By Andie Foley
andie.foley@salisburypost.com

The U.S. congressional race for North Carolina’s 8th district will no longer be uncontested.

Horace Stainback, a Democrat from Concord, launched his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in early December.

Stainback was born and raised in Oxford, N.C., graduating from North Carolina State University with a degree in industrial engineering. He worked for years as an industrial engineer in food processing for a company with operations in Virginia and Forest City, N.C.

Now, he works as a dental hygienist in practice with his wife Patricia, a dentist. The pair have four children.

Stainback’s 8th district campaign is his third attempt at public office. He’s run twice before for the school board in Cabarrus County.

He calls himself a “conservative Democrat.” He’s an outspoken person of faith, and a member of Concord First Assembly Church.

“Being from Oxford, you might say that a lot of my mindset was formed in the ’80s,” he said. “… The Republican party has tried to say that they are the ‘Christian, religious party’ and that I don’t think has ever been so.”

Stainback said many of his Democratic friends are Christian and hold Christian values.

“One of the things about being a Christian is choice,” he said. ” … We don’t try and legislate morality. That takes away the value of the choice ….”

To illustrate his balance between his religious and political beliefs, Stainback cited two prominent issues: the LGBTQ community and North Carolina’s bathroom bill.

He said he’s not necessarily a proponent of the LGBTQ community, but that everyone should be free to live their lives according to their own choosing.

“I think that everyone should have the right to live their lives the way they want to,” said Stainback. ” … (T)hey  should be free to dress how they want and be free of any harassment in those choices that they make.”

This ties in to how he feels North Carolina’s bathroom bill should have been handled, he said.

“I think having them go to the women’s restroom was not the right way to go to solve the problem,” said Stainback. “The problem is why are these men being harassed when they go to the restroom that is set up for them, regardless of whether or not they feel they’re actually women or men?”

Stainback said he believes that the government should not “be in the business of being the thought police.” Rather, he said, the government should be responsible for protecting their citizenry.

According to Stainback, many legislative issues are rushed through along partisan lines without a chance for the other side to review and critique.

He cited the legalization of marijuana in some states, and how legislation failed to protect employers who are now being sued for dismissing employees using.

“They passed one law but they forgot the back side,” Stainback said. “Both sides of the law need to carefully be considered and they invariably get left out, especially in the current environment where neither party wants to negotiate these issues.”

Other key issues to Stainback’s campaign include maintaining net neutrality, reforming immigration, and eliminating the electoral college.

Stainback said a desire to eliminate the electoral college was what swayed him to enter the congressional race. Especially, he said, in light of last year’s election.

He said he’s telling everyone to select candidates that support this elimination. To pass this, he said, there needs to be significant change.

“No one likes to have an elected official in the office that got fewer votes than their competitor,” Stainback said. “We need some people that once again believe in doing things honorably and fairly. It’s not just a game, these are peoples lives we’re dealing with. Something needs to change.”