The North Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House of Representatives consists of 120 members who serve a term of two years. Each member represents an average of 87,116 residents *, as of the 2020 Census . The presiding officer of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the Senate President pro-tem. The Speaker is elected by the members from their membership for a two-year term. The Speaker’s duties include maintaining order in the House and appointing members to the House standing committees.The North Carolina General Assembly, of which the House is a part, is to convene a new regular session every two years, and the dates for these sessions are set by law. The NC legislature makes decisions on the budget: taxes, tax credits, economic development, education funding, Pre-K, the courts, Medicaid, etc. It also passes laws that set environmental standards such as water and air quality, tax rates, tax credits, criminal justice. Legislators in both chambers serve two-year terms without term limits. Sessions begin at noon on the third Wednesday after the second Monday in January.* https://ballotpedia.org/Population_represented_by_state_legislators
Position/philosophy statement
I am an active High Point leader who shows up for the people in my district. I am committed to transparency in my work and lifting the voices of working people in North Carolina.
Current Occupation
Representative, NC House District 60
Age (optional)
43
Campaign Phone
336-754-9662
I am a former educator and long time community advocate. I was elected to High Point City Council, At Large in 2023. During my time on city council, I was able to secure funding for Meals on Wheels, Youth Focus, TEAMS (eviction mediation), and High Point Schools Partnership. I moved the conversation forward on solar integration and helped citizens advocated for the protection of our greenway. I present, nationally, at creative problem solving conferences, and pride myself for innovative and systems-based thinking.
Protecting our public schools is at the top of my agenda. I know that families and businesses rely on strong public schools to provide the sound basis for a high functioning society. I know that my experience can provide nuance and real solutions to stop the bleed of teachers, students, and public outcry about the state of our schools. We need to end the private voucher program and we need to reign in corporate charter schools.
I believe we need to reprofessionalize public school teachers and the invaluable support staff that provide the daily care of our children. North Carolina used to lead in teacher support, but we have seen targeted attacks on all fronts, from how people spend their time in a school building to the resources they use in instruction, and the loss of culturally responsive education. I want to see the return of Master’s pay for teachers, reduction of corporate control over curriculum, and expansion of real-world learning opportunities for our children.
I believe we need to stand up to the Republican plan to move NC to a 0% corporate tax rate. We can see, from other states in the region, that it is not necessary for economic development and it hurts the people of NC when we allow millionaires and billionaires to opt out of paying their fair share when it comes to education, infrastructure, and protecting our vast natural resources.
I believe we should evaluate the data around how poverty drives crime rates. We can develop public safety regulations that maintain safe roadways and neighborhoods, while also prioritizing people’s life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
I plan to fight for women’s health and autonomy on every front, and recognize that adequate housing is a human right. I believe in equality for all people in all institutions and will fight for the people of my district and all of NC.
I did not use AI to generate any of my responses.
Position/philosophy statement
Returning representative governance to the residents of High Point
Current Occupation
Founder of VetBridge LLC and VA Family Caregiver for my permanently disabled Vietnam Veteran Dad
Age (optional)
47
Campaign Phone
414-573-6431
In my prior career, I was responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in inventory spread out across eighty warehouses in the U.S. I am very attuned to cost/benefit and maximizing return on investment.
I bring years of education and real world experience, but I am not a politician in the least. I have no aspirations for a life in politics; I just want to improve the lives of my neighbors.
The top priority is putting money back in people's pockets or, more accurately, taken less money OUT of people's pockets, whether that's through stricter property tax and assessment regulation or lower tax rates overall.
We need to bring transparency to legislative spending and evaluate more strenuously where we are spending our taxpayers hard-earned dollars.
I see several possible ways in which we can strengthen education funding that should be studied or evaluated. One aspect I would like to ensure is that the Education Lottery dollars, if we continue down that path, should all be allocated to public education as originally intended.
Another priority would be to study whether we can move away from the end of grade standardized tests and evaluate a system based on the needs of the school district; education is not a one-size-fits-all system.
It's obvious that tax revenue is essential for maintaining infrastructure and providing essential services. At the same time, I believe that spending could be regulated and more closely evaluated to enable a reduction in the tax rate, providing much-needed relief in this time of high cost of everyday essentials like gasoline, electricity, food and housing.
One policy we could examine would be the monetary trigger for legislative review and debate. I believe the current threshold is $20 million over 5 years, whereas some states have implemented thresholds at $1 million over the same 5 years. I support more carefully evaluating where we spend tax revenue to determine if even lower tax rates are feasible without disrupting essential services
Safety comes in many forms, and one major safety risk I see everyday is phone use while driving. I believe many drivers take for granted that they are navigating a multi-ton object at high speeds. Taking your attention away from the road and onto your phone greatly reduces the ability to respond to changing situations on the road.
I would advocate for a commission to be done to study what legislative action could be taken to restrict the use of cellphones while actively operating a vehicle. I believe this would reduce the number of crashes and save lives and property.
I want to be upfront and candid; I am not running for this seat to start a career in politics. I have no desire to spend decades working on the taxpayer's dime. I am running because I have lived here over thirty years and, to me, High Point isn't the vibrant little city it used to be. It's more dangerous, more expensive and less neighborly. I want to repair that.
For longer than I have lived here - since 1986 to be exact - we have been doing the same thing in this district. I believe it is time to try something new. I want to put High Point back on the map.
