Early voting in Lee County begins on Thursday, October 15, and there are several races on the ballot. The Rant asked questions to several of the candidates for office and published the answers in September and October. Answers from candidates for North Carolina General Assembly seats including Lee County (House District 51 and Senate District 12). The answers are published as submitted, with no edits.
In House 51 (all of Lee County and part of Moore), Sanford City Councilman Charles Taylor, a Republican, and independent candidate April Montgomery are facing off to succeed Republican Rep. John Sauls.
In Senate 12 (all of Lee and Harnett counties, and part of Sampson), incumbent Republican Jim Burgin faces a challenge from Democrat Tanya White Anderson.
Early voting is open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday between October 15 and October 30, as well as from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 18 and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 31.
1) Introduce yourself, give your professional and educational background, and tell readers why you’re the best candidate for the seat you’re seeking. If you’re an incumbent, describe some of the accomplishments you’re proud of from your most recent term. If not, tell readers what you’ll bring to the board that’s currently lacking.
Anderson: I am Tanya White Anderson, Democratic candidate for North Carolina Senate District 12. I am a U.S. Army veteran, retired federal employee, former educator, labor advocate, mother and grandmother with more than 42 years of public service.
I hold a Master of Arts in Human Resources from Webster University, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with honors from Campbell University, and associate degrees in Paralegal Studies and Arts. My career has included service in the Army, the U.S. Postal Service, teaching, labor representation and community leadership.
As a non-incumbent, I will bring practical experience, accessibility and accountability. I have worked inside the systems legislators make decisions about and understand how those decisions affect workers, veterans, families and students.
I believe public service means listening before legislating, communicating with constituents and being present in the communities you represent. District 12 deserves a senator who will ask hard questions, work across differences when possible, and put the needs of Harnett, Lee and Sampson County residents ahead of political convenience.
Burgin: No response.
Montgomery: I was born in Florida, earned a BA in History from Florida State University, and an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida. I moved to North Carolina in 1999 and have been a registered unaffiliated voter ever since. I married my husband, David, in 2000, and we moved to Sanford in 2003 when he was hired as the city’s Downtown Development Director. We have three sons, ages 22, 20, and 16.
I’m running to give voters in this district — the majority of whom are unaffiliated, like me — a candidate who answers to them, not to a party. I intend to work from the middle, focused on compromise and solutions rather than blame. North Carolinians deserve a government that functions: one that delivers services efficiently and lets communities grow according to their own values.
If elected, my priorities will be affordability — including electric rates, childcare, and housing costs — along with restoring and increasing funding for public education. I’ll also push for infrastructure investment in our district and others like it, particularly small to medium-sized cities and rural areas, and for economic development that raises wages and grows our tax base sustainably.
Taylor: Eagle Scout 1987
1991 Graduate of Campbell University BA Communications, Print Journalism
TV Producer August, 1988-Present Major Collegiate and Professional Sporting Events
Work includes: Apple TV, Raycom Sports, Fox Sports, Fox Sports South, CBS, NBC, ESPN, Comcast, CW as well as regional and local distribution
Various Roles in Manufacturing Including Global Market Manager (3M), Sales, Media and Lobbyist roles at Static Control Components 1993-2016
I have been blessed to serve the citizens of Sanford as a City Councilman since 2007. At the midway point of my fifth term, I have served several roles including Mayor Pro Tempore as well as liaison roles including ABC Board, Parks Commission, Opioid Task Force, S3 Connect which I was one of the three founders. I have served 5 terms as Chair of the Sanford-Lee County Joint Planning Commission where I was instrumental in leading a rewrite of UDO and Land Use Plan for Lee County.
Appointed to North Carolina State Mining & Energy Commission (2012) Chair-Local Government Study Group North Carolina State Mining & Energy Commission
CUOC board of directors 2023-2025
2) What are some unique issues that Lee County faces and can be addressed in the state legislature, and what do you propose to do about them?
