Two Alamance County incumbent Republican state legislators will have competitive races in the November 3 general election, as Democratic candidates have filed for each of the three seats in the General Assembly.
A third seat, currently held by Republican state representative Stephen Ross, 75, is up for grabs after announcing late last year that he would retire when his current term ends in December. He has represented portions of Alamance County for 12 of the past 14 years.
Ross previously served on Burlington’s city council for eight years (1995-2003) and four years as mayor (2003-2007) before losing to then-councilman Ronnie Wall in 2007. Ross made an encore run, successfully, for a regular seat on Burlington’s city council in 2009, serving until he ran for state house.
He was first elected to the state house in 2012 and won reelection in 2014, 2016, and 2018, before being ousted by Democrat Ricky Hurtado in 2020. Ross won a rematch against Hurtado in 2022 and won reelection in 2024. His colleagues in the General Assembly subsequently appointed Ross, 75, to ACC’s board of trustees; he is scheduled to be sworn into office in January 2027.
Democrat Ian Baltutis and Republican Ryan Moffitt are vying to replace Ross in the state’s 63rd house district in the General Assembly.
Baltutis, 41, a former Burlington mayor who was elected to the city council in November 2025, was later persuaded this spring by Alamance County’s Democratic Party to enter the race for house district 63 after Whitney Olive withdrew from the race in April. Baltutis is an inventor and entrepreneur who owns The Vibration Solution, a manufacturing company based in Burlington that specializes in anti-vibration and noise-reduction pads.
The Republican contender for the 63rd house district, Moffitt, 38, is making his first bid for elective office. He lives in Burlington and is employed as an attorney with The Vernon Law Firm in Burlington.
In house district 64, incumbent Republican state representative Dennis Riddell faces a rematch from Democrat LeVon Barnes, who previously ran against the incumbent Republican in 2024.
Incumbent Republican senator Amy Scott Galey faces Democratic challenger Southey Blanton of Burlington in the race for the state’s 25th senate district.
Galey (who doesn’t disclose her age) is an attorney who lives in rural Burlington. She previously served four years as an Alamance County commissioner, including three years as the board’s chairman, prior to her elevation to the state senate in 2020.
Blanton, 43, is an applications technician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Riddell, 69, lives in Snow Camp and owns Freedom Earthworks Thermography Services, which uses thermal imaging to conduct residential energy audits; he previously served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, as an engineering officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine; and taught high school social studies.
Barnes, 43, lives in Mebane and is employed as the athletic director at the Center for Creative Studies, a magnet school within the Durham public school system.
In addition to challenging Riddell for the state’s 64th house district in 2024, Barnes unsuccessfully sought an appointment in the fall of 2023 to serve out the remaining term of former Alamance-Burlington board member Patsy Simpson; ran in 2023 for chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, losing to current NCDP chair Anderson Clayton; and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Durham city council in 2017.
All six candidates for Alamance County’s state legislative districts provided their responses this week to a range of issues that they may encounter in the General Assembly.
The Alamance News sought responses from all six candidates – two who are running for the state senate district that includes all of Alamance County and part of Randolph County, as well as the two state house districts, each of which includes a portion of Alamance County.
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Economy
There was some agreement, regardless of party affiliation, among the candidates about critical issues facing the state.
On the senate side, Galey lists “affordability” – specifically healthcare, fuel prices, and housing costs as the most critical issues for the state to address.
Blanton lists “fully funding our public schools.”
On the state house side, Baltutis and Barnes also say that the General Assembly needs to rein in the cost of living.
Says Baltutis: “Alamance families should keep more of their money. When corporations pay their fair share, residents aren’t left holding the bag.”
Moffitt, the Republican candidate for the 63rd house district, says that K-12 education is the most critical issue for the state to address.
Barnes, the Democratic candidate running against Riddell for the 64th house district, says, “Ending the runaway increases to costs and utilities, such as rising Duke Energy bills” is the most critical issue to address.
The incumbent state house representative Riddell didn’t directly answer the question, telling the newspaper, “Answering this question when it comes to the state budget: 1) who will pay for it; 2) how much should they pay? 3) Why?!!”
Minimum wage
The candidates split evenly along party lines about whether the state’s minimum wage should be increased from its current rate of $7.25 per hour.
The three Republicans say no increase is needed; the Democrats say they think it should be increased.
Blanton says the minimum wage should be increased to $22 per hour; Baltutis supports a phased approach that would increase the minimum wage to $15/hour (which would be in line with the minimum hourly wage for permanent, full-time North Carolina state government employees); and Barnes says that the minimum wage should be raised to $20 per hour.
Strengthening state economy
The candidates vary widely on what should be done to strengthen the state’s economy, though Galey and Moffitt put K-12 education at the forefront of that issue.
Galey says, “Strengthen quality of K-12 education so graduates are prepared for jobs; lower cost and increase healthcare access.”
Moffitt says that improvement in K-12 education would do the most to improve the economy, along with “responsible state government tax and spend policy, all with the mission of creating economic opportunity for citizens.”
