By Joanie Morris
Salisbury Post
Three people have filed to run against longtime politician Sen. Fletcher Hartsell for his 36th District seat.
Hartsell, a Republican from Cabarrus County, is serving his 10th term. Running against him are Republican Thomas Hill and Democrats Mike Helms and Jim Johnson.
Hartsell, 51, of 129 Overbrook Drive N.E., Concord, is president of the law offices of Hartsell & Williams in Concord. A 1965 graduate of Concord High School, Hartsell received a degree in political science from Davidson College and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a juris doctorate in 1972.
He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was an honor graduate of officer basic course at the U.S. Army Infantry School in Fort Benning, Ga., in 1972.
He serves standing committee appointments on Agriculture/ Environmental / Natural Resources, Appropriations-Base Budget, Appropriations-Education / Higher Education, Education / Higher Education, Finance (vice chair), Health Care, Judiciary II (chair) and State and Local Government and Veteran Affairs.
He holds continuing committee appointments on Joint Legislative Performance Evaluation Oversight (co-chair), Joint Legislative Education Oversight, General Statutes, Governmental Operations, Joint Legislative Health Care Oversight, Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorp-orations (co-chair) and Revenue Laws Study.
He has received recognitions and awards for being the an effective Republican senator from several organizations.
He has served professionally on the National Public Health Leadership Institute; as an adjunct professor at Barber-Scotia College; as an attorney for Cabarrus County Schools, Cabarrus County and the Cabarrus County Water and Sewer Authority; as secretary-treasurer and president of the 19-A Judicial District Bar Association; as president of the Cabarrus Bar Association; and a representative on the N.C. Bar Association Board of Governors.
He received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor and has served on numerous boards , including the N.C. Economic Development Board, the N.C. Center of Public Policy Research board and others.
He is a member of First Baptist Church of Kannapolis, and a Sunday school teacher. He has been involved in the Cabarrus Baptist Association, the Baptist State Convention of N.C., the Southern Baptist Convention and other church organizations.
He and his wife, Tana Honeycutt Hartsell, have three children and three great-grandchildren.
Hill, 41, of 10896 Pioneer Mill Road, Concord, filed as a Republican because he cannot file as a Libertarian.
An electrician, Hill is a 1984 graduate of Central Cabarrus High School. He is the past chair of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina, a member of the Union Masonic Lodge No. 618 in Midland, the Charlotte Scottish Rite and the Charlotte York Rite.
Hill said he is running “to defend the life, liberty and property of North Carolina’s residents.”
“I want to return the right and responsibility of educating children to parents and families,” Hill added. “I seek to end forced annexation and the government’s ability to seize private property through eminent domain.”
Hill also wants to end the state income tax and “every other state program that violates the rights and liberties of N.C. residents.”
Hill will compete against Hartsell in the May primaries.
Helms and Johnson were not immediately available for an interview.
Contact Joanie Morris at 704-932-3336 or jmorris@ kannapoliscitizen.com.