman for the state.” He also mentions accountability for public employees but it’s unclear what that means other than to “reorganize inefficient or bloated departments.”
Deborah Cochran. Cochran is a former mayor of Mt Airy and teacher at a local high school. She says that she is an advocate of teachers. Her website states nothing specific about her issues other than esoteric statements like “I want to be the voice for all of NC.” While mayor, she says she led on the following issues: “responsible governance, lowering property tax rates, and public safety as necessities for citizens.”
Renee Ellmers. Ellmers was a US House Representative for the 2nd District of NC (which include Raleigh) from 2011 to 2017. Ellmers was a nurse elected to office in the Tea Party wave of 2010. She lost the GOP primary in 2016 amid allegations that she had an affair with Kevin McCarthy, the US House Minority Leader. She has been accused of being not conservative enough (she, with other Republican women, tried to stop a vote on banning abortions after 20 weeks—she disagreed with some of the rape provisions). In fact, others in the Republican party have accused her of being a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
Greg Gebhardt. Gebhardt is a military veteran and was an author of the NC voter ID law. His platform includes enforcing “common-sense legislation that enforces immigration laws,” advocating against abortion, defending the 2nd Amendment and “fighting socialism.” Healthcare and education are listed last on his platform page.
Mark Johnson. Johnson is currently the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He says he is running to “fight complacency in state government.” As superintendent, he was against the Common Core and that got him into many fights with what he called “bureaucratic fiefdoms” and the “deep state.” He was caught in controversy for awarding an $8MM computer-based testing solution when an advisory committee said otherwise, and for monitoring an employee’s text messages illegally. He was also accused of purchasing $6MM in iPads that didn’t follow protocol and happened after a trip to Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.
NC Attorney General:
The NC Attorney General is the top law enforcement officer and top lawyer of the state. According to the NC Department of Justice website, “the Attorney General oversees criminal appeals from state courts to ensure that criminals are kept behind bars and innocent people are not. [The role] also ensures that consumers are protected by going after scam artists and corporate bad actors. The Attorney General protects the taxpayers as well, by providing legal representation to state government agencies, departments and commissions, and by investigating and cracking down on Medicaid fraud.”
Jim O’Neill. O’Neill served as Forsyth County District Attorney since 2009. He ran for NC District Attorney in 2016 and lost the primary (the role is currently held by a Democrat). He says he will address the backlog of sexual assault kits that are with the state, support federal immigration policy (he supports ICE) and not support sanctuary cities, and will fight the opioid crisis. He is also an advocate of the death penalty.
Sam Hayes. Hayes is a conservative candidate who has served as the general counsel for a number of state level positions. His website mentions the importance of enforcing voter ID laws, the 2nd amendment and a number of other conservative issues.
Christine Mumma. Mumma is a career lawyer and says she is conservative. She says she believes in “the sanctity of life” and is the Executive Director of the NC Center on Actual Innocence where she represented and exonerated 9 men who were wrongfully convicted. O’Neill has aired some attack ads claiming that some of Mumma’s clients were in fact guilty.
NC Auditor:
This position performs audits for state governments. Some of the CPAs applying for Treasurer would probably be better suited for this role.
Anthony (Tony) Street. Street is from Brunswick County and has worked in nuclear security and commercial fishing and has operated a small business. He has a master’s in public administration from UNC Pembroke. He says he wants ensure voters know how their money is spent but I’m not sure he has the accounting qualifications to execute this role.
Tim Hoegemeyer. This candidate served in the military and also has an MPA (from NC State). He has been the general counsel to the Office of the State Auditor (though he’s not listed in the NC Auditor’s website as a staff member, presumably because he recently gave notice to run for this role). He has said that he wants to proactively seek out fraud and waste versus just responding to hotline tips.
NC Commissioner of Insurance:
This role regulates the insurance industry in North Carolina, licenses insurance professionals, educations customers about insurance and handles customer complaints about insurance. The salary is $125k
Ronald Pierce. Pierce ran in the last primary for this role in 2016 and appears to have an ax to grind because he believes that Wayne Goodwin (former Insurance Commissioner wrongfully accused him of crimes). On the homepage of his website, he says he believes that the current incumbent (Mike Causey) has “done nothing substantial to correct the situation.” The situation in question is that Goodwin (now the current Chair of the NC Democratic Party) had Pierce arrested on 108 fraud charges in 2014 though Pierce insists they are “false charges.” The charges were ultimately dismissed. Pierce believes that this division of government should support consumers not insurance companies. He also wants to reduce conflicts of interest (eg any employee must wait 3 years before being employed by, say, an insurance company).