Anderson: Lee County is experiencing rapid growth, and the state must help ensure infrastructure and public services keep pace. Schools, roads, housing, childcare, water and sewer systems are all under pressure.
Data centers are an immediate concern. The proposed Lower Moncure Road project would include a 300,000-square-foot facility with a 90-megawatt IT load. Residents deserve transparent information about electricity demand, water use, noise, backup generators, environmental impacts, tax incentives, infrastructure requirements and who ultimately pays those costs.
As senator, I would push for clear statewide standards for large-load developments, meaningful public participation, transparent energy and water planning, and protections against shifting major infrastructure costs onto residential customers.
I would also fight for Lee County’s fair share of school-construction funding. The county sought $44 million from the state for a needed new elementary school and was denied. We also need competitive educator pay, affordable childcare and housing, transportation investment, and strong support for Central Carolina Community College, career and technical education, and apprenticeships.
Growth should create opportunity for Lee County residents without sacrificing affordability, resources or quality of life.
Burgin: No response.
Montgomery: Growth. Growth is constant in this district, and North Carolina is too diverse for a one-size-fits-all approach to land use. In 2024, the General Assembly passed SB 382, limiting local governments’ ability to “down-zone” property — also constraining farmland preservation, agricultural conservation districts, and watershed protections. This is an example of what our legislature should NOT be doing. Local governments need the tools to manage growth in ways that reflect their communities’ values.
Infrastructure. Growth strains roads, electric supply, water, sewer, and fiber. State funding should prioritize infrastructure that supports density in already-developed areas, not new roads, water, and sewer lines pushing growth into rural areas — making better use of existing infrastructure and preserving the rural character our communities value.
Affordability. The cost of living here has outpaced wages, and it’s harder to make ends meet. Electric rates keep rising — the legislature oversees how our monopoly utility sets rates, and we need to ensure it isn’t prioritizing shareholders over ratepayers. Quality, affordable childcare is hard to find, and housing costs are out of hand. As a parent of young adults, I worry whether my own kids will be able to start a life here.
Taylor: We need to have smart growth and greater affordability for our citizens and businesses. The way we address it is strategic planning, solicit community input and work closely with local elected officials to develop that plan that works for everyone.
We also need to develop growth and retention programs for the manufacturing sector – not just recruitment for new companies. Let’s deepen the value proposition work with current manufacturing base to bring vendor support to our community. Currently the State Department of Commerce does not have a retention program. I would work to develop a program not only tied to retention but growth to support our current manufacturing base.
We need to bring attention highlighted by the recent activity of youth crime and develop programs that keep 17-year-olds engage in school and not start the pattern of a lifetime of crime. That may mean a change in the age of youth crime statues.
3) Lee County is home to North Carolina’s top recipient of state-funded education vouchers, and the General Assembly has only continued to expand the program which directs tax dollars to private educational institutions. Do you believe public dollars belong in public schools?
Anderson: Yes. Public education dollars should first meet North Carolina’s constitutional responsibility to provide strong public schools for every community.
I respect parents’ right to choose the educational setting that works best for their children. But when taxpayer dollars support private-school tuition through Opportunity Scholarships, taxpayers deserve accountability and transparency.
Lee County makes the issue especially important. Grace Christian School in Sanford received $5.13 million in Opportunity Scholarship funding in 2024-25. Separately, Lee County Schools requested $44 million from the state’s Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund toward a needed new elementary school and was denied. These are different funding programs, but the contrast raises a fair question about the state’s priorities.
I support restoring a stronger needs-based focus to vouchers, nondiscrimination protections, academic and admissions transparency, and safeguards against tuition increases simply absorbing larger public subsidies.
Charter schools should not be confused with voucher-funded private schools. North Carolina charter schools are public, tuition-free schools. I support educational choices, but choice cannot become an excuse for the state to neglect the public schools that must serve every child.
Burgin: No response.
Montgomery: Yes, public dollars belong in public schools. Looking at how the voucher program has evolved, it reads less like students have gained more choice and more like schools are choosing their students.
