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Stanly County Commissioner Brandon King announced on his Facebook page last week his intentions to run for state office.

King announced he had formed a committee to seek election to the 67th District seat in the North Carolina House, currently held by Rep. Wayne Sasser (R-Stanly). Sasser’s seat is up for election in 2024.

Owner of Albemarle Outdoor Supply and father to three, King said as a small business owner he understands “today’s struggles of being parents and small business owners.”

King said his reasons for running for state office included wanting to “make a difference for the people and not for me or any particular special interest group…I want to do right by the people and to give the common people a voice. ”

The commissioner said when it comes to decisions, a politician must look at “the totality of the circumstances” and “weigh all the options. You can’t just go with the first thing…sometimes, it’s not always the best thing. You’ve got to be open minded. You shouldn’t have to have a decision made before it’s time to make a decision.”

King spoke about the board’s recent decision to set a three-acre minimum for lot sizes in the county’s R/A district, which is designated by the county land use plan as rural use. He mentioned a town hall meeting he and County Commissioner Patty Crump hosted in Millingport about the issue.

“I didn’t have one person tell me they wanted to see anything less than five acres, because I personally was not voting for five acres,” King said.

When constitutents “made a strong case” for five, and “nobody made a strong case the other way, you have to go with what your constituents want,” he added.

Making the decision to run, King said, involved discussions with his wife, Carla, who works for the state’s Department of Insurance as a criminal investigator.

“If I didn’t have her completely buying into this, it wouldn’t be feasible,” King said regarding the amount of time a representative spends in Raleigh. “Our marriage is more important to me than any position.”

Politically, King said, the government should help anybody that is in trouble if they “fall down on their luck,” but added: “I don’t think we should provide a way of life.”

King said he wanted to unify Republicans, saying “we’ve got to find common ground.”

He said if elected, one of his main focuses would be the school system.

“We’re not competing at a level that we should be as a school system, and it’s not just Stanly County. It’s the whole state; the whole system needs to be revamped somehow.”

King also wants to help law enforcement, noting those who retire from the state can’t go back to work for the state without losing their supplement.