Mike Causey. Causey is the incumbent and the State Fire Marshal. He’s an Army veteran and worked in the insurance industry for 25 years. His website says his “goal as commissioner is to fight for more competition in the industry and to combat insurance fraud to drive rates lower for the North Carolina consumer. He is also passionate about making the office more consumer-friendly to help residents attain their insurance needs.” Causey is currently embroiled in the same scandal as Dan Forest who is accused of accepting funds from a wealthy donor who is now accused of bribery. Causey was evidently an FBI informant in that case. (Hat’s off to the Charlotte Observer for great reporting on this issue—long live local journalism.)
NC Commissioner of Labor.
I’m fascinated by this position because it replaces Cherie Berry! You know, the woman whose photo is on every elevator in NC (she’s evidently been in that role for two decades). Berry has had a reputation of being soft on employers who violate labor laws. This position also does a number of other important as well things like inspect amusement park rides and investigate employment discrimination.
Chuck Stanley. There is little information online about Stanley. He doesn’t appear to have a website, nor are there photos that appear on any election related sites.
Josh Dobson. Dobson is currently a state representative and also a former county commissioner. He appears to have raised more money in this race than his opponents. He also doesn’t think this role should be “on a crusade” to prosecute businesses. He has the endorsement of NC Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and NC Congressman Mark Meadows.
Pearl Burris Floyd. Floyd has served in a number of government roles (State Representative, Gaston County Commissioner). Floyd has Berry’s endorsement and says has firsthand experience with workplace safety issues working as a lab safety officer. She is also on the UNC Board of Governors and an African-American woman in the Republican party.
NC Secretary of State:
This role is the head the economic and business-related operations of the state.
EC Sykes. Sykes says he wants to help NC by “bringing transparency and efficiency to our state government with commonsense policies like honoring the rule of law, cutting waste, limiting the size of government, and restoring citizens’ confidence in our government.” His homepage announces that he is “a man of strong faith.” He was a former Ted Cruz campaign volunteer. He does not appear to have any political background but does have a business background.
Chad Brown. Brown is the current Gaston County Commissioner. His website says he is pro 2nd Amendment, pro-life and that he promotes transparency. Below those values, he outlines his positions and accomplishments as county commissioner: in particular, he introduced a small business tax credit. He wants people to know that NC is “open for business.”
Michael LaPaglia. LaPaglia is an entrepreur who also appears to have no political experience. He sees the need to “reduce unnecessary regulation and ease the regulatory burden on business.”
NC Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This person will be a member of the state Board of Education. The role is currently held by Republican Mark Johnson who is embroiled in all sorts of drama (see his description in the Lieutenant Governor section) but is nonetheless running for Lieutenant Governor.
Catharine Truitt. Truitt is a lifelong educator and was an education advisor to Pat McCrory. She is also now the Chancellor of Western Governors University North Carolina. The issues of importance to her are to have qualified teachers in all classrooms, ensure graduates are college and career-ready, and engage public-private partnerships for schools. She doesn’t say anything about charter schools, vouchers or teacher pay which other candidates discuss.
Craig Horn. On 2/24 when I wrote this summary, Horn’s website appears to have been hijacked by an erectile dysfunction company so it was difficult to learn about his past or current positions. From what I can gather, Horn is currently a Union County State Representative. Although he is running for the superintendent role, he actually thinks the governor should appoint the superintendent role (37 states in fact do that).
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Here is the Democratic ballot
I won’t go over the presidential candidates but according to the Board of Elections website, most of the candidates who filed will still be on the ballot even though they officially ended their campaigns: Booker, Castro, Gabbard, and so on. And of course, Michael Bloomberg will be on the North Carolina presidential ballot.
US Senate Candidates:
Erica Smith. Smith is a liberal candidate supporting the “Medicare for All,” the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage. Smith continues to be in the midst of controversy (though no fault of her own) as she was supposedly receiving fundraising support from Republicans who view her to be a more “beatable” candidate in the general election against Thom Tillis (who conservatives presume to be the frontrunner).
Steve Swenson. Swenson is a far-left candidate. His agenda items are to codify Roe v. Wade and to provide $2 trillion in reparations to African-Americans. Swenson’s website has minimal information and he is not seen as a viable candidate.
Cal Cunningham. Cunningham is an Army veteran and a former State Senator. He now owns a waste reduction company in Raleigh. He is the favorite in this primary race and has raised the most funds. His positions are to expand the Affordable Care Act, expand Medicaid and create a public health insurance option. On the environment, he would like NC to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to cut carbon and public pollution in half by 2030. He believes investing in wind and solar is the path to best transition the economy. Cunningham also supports a $15 minimum wage.