All three of our boys have attended Lee County public schools — two have graduated and were well prepared for their futures, and our youngest is a junior at Lee Senior. Over 18 years in the school system, I’ve seen the impact of stripping funding from public schools and diverting it to schools not required to meet the same standards.
Public schools are required to take all students, administer state testing, and employ certified staff. Private schools receiving voucher money aren’t held to those standards, yet they’re funded the same way — including virtual schools, which get the same per-student dollar amount as schools providing transportation, classrooms, in-person instruction, cafeterias, and extracurricular activities. That’s a for-profit scheme at our children’s expense.
Our legislature should stop doubling down on vouchers and refocus on public education that meets students where they are and prepares them for productive lives in our community.
Their priorities show: North Carolina ranks top 5 in business and growth — and 46th in teacher pay. That’s not an accident. It’s a choice. We can do better.
Taylor: I 100% support excellence in public schools and I also support parents having a choice in where they send their kids to school. I believe that public dollars should be directed to schools that support children’s educational excellence. Private schools have helped relieve school overcrowding regionally.
I support equal funding for children as well as parents’ rights to choose the school program and environment that is best for their children.
I will engage and work for adequate funding for all areas of education, public or private. Children are not a political football to be used to get votes, I value them, and I will work for them and for their futures. Let us work together to do what is best for the student. Lastly. we need to fully fund public teachers’ pay raises throughout their career so we don’t lose good teachers.
We should be working together for the best interests of children as they are the future of our community. I will not engage in attempts to pit private schools against public schools. Children are children, and should be equally valued, regardless of where they attend school.
4) North Carolina expanded Medicaid in 2023, and the General Assembly has continued to make changes to the program, including new eligibility and work requirements. What is your assessment of Medicaid expansion so far, and what changes, if any, would you support in the next session?
Anderson: YES, Medicaid expansion was signed into law March 2023; but began in NC December 2023, the new federal Medicaid changes and state level decision to implement them are making it harder for some people to maintain their coverage. And here is why this matters, when rural hospitals is financially weakened, the entire community feels it. REMEMBER: [The changes made through H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will take effect January 2027, After the 2026 November Election]. If given the opportunity to serve in the General Assembly, I would work toward protecting access to healthcare, addressing barriers to coverage, and pursuing broader healthcare solutions that help working families, veterans, seniors, rural communities, and those who are most vulnerable. We need to reduce unnecessary work requirements, minimize paperwork, work requirements, check-ins and remove unnecessary barriers.
Burgin: No response.
Montgomery: Medicaid expansion has done what it was meant to do: give working North Carolinians access to care they couldn’t afford. Nearly 30% of our state, about 3.1 million people, relies on Medicaid, including roughly 725,000 adults covered through expansion. With unemployment at 3.5%, these aren’t people who won’t work. They’re people in jobs that don’t offer insurance or don’t pay enough to buy it.
The new eligibility and work requirements don’t make care cheaper or people healthier. They add paperwork that decides who keeps coverage. NC DHHS estimates 250,000 people could lose it, more than three times the population of Lee County.
They also overlook caregiving. My 88-year-old father-in-law moved closer to us. He isn’t a burden but keeping him healthy takes real time. My husband and I have flexible jobs with good benefits, so we can be there. Most families can’t. Making caregivers prove they qualify for a narrow exemption penalizes people for doing exactly what we’d hope they would do.
Coverage is only half the problem. Neither expansion nor these requirements address the rising cost of care, which affects everyone. As costs climb, fewer families can afford care, and public dollars keep flowing into a system where patients can’t see prices, skewing any rational market response. Medicaid should be a bridge; letting people suffer because they can’t afford care is inhumane. Keeping that bridge standing means lowering what care costs.
Next session, I would support passing Senate Bill 316, which cleared the Senate with bipartisan support but stalled in the House. Requiring hospitals to publish prices and give estimates would help patients lower costs and stretch every public dollar further.
Taylor: Medicaid expansion is important due to skyrocketing cost of healthcare. Affordability is a huge issue especially with the underserved population.
