EAST SPENCER– Travis Carter is doing something he’s always wanted to do — run for public office.

Carter, 28, has filed as a candidate to serve out the unexpired term of Otis Gibson, a long-serving East Spencer alderman who died in late 2018.

Carter said he tried to run for office in Winston-Salem several years ago but abandoned the notion when he was accepted into college.

“I’ve always been interested in politics,” Carter said.

Carter is a project superintendent in the Greensboro office of the Christman Co., a nationally recognized construction services firm based in Michigan. He has a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Carter is a member of the East Spencer Planning Board, and he helped organize a community cleanup day. Carter said he regularly attends town board meetings.

His campaign slogan is “Make it happen,” and that is exactly what he hopes to do for East Spencer.

“I will ‘make it happen’ lower water rates,” he said.

Carter said he feels as though Salisbury-Rowan Utilities is “price gouging the residents of East Spencer much more than other municipalities in the area.”

Carter said he believes the way toward continued revitalization is by “focusing on the nuisance and abandoned properties in high-profile areas like Long Street and Andrews Street and by creating an attraction for people to use to give them a reason to come to East Spencer.”

He vows to leave the town in a better place than he found it.

Carter is a newcomer to elective office as is Shawn Rush, who is running to fill one of three available seats on the East Spencer town board.

Mayor Barbara Mallett’s two-year term is up, as are those of Board of Aldermen members Curtis Cowan, John Noble and Deloris High.

Mallett, Cowan and Noble are running for re-election. Alderman Tony Hillian is running for mayor.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.