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2022 Elections : The Republican candidates for US Senate

It’s that time again! Pollen, strategies to stay cool, the end of the school year, and elections. This month, North Carolina has primary elections, determining which candidates will move on to the elections this November. Details on when and how to vote can be found here, including how to get a sample ballot.

This is an overview of the candidates on the Republican Party ticket for senator from North Carolina to the United States Senate. Curious about the Democratic Party candidates? Check them out here

The Republican Candidates

Presented in the same order as they will be listed on the ballot:

Marjorie K. Eastman

  • Army veteran
  • Policy positions :
    • Pass legislation to strengthen national cybersecurity defenses
    • Use federal powers to bring critical manufacturing domestic
    • Pass legislation to require voter ID, manufacture voting machines domestically, and audit elections
    • Supports community safety by prohibiting criminal gun possession
    • Supports term limits for politicians
    • Supports increased access to low cost loans for small businesses
    • Supports clean energy as an economic
    • Opposes the Affordable Care Act
    • Supports ending the Child Tax Credit
    • Supports maternity leave
    • Supports public education based on STEM + civic literacy

David Flaherty

  • Former NC House representative and district attorney
  • Attorney, including elected district attorney in North Carolina
  • Policy positions :
    • Supports national energy independence

Benjamin E. Griffiths

  • Policy positions :
    • Pass legislation for congressional term limits
    • Supports Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding
    • Supports building the wall
    • Pass legislation to require voter ID
    • Pass legislation to ban instruction of critical race theory in K-12 education

Kenneth Harper, Jr

  • Licensed insurance agent
  • Former Democrat
  • Policy positions :
    • Supports resuming construction of the Keystone XL pipeline
    • Opposes the passage of the Build Back Better Act
    • Supports overturning Roe v. Wade
    • Opposes vaccine mandates

Pat McCrory

  • Former governor of North Carolina, former mayor of Charlotte
  • Policy positions :
    • Legalize medical marijuana, do not legalize recreational marijuana
    • Pass legislation to require voter ID
    • Opposes federal legislation regarding education
    • Supports building the wall
    • Opposes the passage of the Build Back Better Act
    • Supports ending the Child Tax Credit
    • Opposes federal vaccine mandates
    • Opposes re-entering the Iran deal
    • Supports the Agriculture Improvement act of 2018, aka the Farm Bill
    • Opposes expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court
    • Opposes confirming judicial nominees who view the US Constitution as a living document
    • Supports the US Senate filibuster
  • Legislative history :
    • Implemented light-rail transit and improved bus transit in Charlotte as mayor
    • Declined to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act
    • Signed Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, aka HB2 or the so-called “bathroom bill”
    • Signed the repeal of the Racial Justice Act of 2009
    • Signed legislation implementing a variation of a flat-tax for the state income tax
    • Signed legislation allowing hydro fracking and criminalizing the disclosure of fracking chemicals
    • Proposed the State Broadband Plan, which was not signed into law or implemented
    • Vetoed legislation requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test
    • Vetoed legislation creating religious exemptions from some job duties for government officials who oppose same-sex marriage

Charles Kenneth Moss
Link is to 2012 Gubernatorial candidacy Twitter account

  • Former member of Randolph County Soil & Water Board
  • Air Force veteran
  • Limited media presence, no dedicated campaign website
  • Policy positions :
    • Opposes abortion
    • Holds no policy position on same sex marriage

Lichia Sibhatu

  • Conservative Republican
  • Policy positions :
    • Supports reducing taxes
    • Opposes regulations on small businesses
    • Opposes trans women competing in women’s sports

Deborah Tshiovo

  • Former Democrat
  • Policy positions :
    • Opposes abortion
    • Supports restoration of voting rights to individuals convicted of crimes

Mark Walker

  • Conservative Republican
  • Former North Carolina representative to the US House (3 terms)
  • Endorsed by Gov. Mike Huckabee, Rep Madison Cawthorn, Mick Mulvaney
  • Policy positions :
    • Opposes abortion
    • Supports repealing the Affordable Care Act
    • Opposes re-entering the Iran deal
    • Opposes the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (aka the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill)
    • Expand broadband access in low income and rural areas
    • Opposes federal vaccine mandates
  • Legislative history :
    • Voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act
    • Introduced and voted in favor of the Balanced Budget Amendment, which would amend the US Constitution
    • Introduced and voted in favor of the Ditto Act of 2016, expanding IRS record keeping
    • Voted against both articles of impeachment during 2019 impeachment trial of former President Trump

Jen Banwart

  • Constitutional Republican
  • Spent nearly 20 years working at the Department of Defense
  • Declines all pre-primary endorsements, deferring to voters
  • Policy positions :
    • Supports annual passage of a federal Congressional budget
    • Supports re-privatization of health insurance or a public marketplace
    • Opposes political parties handing out sample ballots with candidates pre-selected for primary elections
    • Opposes federal funding of abortion providers
    • Opposes broad abortion restrictions
    • Supports medical aid in dying, also called medically assisted suicide
    • Opposes vacine mandates
    • Supports a physical barrier along the US - Mexico border
    • Opposes federal legislation to regulate voting and elections
    • Supports energy independence
    • Supports state-level marijuana policy
    • Supports universal school lunches at no cost to students
    • Supports the Gun-Free School Zones Act
    • Opposes legislation to create a $15 federal minimum wage by 2025
    • Opposes legislation to eliminate student loan debt

Ms. Lee A. Brian

  • Policy positions :
    • Supports overturning Roe v. Wade
    • Pass legislation that affirms life begins at conception

Leonard L. Bryant

  • Army veteran
  • Policy positions :
    • Supports energy independence
    • Opposes federal funding of abortion providers

Ted Budd

  • Current representative to US House, first elected in 2016
  • Endorsed by former President Trump, Sen. Thom Tillis, Sen. Richard Burr, Sen. Ted Cruz
  • Policy positions :
    • Opposes abortion
    • Pass the Health Care for Burn Pit Veterans Act
    • Supports extending Title 42
    • Opposed the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the US Supreme Court
    • Opposes conflicting regulations on businesses
    • Opposes legislation to eliminate student loan debt
    • Supports ending the Child Tax Credit
    • Supports building the wall
    • Opposes re-entering the Iran deal
    • Pass legislation to require voter ID
    • Opposes the For the People Act
    • Opposes vaccine mandates for citizens
    • Supports option to homeschool
  • Legislative history :
    • Voted against federal legislation to study marijuana or decriminalize marijuana
    • Voted for the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act
    • Introduced and voted in favor of the PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act
    • Voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act
    • Voted against the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021
    • Voted against Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022
    • Objected to certification of Pennsylvania electors for 2020 election
    • Voted against both articles of impeachment during 2019 impeachment trial of former President Trump
    • Voted against impeachment during 2021 impeachment trial of former President Trump

Drew Bulecza

  • Policy positions :
    • Opposes federal funding of abortion providers
    • Pass legislation to require voter ID
    • Supports deregulation of healthcare market
    • Legalize medical marijuana, do not legalize recreational marijuana
    • Supports moving toward a direct democracy form of government
    • Pass legislation for congressional term limits
    • Supports constitutional carry as federal policy
    • Pass federal regulations for product quality and longevity
    • Supports domestic manufacturing
    • Supports investment in alternative energy including nuclear power
    • Pass legislation to implement criminal penalties for spreading false information
    • Pass legislation to reform campaign finance laws, including disallowing superPACs
    • Pass legislation to prohibit government officials from participating in market trading
    • Pass legislation to require financial disclosures for all federal government officials

Curious about methodology? Learn more here.

On everyone’s ballot this month will be a primary election for the next North Carolina senator to the United States Senate. There is no incumbent, because senator Richard Burr (R) is retiring at the end of this term. This new senator will be elected by statewide popular vote, and will join Thom Tillis (R), who has been serving in the United States Senate since 2015, having been elected in 2014 and 2020.

The candidates above are are vying for votes to be the Republican Party’s candidate this November, with the ultimate goal of representing North Carolina in the US Senate. As such, some issues are not included in the summaries above as they are decisions that are not made at a federal level (such as implementing Medicaid expansion in North Carolina). The full party platform can be found here. Some issues are addressed in the party platform include :

  • Defense of traditional marriage between one man and one woman
  • Parental consent for medical care for minors
  • Support access to adoption for kids in foster care
  • Reduce taxes
  • Oppose mandated renewable energy quotas
  • Support personhood at conception
  • Support institutions that oppose abortion or any other procedure inconsistent with institutional religious beliefs
  • Support constitutional carry, ownership, purchase, and sale of firearms
  • Support the reduction of so-called gun-free zones
  • Oppose medically assisted suicide
  • Support legislation requiring election judges at all polling stations
  • Support poll observers
  • Continued support of the Electoral College, established in the United States Constitution
  • Support strengthening ballot security for absentee voting
  • Support parental consent for sexual education in public schools
  • Support school curricula teaching abstinence before marriage as the expected norm
  • Oppose school curricula regarding homosexuality or gender identity
  • Oppose biological male participation in women’s sports
  • Support vouchers for private and charter schools
  • Support teaching Judeo-Christian values of Western Civilization and American Exceptionalism
  • Support market solutions for social needs including retirement, healthcare, insurance, labor, and good

Fun fact: the ballot order is determined by an official picking of a ball out of a bingo machine, then going in alphabetical order starting with that letter. This time, the ball picked was the “C”, so all candidates are in alphabetical order starting with C.