Trevor Fuller. Fuller, like Smith, also supports “Medicare for All,” the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage. Fuller is a lawyer at his own law firm and has been involved in local Charlotte politics for several years having served for 3 terms as a Charlotte City Commissioner.
Atul Goel. Goel believes that he can solve the health care crisis but hasn’t outline any specifics on how. He is an immigrant and a pro-gun Democrat. He is a physician, a pilot and an active duty flight surgeon in the US Air Force. He says little on his website about education, income inequality or the environment.
US House or Representatives:
Remember, that this was the role that Dan McCready lost to Dan Bishop in 2017. The winner of this race will contest Bishop in November (Bishop is uncontested in the Republican primary). The lone female candidate is from Mecklenburg County versus the others candidates who are from lesser known parts of the district. That fact should help her.
Harry Southerland. This candidate is from Hoke County (pop 54k) east of Charlotte. He is a lawyer who then started a “sports and entertainment management and consulting agency.” He supports the $15 minimum wage, homeless shelters, aid to “historically black colleges and universities” (Harry is African-American), expanded meals and home repair for seniors, affordable healthcare and aid to veterans/military.
Cynthia Wallace. Wallace was the chair of NC Democratic party District 9. She was an advocate of Dan McCready in the last election and has a platform similar to his: good jobs, affordable healthcare and lower prescription drug costs, high quality public education, improved infrastructure. She is likely to be the front-runner because the other candidates are from rural regions outside of Mecklenburg County and therefore have a smaller base, and are unlikely to attract Charlotte and Union County voters who are essential to winning the election. She also has received the endorsement of groups like Indivisible which played a large role in Dan McCready’s campaign over the last few years.
Marcus Williams. Williams is a lawyer from Lumberton. His issues include job production, environmental protections, educational excellence, universal access to medical insurance. He ran unsuccessfully for Attorney General in 2016.
Clayton Brooks. Brooks, in his early 30s, is a Harvard-educated Baptist minister who believes the “country’s social safety net too often fails the most vulnerable.” He supports lower healthcare costs, job development, and the restoration of educational funding. He is an advocate of veterans and would like to address the over-incarceration of AfricanAmericans.
NC Governor
Ernest Reeves. Reeves appears to have a strong military background (former enlisted soldier, former Escort Officer for the Administrator of Iraq, former military assistant to the staff of an ambassador. His key issues are “strong (safe) schools, communities, good paying jobs, tax breaks for small businesses, lower tuition costs for students, safe zones for our kids, apprenticeship programs for unemployed individuals, and a robust transportation system.” He also wants to expand Medicare and Medicaid. He has run for office nine times since 2014 and has not yet been elected to a role.
Roy Cooper. Cooper is the incumbent Governor who has served since 2017. Pay increases for teachers, which stagnated under Republican governors, is a major milestone under Cooper’s leadership. He has been in NC politics for years having served 4 terms as Attorney General. He lists a number of issues on his website ranging from education and the environment to jobs, infrastructure and disaster recovery.
NC Lieutenant Governor:
This race is 2nd in line to the governor and presides over the NC Senate. Even though it has little power, this article does a good job explaining why anyone would want it. All the Democratic candidates have experience in local or state politics and seem versed in NC issues. None appear to have any serious scandals, arrests or other dubious incidents in their past. The slate also offers some diversity: two candidates are women (Van Duyn and Holley) and three are African-American (Beasley, Newton and Holley).
Allen Thomas. Thomas is the fomer mayor of Greenville NC which is in the eastern part of the state close to the coast. His platform is that he wants to “ensure rural and coastal communities have the resources to rebuild, support economic and infrastructure development and expand access to quality education.”
Bill Toole. Toole is a pro-cannibis candidate and estimates that legalizing it in NC would generate $450MM for the state which he’d like to use to hire a nurse and counselor at every school. “Healthcare and aging” are also important elements to his platform. While Toole sounds like a New Yorker in his ads, he is a native North Carolinean. He’s been an environmental lawyer for 27 years and has worked on “wetland protection, land clean up, and environmental compliance.” He has been a Belmont city councilman and was chair of the Democratic party of Gaston County. Toole has been endorsed by The Charlotte Post.