Two of the three Democratic candidates, Blanton and Barnes, say that addressing issues such as electricity rate hikes and increasing the minimum wage would do the most to improve the economy. The other Democrat, Baltutis, says the state needs to put people before powerful corporations.
Blanton says that “pushing back on Duke Energy rate increases so residents can work and put money into their local economy, not shareholder pockets” would do the most to improve the state’s economy.
Barnes says “raising the long-outdated minimum wage to insure more money” goes into consumers’ pockets and investing more in public education would do the most to improve North Carolina’s economy.
Baltutis says, “Make government work for the people, not corporations. When corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share, we get better schools, services, and affordable communities.”
The incumbent Republican Riddell, on the other hand, believes that the General Assembly should stay the course with tax cuts and other reforms that began in earnest following the Great Recession, during the summer of 2013.
Riddell tells the newspaper, “Continue to follow the policies of the past few years: 1) low taxes; 2) regulatory reform; 3) workforce development.”
Transparency in the public’s business
Asked whether the General Assembly is sufficiently transparent in how it transacts the public’s business, the candidates again split along party lines.
The Republicans (Galey, Riddell, and Moffitt) believe the General Assembly is transparent enough; the Democrats disagree with that assessment.
Blanton tells the newspaper, “The NC Senate does not have a live video feed of their chamber. Allowing video and archival access means holding us accountable.”
Baltutis says he supports ending closed-door meetings and other measures, such as “full disclosure of lobbyist contacts and campaign donations,” as well as closing campaign finance loopholes would provide greater transparency in how the General Assembly conducts the public’s business.
Barnes says, “No more bills presented at the last minute for approval, and my opponent should reopen his public email inbox,” referring to a provision in the state budget passed in 2023 that enabled state legislators to determine for themselves whether emails and other documents received during the transaction of official state business should be subject to public inspection.
That provision the state’s biennial budget classifies documents prepared by legislative employees as “confidential” and stipulates that they “may not be revealed” without the consent of the legislator. It also named legislators as the custodians of documents received during the transaction of business, leaving it to each member of the General Assembly to determine whether a document is an official public record and whether those records should be retained or destroyed.
Data centers
The potential location of data centers has emerged, among some observers, as one of the defining issues in the 2026 midterm elections. As of last month, more than three dozen counties, including Alamance, and municipalities in the state had enacted temporary moratoriums on data center projects – regardless of whether there was any specific proposal pending in those jurisdictions.
Several recent polls have suggested that a majority of North Carolinians, irrespective of party affiliation, oppose proposals to build data centers in the state, in particular due to fears that they will drain critical resources such as electricity and water.
There’s also bipartisan opposition to encouraging the location of data centers among four of the six General Assembly candidates (Blanton, Galey, Baltutis, and Barnes), though Galey and Baltutis say such decisions should be left within the purview of local governments where data centers are proposed.
Riddell and Moffitt didn’t respond to the question about whether the state should encourage or discourage data centers.
“Data center build out is being pushed by a small group of gigantic corporations that are raising revenue and funding purely on the promise of a theoretical technological breakthrough,” says Blanton. “I’m not going to sell out voters, their land and quality of life for a speculative bubble.”
Says Galey, “Data centers should definitely not get tax breaks. Where they should be located is a local decision like other land use issues.”
The two Democratic candidates for state house, Baltutis and Barnes, are aligned that the General Assembly should discourage proposals to build data centers in the state.
Baltutis says, “Data centers bring few permanent jobs but enormous demands on power and water. Families shouldn’t subsidize them through tax breaks or higher electric bills…local communities, not Raleigh, should decide where these facilities belong.”
His Republican opponent, Moffitt, says, “Potential data center investments should be fiercely scrutinized on a case-by-case basis” and any impact must be “accounted for and contained in a manner that does not adversely impact citizens.”
Barnes believes that data centers in North Carolina “have already led to an increase in our Duke Energy bills” and that “unregulated data center development will only lead to trouble.” [He claims his opponent “voted for” an increase in Duke Energy bills; the responsibility for those decisions rests with the N.C. Utilities Commission, not the General Assembly.]
Riddell, the incumbent representative whom Barnes is challenging, says, “Data centers should not be subsidized by local or state government. No exemptions, no tax shifts, no eminent domain, no waiving of noise ordinances, etc.”
State funding for education
Funding for public education has long been a hot-button issue in North Carolina, with critics such as the N.C. Association of Educators claiming that the state ranks “dead last” in education funding, while leaders in the GOP, which currently holds a majority in the General Assembly, have touted “historic” raises for teachers and other investments in education.
The two incumbent legislators – Galey and Riddell – believe that state funding for education is “about right.”
Blanton says the state is spending “too little,” telling the newspaper, “Fully funding them and paying teachers and staff a wage that allows them to only work one job is step number one.”
Both candidates for the state’s 63rd house district say that the state is spending too little.
Baltutis says, “Public schools should be our first investment. End vouchers and fix the education lottery now, so Alamance property taxpayers stop covering Raleigh’s shortfall.”
