Election 2024: Forsyth County Commission Race – Triad City Beat

Featured Image: Forsyth County Commissioner’s Map

In Forsyth County, voters in District B will be able to elect three county commission members. Below are the candidates running in each race, with the incumbents listed first.

Early voting is underway and continues until November 2nd. Election day is November 5. Voters can register to vote during the early voting period and can vote at any open polling place during that time. Find early voting locations here. All voters will need to show a valid photo ID to vote this year.

On election day, voters are required to go to their designated polling station. To find your designated polling place, learn more about voting laws and find your sample ballot, visit nc.gov/living/voting.

District B (Vote for three)

Republican: Richard Linville (i)

There is no website

Linville was first elected in 1980 and served as chairman of the board from 1985-86. A farm owner, Linville’s community service includes the NC Association of County Commissioners Agriculture Committee, the Transportation Advisory Board and the Northern Agricultural Steering Committee Carolina. Linville attended East Forsyth High School.

Republican: Gloria Wisenhunt (i)

gloriawhisenhunt.com

Whisenhunt has been in office since 1996 and has served as chairman and vice chairman of the board. She previously served on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education from 1990-96. Whisenhunt was previously a cosmetologist. Whisenhunt entered politics because customers at her store “were constantly complaining about the public schools.” After her son left for college, she “decided to do something.” According to her website, she focuses on fighting drug and opiate addiction.

Republican: Gray Wilson (i)

votegraywilson.com

Despite running unsuccessfully for one of the three seats on the Republican ticket in the March primary, Wilson was tapped to fill the vacancy left by former commissioner Dave Plyler in July.

Wilson is a veteran of the U.S. Army and practiced law in Winston-Salem for 47 years, most recently with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. He also teaches trial advocacy at Wake Forest University School of Law and is the author of Civil Procedure in North Carolina. His priorities are community safety, economic development, housing, education and fiscal responsibility, according to his website. Wilson believes the city’s police department and sheriff’s office are “understaffed, underpaid and overwhelmed by a spike in serious crime” and should be “bolted up” and offered competitive salaries.

Democrat: Valerie Brockenbrough

voteforvalerie.com

Read her full responses to candidates here.

Valerie Brockenbrough is a mother and entrepreneur who runs Zoë b Organic and helped found Community for Public Schools, a group of parents, educators and other community members involved in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools. She served as board president of the Piedmont Environmental Alliance for two years. Brockenbrough wants to invest in school buildings and push for school bonds on the 2024 ballot, “properly fund” the sheriff’s office and jail and create a “holistic plan” for housing. Brokenbrough believes it’s “time for new leadership,” according to her candidate questionnaire. Her top three issues are public education and access to Pre-K, ensuring the county has a fully staffed emergency department and preventing gun violence. She also supports raising taxes to provide more support for public education. All three Democratic candidates are in favor of changing the meeting hours of the committee, which meets at 2 p.m. every Thursday.

Brokenbrough attended TCBWinston-Salem’s Reverse City Hall.

Democrat: Curtis Fentress

fentressforforsyth.com

Read his full responses to candidates here.

Curtis Fentress is a Forsyth County-born father, director of marketing for Ecolab Inc. and volunteer coach with NC Fusion Youth Soccer. He is also a startup mentor for Winston Starts. In his candidate questionnaire, he said school quality and economic growth are the most important issues facing county commissioners. “We need to increase revenue for the county so we can fund critical services,” he added. “Revenue growth is a function of how many taxpayers there are, how much they spend and what rate they pay. As a county commissioner, my focus will be on increasing the number of taxpayers, not raising rates, which can be counterproductive to the budget in the long run. When asked if he would support tax increases for school infrastructure and teacher pay, Fentress said, “I support teacher pay and infrastructure as high priorities in the next county budget.” Fentress attended TCBWinston-Salem’s Reverse City Hall.

Democrat: Marcy West

west4forsyth.com

Read her full responses to candidates here.

Marcy West is a senior consultant at Enosys Group, a business consulting firm, and was a vice president at Wachovia Bank from 1990-94. Her previous public service experience includes serving as a Town Meeting member for Reading, Massachusetts from 2005-15. and service as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Finance Committee for several years. She was on the Reading Board of Selectmen from 2013-15.

In her TCB candidate questionnaire, West stated that “strong public education, public safety and affordable housing are the three main issues we need to focus on to attract new businesses that will help build our economy and keep tax rates low , while allowing us to continue to provide needed services to the community.” She believes the county commission needs to do “a better job coordinating with the Winston-Salem City Council and the leadership of our other municipalities.”

West attended TCBWinston-Salem’s Reverse City Hall.