Former state Sen. Ben Clark running for NC lieutenant governor; Chris Rey drops out
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Former state Sen. Ben Clark, a Democrat who served Hoke and Cumberland counties for 10 years, announced on Thursday that he is running for lieutenant governor.
Meanwhile, former Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey has dropped out of the election.
Clark joins at least three other Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor.
“I believe that North Carolina needs a lieutenant governor who will represent everyone. I don’t mean some folks — I mean everyone,” Clark said on Saturday. “And I will be that lieutenant governor.
“I mean that this ‘us vs. them’ approach to government is divisive, and it threatens our peace and prosperity.”
Some may interpret Clark’s comments as a criticism of Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has been confrontational and critical of his fellow North Carolinians. Clark said he was not speaking about Robinson, but instead about “just the overall tenor that you hear across the country — and probably I guess you could say in the state as well — is there is an air of divisiveness that exists, and I’m not that type person. I do not foment divisiveness.”
Robinson is running for governor in 2024.
More: Two from Cumberland County are running for top North Carolina offices in 2024
Governor’s race: Former US Rep. Mark Walker enters GOP primary against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Treasurer Dale Folwell
Clark was born at Fort Bragg and grew up in Spring Lake and Fayetteville. He is a 1977 graduate of Seventy-First High School. He has homes in the Rockfish area of Hoke County and in Cumberland County in the Vander area east of Fayetteville.
He served 20 years in the Air Force, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Now, he works in information technology for a military contractor at Fort Bragg.
He had an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2022.
As lieutenant governor, Clark said, he plans to further North Carolina’s history of progressiveness in education and healthcare and to advance justice reform.
The duties of the lieutenant governor include becoming governor should the governor die or leave office, serving as governor when the governor is out of state, presiding over the state Senate and breaking tie votes among its members. The lieutenant governor serves on the Council of State, the state Board of Education, the state Capital Planning Commission, the state Board of Community Colleges, and is chairman of the eLearning Commission.
Rey, the former Spring Lake mayor who now lives in Charlotte, said on Tuesday he is no longer running. He had announced his candidacy in December.
Rey said the heavy commitment to running for statewide office conflicts with his duties as president of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., an international nonprofit organization, plus the time he spends with his family.
“I just can’t give my full attention to the race the way that I would like to,” Rey said. “And so I just have to find other ways to support the people of North Carolina.”
According to an unofficial listing of candidates maintained by Catawba College political scientist Michael Bitzer, in addition to Clark, as of Tuesday the other announced Democratic candidates are:
Civil rights activist Delmonte Crawford of Raleigh.
State Sen. Rachel Hunt of Charlotte.
Former state Rep. Raymond E. Smith Jr. of Goldsboro.
The Republican candidates, according to Bitzer’s list:
Hal Weatherman, former chief of staff of former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.
Podcaster Allen Mashburn.
State Rep. Jeffrey Elmore of Wilkesboro.
Peter Boykin of Mebane, president of the Gays for Trump organization during Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Former Greensboro city councilman Jim Kee, previously reported to be running for lieutenant governor, is running for state auditor, according to paperwork filed with the State Board of Elections office.
Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Ben Clark running for NC lieutenant governor; Chris Rey drops out