His Republican opponent Moffitt says the state is spending too little on education but adds that more efficiency is needed. “There is immense capacity at the State level for investing more effectively in public schools than what has been demonstrated to date,” he tells the newspaper.
In the race for the 64th house district, Barnes believes that the General Assembly needs to “stop siphoning our taxpayer dollars out of our public schools to give to private schools, and pay the teachers and faculty an actual livable wage.”
Riddell says he’s found that one most of the frequent concerns he’s heard when talking to educators is school safety, particularly in the upper grades. “A safe workplace is a must!” he adds.
All six candidates say they support charter schools but split along party lines when it comes to whether the state should fund Opportunity Scholarships (also sometimes termed “vouchers”), which the General Assembly created in 2013 and expanded state funding for in 2023 to offset the cost of tuition for K-12 private schools.
Opportunity Scholarships
The three Republican candidates say they support Opportunity Scholarships; the three Democratic candidates oppose the program.
Blanton says, “If a private school immediately raises their tuition by the amount of a voucher, or requires attendees who already could afford tuition to apply for a voucher, then they aren’t helping a single student. They are subsidizing unaccountable schools with taxpayer funds.”
The two candidates for the 63rd house district support providing parents with options for their children’s K-12 education but differ in their willingness to take a strong stance on the use of state funding for private school tuition.
The Democratic candidate Baltutis says, “I would end these vouchers, which go even to families who could already afford that tuition, and return that money to classroom so Alamance property taxpayers stop covering the gap.”
Moffitt, the Republican candidate for the 63rd house district, says, “I believe Opportunity Scholarship funding needs to be carefully administered and focused on need.”
Social issues
Again, the candidates split along party lines on questions such as the use of funding for gender transition for minors and abortions.
The three Republican candidates support an existing ban on the use of Medicaid funding from covering gender reassignment procedures and medication, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. The three Democratic candidates oppose the ban.
Baltutis elaborates, “These are medical decisions for families and their doctors, not politicians in Raleigh.”
The candidates also split along party lines on the state’s ban on partial birth abortions, with the Republicans supporting the ban, while the Democrats oppose it.
Republican senator Galey says the ban should remain in place, describing partial-birth abortions as a “barbaric and grisly practice of allowing a baby to be partially born, then crushing its skull and killing it.”
Her Democratic challenger, Blanton, disagrees: “Ectopic pregnancy deaths have nearly doubled in states that have increased abortion restrictions. I’m not interested in increasing that statistic.”
For his part, Baltutis notes, “Federal law has banned this procedure since 2003. It’s a political term, not a medical one. Families facing heartbreaking complications need doctors, not politicians.”
Barnes, the Democratic candidate for the 64th house district, says, “As a proud husband and girl dad, it is not my job to restrict reproductive care and legislate decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor.”
However, five of the six candidates say tax dollars should be available to fund abortions when a mother’s life may be at risk.
Blanton says that any North Carolinian whose healthcare is taxpayer-funded should have the right to get an abortion, and the procedure should be covered by her health insurance.
Barnes indicates that there should be no restrictions on abortion or taxpayer funding for abortion. “States that have either restricted or outlawed access to abortions have higher maternal death rates,” he says. “Because of that, I firmly believe in increased access to reproductive care.”
Baltutis aligns with the three Republicans in saying that tax dollars should be available to fund abortions when a woman’s life or health is at risk, and in cases of rape or incest,” he says. “No one should face those crises without care.”
Galey and Moffitt say taxpayer funding for abortions should be available only when the life of the mother is at risk. Riddell says taxpayer funding should be available in cases of fetal abnormalities, “verifying that the child will not live,” as well as cases involving rape or incest.
On the other hand, the candidates don’t break evenly along party lines on other issues such as whether sports betting should remain legal.
Barnes, Galey, and Moffitt say they support legalization. The incumbent Republican senator says that sports betting has produced a “big tax revenue source that helps universities support athletic programs.”
Democrats Blanton and Baltutis, along with incumbent house representative Riddell, say they think sports betting should be rolled back.
Cooperation with ICE
Finally, the candidates split evenly along party lines on the question of whether state and local law enforcement agencies should cooperate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and be required to honor immigration detainers.
North Carolina entered into a mandatory agreement with ICE last month that the number of agencies that are authorized to conduct immigration enforcement activities while performing routine law enforcement activities. Those agencies include the: State Highway Patrol; Department of Public Safety (DPS); State Bureau of Investigation; and Department of Adult Correction, as well as the Alcohol Law Enforcement division within DPS, under a provision within the state budget that set an October 1 deadline for the additional agencies to finalize their agreements with ICE.
The three Republican candidates support expanding cooperation with ICE, with Galey adding, “Criminals must be deported.”
The three Democratic candidates for the General Assembly oppose requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE and to honor detainers for individuals believed to be in the country illegally.
Baltutis says he believes that law enforcement should cooperate with ICE “on violent offenders,” but adds, “Raleigh shouldn’t dictate priorities to local sheriffs and police.”
The General Assembly candidates’ answers to the issues questionnaires can be found HERE: Biographical information is here:
