Candidates share their views during Gaston Business Association's forum

The Gaston Business Association held a primary candidate forum last week at Gaston Christian School where they hosted candidates running for the opportunity to represent Gaston County in the United States House of Representatives, the North Carolina House of Representatives, and Gaston County Commissioners.

Each candidate participating in the forum was allotted two minutes for introductions, one minute to answer each of the questions, which were provided by Gaston Business Association Investors and CaroMont Health, and one minute to give a closing statement.

While voters can watch the full forum on the Gaston Business Association’s Youtube, here is a summary of the portion of the event featuring candidates running for seats in both the U.S. and N.C. House of Representatives.

Candidates in attendance running for the U.S. House included Republicans Tim Moore, Lillian Joseph and Jeff Gregory as well as Democrats Pamela Genant and Brendon K. Maginnis.

Starting the evening, Moderator Joe Bost invited those Republican candidates to come onstage.

Round one

After candidate introductions, Bost asked a series of questions that each candidate had an opportunity to answer.

Q: What are your priorities for North Carolina and the nation should you be elected to Congress?

Gregory said at a national level he plans to focus on closing the border between the United States and Mexico.

For North Carolina specifically, Gregory said he will focus on bringing specialized industry to the state and prioritize water reservoirs.

Joseph responded to the question saying she would prioritize legal teams on the border to, “adjudicate asylum cases in Mexico.”

“Once people come on to U.S. soil, as you know, it’s very hard to keep track of them,” she added.

Joseph also said she would prioritize higher wages.

Moore said that the top priority has to be the border, inflation and bringing more Republican politics to Washington D.C.

Moore said that Republican policies have done well for North Carolina, and they would do well in Washington.

Q: What specific plans do you have to promote economic development in our region and attract businesses that can contribute to job growth?

Moore said he would continue efforts that have been made at the state level including controlling spending, returning more money to taxpayers, and “getting government out of our lives.”

“It’s no accident that for three years in a row, North Carolina has been ranked as the number one state for business,” he said.

Joseph said she would work to make this district the most productive in the Southeast.

“We have to continue to look at bringing in high paying jobs, we have to continue to look at bringing manufacturers in through incentivization,” she said.

Gregory said to attract businesses you have to have the things they want.

“They need water, they need well-trained people ready for the type of jobs you want to bring in, but the biggest thing we can do as a congressman is we can push to start drilling for oil in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Anoir, Alaska,” he said.

Round two

Following several additional questions, Democrat candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives were invited on stage and asked the same questions.

What are your priorities for North Carolina and the Nation should you be elected to Congress?”

Genant said her priorities would be addressing issues surrounding voting rights.

“I think that gerrymandering is a huge issue. We know that this is a new district, and we need, no matter who is in office, we need a more non-partisan or bipartisan approach to drawing district lines,” she said.

Maginnis said that the economy would be his top priority, and questioned how well businesses are really doing in Gaston County.

“It’s great that Speaker Moore wanted to be up here and bragged about how much good businesses here in North Carolina, but let me ask you, you’re in Gaston. If you’re in Gaston downtown, how many businesses are really thriving?” he said.

Maginnis added that Amazon plants in the district have impacted small businesses.

What specific plans do you have to promote economic development in our region and attract businesses that can contribute to job growth?

Maginnis said federally, he would focus the conversation on investments in infrastructure that bring in companies.

Locally, Maginnis said infrastructure improvements come from residential tax dollars rather than large companies like Amazon.

“On the local level, or state level, that requires state investment,” he said.

Genant said the focus should be on manufacturing jobs and supporting small businesses.

She added that rural areas have lost many manufacturing jobs, which makes them a good focal point for growth in the manufacturing industry.

“As a small business owner myself, having the resources, having mentorship programs, things like that, so that our small businesses can thrive in this district,” she said. “You know, the small businesses, they live here, they have their families here, they have employees here, they spend their money here, so that’s where we need to invest that time so they can help to grow our communities and strengthen our communities.”

Round three

At the end of the second round of questions, candidates Kelly Hastings and Esther Scott, who are running for the North Carolina House of Representatives seat 110, approached the stage.

Q: Employers from across all industries are struggling to attract, develop and retain a talented workforce. How will you address this critical issue?

Hastings said the main thing he would do is continue to do what the North Carolina General Assembly has been doing since 2011.

“Just in the last budget alone, we invested nearly $400 million in workforce development,” he said.

Hastings added that much of that funding went toward the healthcare industry, and other initiatives have focused on funding trade programs and college education.

Scott said part of the issue is wage inequality.

“A lot of people aren’t being paid enough to continue to work. They get caught up in their day-to-day struggle of just getting food on the table, so they don’t invest in themselves. They don’t have time to invest in themselves,” she said.

Scott said that a $15 minimum wage would be too much for rural areas but that a $10 minimum wage would help residents keep up.

She added that employers should work with their employees to help them attain the means to invest in themselves.

Q: What specific policies or initiatives do you propose to promote economic development in our region and enhance opportunities for local businesses?

Scott said businesses are looking for employees, good compensation and skilled workers.

She added that focusing on incoming generations of workers and ensuring that they are educated and skilled workers is important to businesses' futures.

Hastings said he would continue to do what the General Assembly has been doing since 2011.

“I would consider going forward with what we’ve done since 2011. Lower taxes, less crime, student learning, providing for safe communities via not defunding law enforcement,” he said. “We passed tort reform, regulatory reform, infrastructure investments, and we also passed a provision that helped one of our mountain companies try to comply with Obama’s onerous environmental regulations, and so that’s really important that we help companies that are being abused by the federal government.”

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gaston Business Association hosts candidate forum ahead of primaries