A 42-vote margin gave a middle social studies teacher and historian the North Carolina State House of Representatives 27 seat Tuesday — a seat held by incumbent Michael Wray, according to unofficial returns.

Rodney D. Pierce, a teacher in the Northampton County School system, won his home county of Halifax by a 57.32 percent to 42.68 percent margin.

Wray carried his home county of Northampton by a 52.86 percent to 47.14 percent margin as well as Warren County where he won by a 62.77 percent to a 37.23 percent margin.

But the two final Halifax County precincts reporting around 11:30 p.m. didn’t push Wray to another term in office as Pierce won the seat, collecting a total of 5,980 votes to Wray’s 5,938.

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Halifax County Board of Elections Supervisor Kristin Scott said it would be up to Wray to request a recount. Pierce beat Wray by a .36 percent margin.

Wray did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.

“I know there are still some procedural things that need to be done in order to … officially verify the outcome of my race but I feel confident that the tabulation on last night is representative of who the voters want as their representative,” Pierce said today.

He is thankful for the chance. “First and foremost, to God be the glory. I had the support and prayers of a lot of people. I had a great campaign team. I had great endorsements but I think the difference was the work of the ground game, the canvassers. That was the difference — those people who knocked on doors for me, who drove people to the polls for me. Those people were the difference.”

His decision to run was based on issues he saw with his opponent’s voting record. “As an educator, not only do we educate the students … It’s about educating the public. One of the things that I sought to do in this campaign was to educate the public — educate the public about my opponent’s voting record.”

He said of Wray, “I respect my opponent as a man, I respect my opponent as a husband, I respect him as a father. What I don’t respect is his voting record. That was the catalyst for my running because I don’t believe that his voting record was in the best interest of the constituents  that he’s been sworn to serve.”

The driving force

The main driver behind his campaign was his opponent’s vote on the state budget that included the expansion of the voucher program. “The vouchers are going to take public money and give to anybody so they can send their children to private schools,” Pierce said. 

He said the four local superintendents as well as a contingent of others from the northeast were against the voucher program because “it’s going to take money from public schools. The Halifax County School Board and the Roanoke Rapids Graded School Board both adopted resolutions saying to not expand the voucher program and my opponent still voted in favor of it. 

“I’m sitting there saying how are you going to go against the wishes of the people that you’re looking to serve when they made their desires known? Not only that, you’re taking resources from our children and those public school systems are among the top employers in their respective counties. (The Warren County school system) is the top employer in Warren County. When you take money out of the public school system you’re not funding for resources and things like that for students, you’re also messing with people’s livelihoods.”

Pierce said there is a history of underfunding in the district. “This is Leandro territory with Halifax County Schools.”

Because of the funding issues, “We can’t hire teachers who might be able to teach foreign language, drama, theater, coding, art. That takes away from that enrichment that a student can have outside of the full core classes.”

The casino issue

Asked about the casino issue, which could possibly come up during the short session, Pierce said, “I’m in favor of equitable economic development. When these supposed jobs come to the area are they going to pay people a fair living wage, are they going to provide benefits and who’s going to be getting the jobs? Are these jobs going to be for local people? Are they going to be for people who don’t live in our area who are commuting?”

Then there is the question of who will be profiting from the sale of land and who owns the land adjacent or around where a casino is constructed. “Their property values will likely increase. Is it going to be the same group of folks who always profit or is it truly going to be equitable?”

He said from his knowledge of the casino matter, the only place casinos can currently be built is on indigenous land. “With that being said in terms of it being built on indigenous land why not give it to the tribe? Why not give it to the Haliwa-Saponi tribe to benefit both Halifax and Warren counties?”

Healthy recreation outlets

Pierce said one of his main priorities since he is an educator will be to work with local elected officials, nonprofits as well as businesses to try to develop local healthy recreational outlets for youth. “A lot of our youth are getting into the things they are getting into because we don’t have any kind of healthy outlet for them. What I want is for children who grow up in this district to be able to say I can leave if I want to but if I want to stay I would want a healthy life for myself and my family. 

“I’d like to be able to get a job that pays me a fair living wage, provides me benefits so I can take care of myself and my family and if I want to go out and have a good time I have a fair amount of healthy options to choose from — I don’t have to go to Raleigh or Richmond.”

Mental health

Then there is the issue of addressing the mental health and health crisis in the state and district.

“We have ECU Health-North,” he said. “I honestly feel we need another hospital in this part of the state. We need another hospital in either Northampton or Warren because of the response times.”

As a teacher, Pierce said, he works with children every day not knowing whether they’re going through mental health issues, issues of being teens, or both. “We’re dealing with kids that come from households with people who are suffering from mental health issues that haven’t been diagnosed. They’re not taking their medication or they can’t afford to take their medication. The healthcare piece, in particular the mental healthcare piece, I want to work with people.”

He has discussed this matter with Clinton Williams on the Northampton County Board of Education. “I would like to work with people like Clinton Williams and learn more about it and learn what I can do at the state level in bringing people like him to Raleigh.”

Said Pierce: “In order for our communities and counties to truly prosper we all have to be on the same page — from me as a state representative to the county commissioners to the city or town councils to the school boards. All of the elected bodies who are entrusted by the citizens with their votes have to all be on the same page. We have to be looking forward with the same end goal in mind in order for our communities to prosper to not only survive but thrive and prosper.”

Governor

Asked who he would work better with as governor — Mark Robinson or Josh Stein — he said, “I will work with whoever the people choose. My preference would be for my party, with Mr. Stein, who I’ve actually met in person.”

Funding for the district

While Wray brought in large sums of money for the district, Pierce, when asked if he could do the same out of the gate, said, “I believe there may be some reticence on the part of the legislative leadership getting through the hoops, particularly the majority party to work with me in getting funding for my district because my opponent was willing to compromise on certain things that I’m not willing to compromise on. 

“I’m not going to vote for a budget that’s going to defund the public schools in my community in order to vote for a budget that’s going to cut taxes for the wealthiest North Carolinians. Now we stand losing more of our general fund revenue than any other state in the country due to tax cuts — $26 billion in 2028 according to one estimate. That’s $26 billion cut away that could have gone to public education or early childhood education.”

Said Pierce: “I’m not willing to compromise on bills that are going to be bad for the environment. I can’t represent the birthplace of the environmental justice movement in Warren County and vote for anti-environment bills. I want to make sure the senate approves the uniform partition of heirs property act so Black landowners, particularly farmers, don’t lose their land to developers.” He said, “While my opponent did give back, my counter to that argument is what did he have to give up in order to get that — when you get the short-term gain in exchange for the long-term loss. I don’t want to use long-term just to gain something right now. I would perhaps take the short-term loss for the long-term gain because at the end of the day this is supposed to be about making this world a better place not only for us now but for the people that come behind us.”

Warren County performance

Pierce said his poor showing in Warren County came down to its Democratic Party leadership not meeting with him. “The Warren County Political Action Committee would not meet with me.”

He said he requested meetings on multiple occasions with party leadership. “We actually contacted them via email three times and never got to meet with them.”

As far as the PAC, he said, “The chair and vice-chair never met with me. I offered to come to Warren County and sit down with them and talk to them about my background and make my pitch. To me that’s all in the interest of fairness.”

A word to supporters

Pierce said he would say essentially the same thing to supporters after the primary as he did when he first chose to run. “When I ran I would say to people I’m asking for your support, I’m asking for your vote and most importantly I’m asking for your prayers and now I’m saying thank you for your vote, I’m asking for your continued support and most importantly for your continued prayers.”