Endorsements: Our choices for NC treasurer, labor and agriculture commissioners

Voters have strong candidates to consider in the race to replace North Carolina treasurer Dale Folwell, who ran unsuccessfully for governor. Democrat Wesley Harris has a Ph.D in economics and has worked in international tax accounting, and he’s a three-term member of the NC House. Republican Brad Briner is a member of the UNC Board of Trustees and a retired financial investor with a quarter-century of financial and investment experience.

Both candidates have run refreshingly non-partisan campaigns, and both believe North Carolina’s pension fund has underperformed under Folwell. Briner’s vision for the office is more narrowly focused on growing investments without taking on unnecessary risk, and he offers a meticulous blueprint on how he would get there. Harris wants the treasurer to take on a more active role advocating for state employees and laying out an economic vision for the state.

We share Briner’s vision for the office, and we believe he brings a deeper experience and a more sophisticated knowledge in the financial and investment sector. We recommend Brad Briner for NC Treasurer.

Labor commissioner

Voters are choosing between two Commissioner of Labor candidates who would bring distinctly different backgrounds and approaches to the job.

Republican Luke Farley is a Wake County lawyer who works with companies cited by the state labor department for workplace safety violations. “I’m going to always approach this job with balance,” he told the editorial board.

Democrat Braxton Winston, a former Charlotte City Council member and mayor pro tem, is a union member and a stagehand and grip by trade. “I think it’s high time we had an actual worker be an advocate for workers across the state,” he told the editorial board.

Both candidates agree that too many N.C. workers, particularly construction workers, are dying on the job. Each believes that the office would benefit for more robust staffing and proactively working with businesses on workplace safety.

Farley touts the endorsement of former labor commissioner Cherie Berry, and like Berry, he would approach the job with a more business-centric focus. He told the Editorial Board that what’s good for businesses is also good for the workers they employ.

Winston wants the department to perform more inspections and hold businesses accountable for workplace safety. He also wants to expand the reach of the office with a “whole worker approach” that calls for collaborating with other agencies on issues such as affordable housing and transportation.

This board appreciates Winston’s intent with his whole worker approach, but we believe the commissioner and his staffing-challenged department should instead concentrate on its core, constitutional responsibilities. We also believe that North Carolina’s labor department, particularly under Berry, was too aligned with businesses on workplace issues and unfair wage practices. We were disappointed that Farley, in his conversation with the editorial board, so fully embraced Berry’s tenure and her endorsement.

Winston’s experience as a worker would be transformative to an office that needs change. We endorse Braxton Winston for labor commissioner.

Agriculture commissioner

The Democratic and Republican candidates for agriculture commissioner would bring vastly different experience to an office that maintains and protects the state’s agribusiness industry and regulates food, animal health, the state fair and other areas.

Republican Steve Troxler is hoping for a sixth term as agriculture commissioner. He’s long had a strong rapport with farmers and success in promoting North Carolina’s diverse agriculture industry, which is contributing more than $100 billion to the state’s economy in 2024. His experience and relationship-building also is valuable in challenging times, as he’s shown with his leadership in marshaling resources to help farmers and others in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Democrat Sarah Taber has worked with family farm holdings and helped launch a series of vegetable greenhouses and indoor farms that are now worth over $4 billion. She told the editorial board that the agriculture commissioner should more actively advocate for diversifying what we grow in North Carolina, and that the office has underinvested in fire safety under Troxler. (The commissioner also leads the N.C. Forest Service.)

We believe Troxler should be open to new ideas that might help slow the farmland loss our state is experiencing. But Troxler is a capable leader and advocate for North Carolina agriculture, which continues to thrive under his watch. We recommend Steve Troxler for another term.

This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 11:56 AM.