Terry Van Duyn. Van Duyn comes from a “systems analyst” background. While she has lived in NC for many years, she went to college in Illinois. She is currently a state senator from the Asheville area and has served since 2014. Van Duyn’s website says that she has worked hard to improve public schools, protect the environment, and advocate for a more transparent and effective government. She is considered to be “the favorite and leading fundraiser.”
Chaz Beasley. Beasley is an attorney at Alston & Bird, and is also now an NC House of Representatives member and lives in Steele Creek. He is young and well-educated (he graduated from Harvard in 2008, which would put him in his early 30s, and later from Georgetown Law School) and counts his top issues as education, health care and transportation. He supports higher pay for teachers, broader Medicaid coverage, and more mass transit. He is against privatization efforts like the I-77 initiative. He also pushed for the NC law that teaches financial literacy in schools (at the expense of history classes). Beasley was endorsed by The IndyWeek.
Yvonne Lewis Holley. Holley is from Wake County and has worked hard during her house tenure (which is now over 7 years) to relieve food deserts. Her key initiative includes the “affordable living initiative” which focuses on affordable and attainable housing, affordable and healthy food, economic and workforce development, transportation, and public education. Many of these sound like issues that city councils may be better equipped to handle than the Lieutenant Governor but the issues are critical ones.
Ron Newton. Newton is a former police officer and currently a businessman and lawyer. He has served in various political roles in the past including on a Board of Education and supported Hillary Clinton for president. He ran for the Lieutenant Governor role in 2016 as well. He believes that NC needs a New Direction that can be achieved by a politician (such as himself) who can “ensure health care for everyone, reduce poverty, fund public education, bring about criminal justice reform, attack wealth inequality, protect our environment, and make our government something that all residents can be proud of.”
NC Auditor:
This role has oversight for the accounting and financial functions of the state. It also acts as a watchdog over state agencies so it requires candidates with strong accounting skills. Both candidates running appear to be strong.
Luis Toledo. Toledo is an audit manager for E&Y and adjunct public policy professor at Elon. He seems competent but the key reason to vote for him is that you believe that we shouldn’t have the same elected officials in the same roles election after election (the current incumbent won 3 previous elections).
Beth A Wood. Wood is the incumbent and she is running for her 4th term as the state auditor. On her website, she says she’s saved the NC millions of dollars by auditing things like prison medical billing and employee reviews. She seems competent and I wasn’t able to find anything scandalous about her tenure.
NC Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services
This role exists to find “new markets” for NC farm products, preserve working farms and protect the state’s food supply. The role is currently held by a Republican and is elected every 4 years. This role also manages weights and measures, gas and oil inspection and operates the NC State Fair and state farmers markets. The salary is $125k.
Walter Smith. Smith is a current farmer and the top issue listed on his site is “food insecurity.” He is involved in some local government as well.
Jenna Wadsworth. Wadsworth appears to be an interesting candidate. She was elected to be the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors while she was still in college. She is in her early 30s now. She is from the Triangle area, having attended North Carolina School of Science and Math for high school and NC State for college. She grew up on a farm and her key issues are farmland preservation, not just “writing relief checks.” She supports hemp and cannabis as new crops and has been endorsed by AFL-CIO, NC Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic
Donovan Alexander Watson. Watson says he wants to “maintain and increase number of NC farms”, collaborate with great research institutions, and expand agricultural opportunity. From his website, it is unclear if he has any public service experience.
NC Superintendent of Public Instruction:
This person will be a member of the state Board of Education. The role is currently held by Republican Mark Johnson who appears to now be running for Lieutenant Governor.
Keith Sutton. Sutton is currently is an education innovation consultant. He has a number of points in his platform including more targeted support to underperforming schools, including affected by race and poverty, improvement of teacher and principal compensation and enhancement of wages for support personnel to $15, and support for rural schools.
James Barrett. He has spent his entire career in IT leadership and for 8 years served on the Board of Education of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools. The first issue in his platform is to reduce testing for students and “overhaul how we test and why.” His LinkedIn profile describes him as a “public schools advocate and policy nerd.” He was involved in a local controversy in 2018 when he advocated creating a Mandarin magnet school in his school district which was seen as helping affluent white and Asian students at the expense of other minorities.
Constance (Lav) Johnson. Johnson’s key platform issues include teacher pay, recycling, parent classes and free lunch for all students. She comes from a family of four generations of teachers
Michael Maher. Maher’s key issues include transparency and accessibility, charter school, testing and literacy. He has been a faculty member in the education department at NC State, he’s been a public school teacher in Winston-Salem and Wake County, and his website says he’s been a policy leader and state and national education advocate.