Because of these affordability concerns we need to continue to assist people in accessing affordable quality health care.
I do feel that work requirements should be mandatory for all able-bodied participation.
5) As communities like Lee County grow, state and local governments face increasing demands for roads, water and sewer infrastructure, schools and other public facilities. What role should the state play in helping fast-growing communities pay for infrastructure, and are there changes you would support to the way North Carolina funds those needs?
Anderson: The state government should give our local governments the resources and financial support they need to take care of their communities. Our local leaders are right there with the people. They know what their communities need. The state should be there to support them, not take over. Give them the tools, funding, and opportunity to do what they were elected to do—serve their communities and take care of their people. At the end of the day, it’s about the people. That’s what service is about.
Burgin: No response.
Montgomery: The state should partner with fast-growing communities and reward growth that makes the most of what we’ve already built. That means favoring denser development in our existing towns, where roads, pipes, and schools are already in place, over sprawl that is expensive to serve and eats up farmland.
But infill is harder to finance in small and mid-sized cities like ours, where local markets often can’t support the cost of upgrading aging water and sewer lines. The Viable Utility Reserve already funds water and sewer rehabilitation, but only for systems in financial distress. I’d expand that approach to help growing communities that direct growth toward their town centers instead of outward.
I’d also allow local governments to adopt fair, transparent capital facility fees tied to the actual cost new development creates, so current residents aren’t subsidizing growth. Local utilities can already charge new development for water and sewer capacity, but state law provides no similar tool for schools, roads, or parks. Communities front those costs with savings or debt, and in high-growth areas like ours, existing resources are strained, with limited opportunity to address them.
Taylor: Currently in the City of Sanford alone we maintain 146 miles of road. We are behind on our paving schedule which is typically 15 years. The city gets unfunded mandates to maintain additional roads. One of the key issues in the next 10 years is balancing local control vs state control. This is a key item that I feel has been a struggle.
Lee County is behind already by 3 schools, also on the horizon is public safety centers for both city and county. Industrial growth has been strong and has paid for much the infrastructure needs. The area the state can play an important role is that of “Growth and Retention”, something that is currently absent in North Carolina Department of Commerce.
6) What is one law or policy currently in place in North Carolina that you would make a priority to change or repeal if elected, and what would you replace it with?
Anderson: Repeal Senate Bill 382; Reinstate the Governor’s Power.
Burgin: No response.
Montgomery: I would repeal North Carolina’s sales tax exemptions for data centers, which cost the state an estimated $50 million a year, and replace them with a clear set of statewide good-neighbor standards.
In place of tax breaks, I’d set guardrails that every data center must meet. Closed-loop water systems. Clean energy that doesn’t raise rates or reduce power availability for the surrounding community. No noise nuisance or public health harm. A decommissioning plan backed by real financial security, so communities aren’t left with an abandoned building. And no tax abatements or preferential treatment at any level of government.
Whether a data center belongs in a particular community should be that community’s decision. The state’s job is not to choose for them. It’s to make sure that wherever a data center goes, it pays its own way and operates as a good neighbor.
Taylor: We need to continue to have more choice in education for middle-class families. In concert with school choice, we need to improve and fully fund public schools. There is also an opportunity to implement programs to increase longevity with our educators in the classroom.
Secondly, affordability of healthcare. Third, providing rate payers with a stronger voice in energy policy.
We also need to provide guidance to Counties and Municipalities on issues that are impacted at the local level. Good example is SB730 that started as an energy bill in the Senate but morphed into a Data Center bill. The state can provide so much guidance on this issue that impacts every county in the state.
We also need to make sure data centers pay their own way and support rate payer policy to protect any unnecessary increases at the same time support energy companies to develop and modernize newer technologies to create energy.
Finally, when 16- and 17-year-olds commit violent crimes, they should be tried as adults. As a result, I will support a change in the law to allow 16- and 17-year-olds who are charged with violent offenses to be tried as adults.