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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Frank Williams & Mike Forte, Republican Candidates for Brunswick County Board of Commissioners

In Brunswick County, Republican Frank Williams is running for his second term representing District 5 on the Board of Commissioners, and Mike Forte is running for District 4.  Both Republican candidates are focused on economic development and education.

According to Mike Forte, the only economic engine in Brunswick County is tourism, and he says this isn’t enough:

"That’s part-time, minimum wage jobs. I have two sons—24 and 20 years old. They need full time work. Warehousing, manufacturing, industry— We need real jobs."

Forte says that infrastructure improvements are necessary to recruit business to the area. He also thinks improving Brunswick County schools would help to attract companies—and that means addressing overcrowding and drop out rates.

Commissioner Frank Williams agrees that the $152 million school bond is necessary, and he says Brunswick County’s incentive program has helped to boost local businesses, both new and existing. But he thinks more needs to be done at the state level to help Brunswick County reel in more business:

"The biggest thing is we’ve got to, as a state, be able to compete with other states. A lot of our state’s big job recruitment seems to have been in urban areas from what I can tell, and we’ve got to do a better job state-wide of recruiting for rural areas."

Frank Williams is challenged by Democrat Wesley Hickman. Brenda Faye McMillian is running against Mike Forte.