Jen Mangrum. Mangrum is also a longtime educator, working on the education faculty at NC State and having been a public school teacher for 14 years. Her key platform elements include expanding funding for classrooms, securing a living wage for personnel and getting spend for digital resources. She is endorsed by NC Teachers United and NC Association of Educators.
NC District Court Judge:
This is a NC court that tries civil, criminal, juvenile and magistrate matters.
Aretha Blake. Blake is currently a district court judge for Mecklenburg County. Blake has been accused of not ruling on cases regarding family law for several years, leaving families in limbo.
Lynna Moen. Moen is a family law attorney in Charlotte for over 7 years. Because of Blake’s poor track record with adjudication, it appears to be worthwhile to consider an alternative.
NC Treasurer:
The treasurer’s office “manages the state’s retirement system, investments, and unclaimed property and provides financial support to local governments.” This includes pension plans, debt issuance, 401k plans and the state’s disability program. The position is currently held by a Republican and elected every four years. That person, Dale Folwell, is a private investor and financial advisor who has served in the NC House. One of the candidates running calls it “the most important position that no one’s ever heard of” because it manages the $95B pension for state employees. From what I could dig up, many state employees’ retiree account values have decreased nearly 20% since the recession which doesn’t match the stock market which has nearly quadrupled since the recession, though the state’s pension obligations have been problematic.
Dimple Ajmera. Ajmera is currently a member of Charlotte’s City Council. She is one of the younger council members (in her early 30s) and is a CPA. She says on her website that she “will work tirelessly for access to healthcare for all, protect taxpayers, and invest in a sustainable infrastructure and resilient future.” Whether she has the chops to manager the $95B pension fund when the largest budget she has managed is the $2B Charlotte city budget seems to be a disconnect.
Ronnie Chatterji. Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke’s Business School and previously served as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors where he was involved with policies related to “innovation, entrepreurship, infrastructure and economic growth.” He says that climate change is important but it’s unclear how he would change the current investment approach to address that. Many of his tweets include #TheNerdWeNeed. He is endorsed by the AFL-CIO and the NC Association of Educators.
Matt Leatherman. Leatherman was the policy director and staff director, corporate governance committee for the NC Department of State Treasurer and then a research director at FCLT Global. Leatherman’s father was actually the chairman of the Rowan County Republican Party though he is a Democrat. His primary driver of running for office is that his young daughter was born several months premature and spent nearly 6 months in the NICU which led to thousands of dollars in medical bills which he is afraid will be cut for other state employees. Leatherman believes that the incumbent Republican “has been cutting back preventative care programs and also threatening to reduce reimbursements to doctors and hospitals to such levels that a lot of medical offices are worried that they might not be able to stay open, particularly in more rural areas.” I’m a bit concerned about Leatherman because he seems to be running to help select a different healthcare plan for state employees versus managing the multi-billion dollar state pension fund which is the main goal of the state treasury. Personally, it seems like this isn’t the best forum to fix health care which should be a much bigger initiative than the plan that state employees get.
Board of Commissioners at Large (vote for 3):
The Board of Commissioners enacts local ordinances, approves the city budget and oversees spending.
Ella Scarborough. Scarborough is an incumbent. She has left little to no digital footprint of her positions yet she has served in local politics in some role (first as a city councilwoman in 1987) for many years.
Lloyd Scher. Former member of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.
Brenda Stevenson. Stevenson has been involved at a hyper-local level for the Democratic party. She served as the chair of Precinct 41 and was a delegate at the DNC in Charlotte years ago. She supports affordable housing, food pantries for those in need, and resources for mental health issues.
Leigh Altman. Altman is a public interest attorney and has raised a significant amount of money for her campaign and has received a fair amount of attention. Altman’s key issues include economic empowerment, mental health in schools and communities, reproductive rights and reduction in gun violence.
Pat Cotham. Cotham is also an incumbent on the board. She opposed the proposed county sales tax that failed in November which was supposed to help the fine arts community and schools.
Terra Lee Long. Long hopes to prioritize healthcare and currently serves as chair of the Health Care Justice North Carolina legislative committee as well as a member of the Charlotte Area Fund Board. She is a graduate of UNCC.
Tigress McDaniel. McDaniel is a perpetual candidate on virtually every election ballot. She has run for Charlotte Mayor and for the Soil and Water Conservation Board in the last 2 elections. She generally fares poorly in these elections because it is now known to many voters that has a long list of lawsuits she has filed even though she isn’t a lawyer. She also has a felony arrest for identity theft
Ray McKinnon. McKinnon is a pastor at South Tryon Community United Methodist Church.