Rockingham County Republican forum spotlights education, public safety and taxes

Rockingham County voters heard more than a dozen candidates at a Republican Party–sponsored forum that ranged across local and state contests, with the clearest divisions focused on education funding and public safety.

Moderator Bert Jones opened the event and laid out strict timed rounds for each race before introducing candidates for the Board of Education, county commission, sheriff, clerk of court and the state legislature. Incumbents and challengers traded defenses of records and promises for the coming term: school-board incumbents stressed capital projects and personnel pay steps, sheriff candidates emphasized more training and interdiction capacity, and commissioner candidates debated whether the county’s recent budget was appropriately revenue neutral.

The forum also included sustained discussion of a contentious rezoning that critics described as a “casino” fight and commissioners and incumbents rejected that label, saying the matter was a highway-commercial rezoning consistent with the land-use plan. Candidates on both sides urged voters to probe how rezoning decisions were handled and whether greater public input or a referendum should have been used.

Education came up repeatedly: candidates from several tickets said standardized tests were an imperfect measure and called for student-growth metrics, stronger local–state coordination on funding, and rethinking purchases of software and platforms to prioritize teachers and classroom staffing. Candidates running for county commission and other offices explained recent budget increases (cited approximately $7 million above revenue neutral in discussion) as driven largely by school and public-safety needs.

Public-safety candidates described severe staffing and retention problems. Multiple sheriff candidates said the office must be made competitive with neighboring agencies through step increases, improved retirement/benefits and a culture change to keep deputies on patrol rather than working second jobs. Several candidates called for stronger partnerships with federal and regional agencies to pursue narcotics and trafficking cases while insisting on constitutional guardrails.

Several races featured sharp personal contrasts and campaign-level accusations about outside spending and negative advertising, particularly in the North Carolina Senate contest between incumbent Phil Berger and challenger Sam Page. Candidates urged voters to evaluate records and turnout on March 3–4 (dates cited during the forum) and to use the primary to choose the strongest nominees for November.

The evening also contained two community-oriented recorded segments that were not part of the candidate rounds: a podcast episode from Ancora Compassionate Care on caregiver burden, and a Chamber of Commerce interview with Lisa Jay of Destination Magazine about rural economic promotion and small-business marketing. Those sessions emphasized local services and economic development rather than electoral contests.

The forum closed with reminders to register and vote; several candidates noted they would continue campaign events and fund-raising ahead of the primary.