Share
Republican Dan Forest brought North Carolina’s undercard race to Charlotte Monday, speaking to a conference of the N.C. League of Municipalities.
Forest faces Democrat Linda Coleman of Wake County. She hopes to become the first African-American woman to hold statewide office in North Carolina.
Forest, 45, is the son of U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte. Like GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory, a former mayor, he has Charlotte ties.
He spent part of his youth in Charlotte public schools, including McClintock middle school and East Mecklenburg High School. After graduating from high school in Columbia and starting college at the University of South Carolina, he returned to Charlotte and graduated from UNCC.
He’s now a retired architect in Raleigh.
Coleman, 63, is a former legislator appointed by Gov. Bev Perdue to head the Office of State Personnel. She’s gotten help from the state employees’ political action committee, which has said it bought $200,000 in TV ads supporting her.
Through June, Forest had raised $531,000 to Coleman’s $66,000.
Coleman, citing scheduling conflicts, did not attend the N.C. League of Municipalities at the Charlotte Convention Center. She’ll return to Charlotte Thursday for a fundraiser in Dilworth.
Forest told the municipal leaders he would focus on tax and regulatory reform as well as education.
But while the lieutenant governor presides over the N.C. Senate, the office has little concrete power. Forest said he would be “a loud voice for education” and work with what he expects to be GOP majorities in the legislature and a Republican in the governor’s office.
“Part of the lieutenant governor’s role is to make the governor look good,” he said.
